The two-year LinkLab working group is a consortium of researchers in the context of the German Committee Future Earth which aims to further advance sustainability research in Germany. (For the idea of the DKN working groups: https://www.dkn-future-earth.org/activities/working_groups/)

LinkLab wants to bring researchers from different disciplines into a multidirectional dialogue to discuss and advance the importance of transdisciplinary and transformative research approaches in real-world laboratories (RWL) as an effective way to address sustainability challenges. The spectrum of disciplinary backgrounds ranges from spatial and planning sciences to social-ecological systems research, design research or digital participation and data science to law, ethics and epistemology as well as anthropology and ethnology. The group consists of the following members:

• Prof. Dr. Agnes Förster (RWTH Aachen, Chair of Planning Theory and Urban Development)
• Prof. Dr. Daniel J. Lang (ITAS)
• Prof. Dr. Christa Liedtke (Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy)
• Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Hans-Wolfgang Micklitz (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies of the European University Institute, Florence)
• Prof. Dr. Jörg Niewöhner (TU Munich, Chair of Anthropology of Science and Technology)
• Dr. Oliver Parodi (ITAS)
• Prof. Dr. Thomas Potthast (University of Tübingen, International Center for Ethics in the Sciences and Humanities)
• Prof. Dr. Flurina Schneider (Institute for Social-Ecological Research and Goethe University Frankfurt, Chair for Social Ecology and Transdisciplinarity)
• Prof. Dr. Gesa Ziemer (City Science Lab, HafenCity University Hamburg and UNITAC)

The project is guided by the idea that a deeper understanding of real-world laboratories as research and learning settings is possible by complementing the instruments and methods used in real-world laboratories with the perspectives of classical, disciplinary research and related fields. A stronger connection to the more classical disciplines could be beneficial as similar approaches are applied there, for example in relation to real-world interventions and experiments or participatory collaboration with practitioners. Accordingly, the following questions are addressed:

• What can different academic disciplines and real-world laboratory research learn from each other?
• Which methods can enrich the work in real-world laboratories, which approaches and theories can improve the knowledge gained from real-world laboratories?
• What are the consequences for the research landscape in terms of funding structures, the role of researchers, career paths, and reward systems to enable effective and integrative real-world laboratory research?

The working group aims at improving this link and exploring the relevant connections and interfaces between the specified research disciplines and RWL research. It also asks for challenges and potentials to strengthen the connections between them as well as for good practices and success factors for connecting RWL research and more disciplinary research. Furthermore, a research agenda will be formulated to better equip and empower scientific and non-scientific institutions and staff with the necessary skills to conduct high-quality RWL research and increase both the scientific as well as the societal impact of RWL research.

The results will be prepared for a broader discussion to derive conclusions for concrete research practice and research policy and thus enhance both the scientific and societal impact of RWL research.

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