30 June 2025

Photo: NRN

Making real-world laboratories visible – together for a sustainable society

From 30 June to 6 July 2025, more than 50 real-world laboratories in Germany, Austria and Switzerland will open their doors. As part of the ‘Real-world Laboratory Open Days’ campaign week, citizens will have the opportunity to find out about current research projects directly on site, gain insights into real-world laboratory work and engage in dialogue with researchers, local authorities and civil society initiatives.

Real-world laboratories are places where solutions for a sustainable future are developed jointly – whether in urban areas, rural regions or in specific fields such as mobility, energy, nutrition or the circular economy. Through close cooperation between science and society, innovative solutions to the major challenges of our time are developed here.

An interactive overview on the network's website shows which real-world laboratories are participating and which activities are being offered when and where.

The programme overview: https://www.reallabor-netzwerk.de/offenes-reallabor-2025/teilnahme.php 

Accompanying the action week is a digital supporting programme with online events on current topics in real-world laboratory work, mutual getting-to-know-you sessions and direct exchange for participating real-world laboratories.

Background

The Open Real-World Laboratory Days 2025 are an initiative of the Real-World Laboratories for Sustainability network in collaboration with the ‘Gesellschaft für transdisziplinäre und partizipative Forschung’ (GTPF). The action week is supported by numerous real-world laboratories and a coordination team from leading research institutions and universities in Germany.

This year's action week is being organized and coordinated by representatives from eight universities and research institutions:

Julia Backhaus (RWTH Aachen University), Markus Egermann (Leibniz Institute for Ecological Urban and Regional Development, Dresden), Manuel Jung (Technical University of Munich), Claudia Mendes (University of Hamburg), Carolin Moser, Susanne Ober, Oliver Parodi, Felix Wagner (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology) and Anja Steglich (Technical University of Berlin).

Further information: https://www.reallabor-netzwerk.de/offenes-reallabor-2025.php 

Or on Social Media: https://social.bund.de/@bmftr_bund/114777310165218075