Programmes
Six transitions the Lab knows in depth. Each is a place where a technology is meeting people at scale, and the human questions are as hard as the technical ones.
We don't claim every sector. We know the ones where our method (social science first, technical literacy alongside, independence throughout) has the most to offer.
Each programme runs in Europe and in the places our cases come from. The questions do not change when the postcode does.
Every transition is also a question of who is served and who is left out. Equity is not a separate expertise. It is the lens we bring to each of these.
Research can also be browsed by Sustainable Development Goal.
How productive capacity is built where things are used, who captures the value, and whether the workforce capability a plant assumes actually arrives with it.
Research areas: Critical raw materials and processing · Circular economy and e-waste · Assembly, suppliers and workforce capability
How electric and shared transport crosses from novelty to default, and what it does to the livelihoods built on the vehicles it replaces.
Research areas: Rider and operator economics · Batteries, charging and swap infrastructure
How energy and water systems are built, paid for and relied on, where the network reaches and where it never did.
Research areas: Mini-grids and off-grid supply · Renewables, storage and grid integration · Water delivery, vendors and payment
How farmers and fishers adopt and benefit from new technology, and what the monitoring behind a payment actually costs them.
Research areas: Waste-to-value and soil restoration · On-farm technology adoption · Coastal and marine monitoring · Carbon and biodiversity verification
How artificial intelligence and digital tools land in contexts they were not designed for.
Research areas: Data centres and digital infrastructure · Automation and skills displacement
How payment, credit and financing systems carry, or block, every other transition that depends on someone being able to pay over time, and who is left outside them.
Research areas: Asset finance and default risk · Who gets included and who does not
For how we study these transitions, see Field Research and How It Works. For where we have worked, see Case Studies. For the openly published half of the work, see Articles. To browse by Sustainable Development Goal. To discuss a study, see Contact.
