Our research teams are currently inviting people to participate in our 16 ENERGISE Living Labs (ELLs) that are to take place in eight different countries in the second half of this year. After an 18-month preparation period, including the thorough reading of relevant literature (WP1), the study of over 1000 sustainable energy initiatives from across Europe (WP2) and several interactive co-design sessions with an international group of experts (WP3), we look forward to signing up people from diverse backgrounds who share our enthusiasm and are keen to become involved.
The different country teams recruit in rather varied settings, ranging from densely to sparsely populated areas and from smaller towns to larger regions. For this reason and because different organisations support our project locally, our recruitment strategies vary. While some of us will approach potential participants personally at public or private events, others will distribute flyers, run social media campaigns or try direct mailing. People can express interest in participation by filling in our recruitment survey in their national language.
Meanwhile, we are busy detailing plans for local implementation and preparing for running eight individual and eight community labs in eight countries in parallel. Since we seek to better understand the role and relevance of social and cultural factors in household energy use, we will collect very detailed quantitative and qualitative data. Our ELLs innovatively combine several engagement methods, implying interesting challenges for participants – and for us!