“Education as social innovation plays a key role: it is a central lever for societal change.”
The Center for Education and Social Transformation (EST) places the social sciences at the heart of educational and societal transformation. Our mission is to understand educational, social and sustainability transformations from a scientific perspective, to shape them collaboratively with those affected, and to implement them effectively – at individual, organisational and systemic levels.
As a social science competence centre, EST strengthens the European research landscape. Through the lens of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH), we drive change along the axes of education, governance and sustainability – using a user-centred approach that involves stakeholders in bottom-up processes and develops governance models for sustainable implementation.
Our goal is to use our expertise in socio-economic innovation to help shape the future of agriculture and education – from analysing social needs to co-creating solutions and evaluating and applying results. This ensures that research becomes relevant for policy, practice and communities.
To achieve this, we operate both as an Excellence Centre and as a Living Lab: academically anchored at SHSS and SfS (in close coordination with IIDM), we conduct participatory research and develop interactive formats.
Combining the strengths of a centre with the methods of a Living Lab, we align academic research with policy objectives, design solutions together with stakeholders and test them in real-world environments to maximise relevance and acceptance. In this way, we create robust approaches that we co-develop and trial with users, businesses and public authorities in authentic contexts.