Research for social inclusion
Context
In 2014, I created the Migrationlab Foundation out of a blog with the same name to help migrants, refugees and locals co-design solutions for social inclusion and rethink the public space.
Migrationlab’s main project Welcome to the Living Room! enabled the co-creation by and with migrants, refugees and locals of safe public spaces in which collaboration and authentic exchange of diverse ideas, stories, knowledge and creativity takes place.
Drawing on a very successful pilot phase in Austria and The Netherlands in 2015 (4 events, 200 participants) my goal was to further research and develop the WTTLR experiences and the Migrationlab Foundation.
For this purpose, I got a 10K R&D funding to conduct a 1-year research in The Netherlands. Initially, the research was planned to take place in one city. Due to a constant growth of the organisation and demands for new collaborations, I conducted the research in three cities (The Hague, Rotterdam, Amsterdam) and expanded on the number of activities as well.
To explore and unpack the meanings participants gave to their experiences when they participated in the different Migrationlab activities.
To explore and understand what does it mean and why is it important to co-create spaces of encounter, such as Migrationlab co-design workshops and Living Rooms, where migrants, refugees and locals meet, befriend one another and inspire each other through storytelling, social design, and art?
To rethink public space and build inclusive communities in The Netherlands.
Objectives
My role
Formed and led a multidisciplinary research team that included a sociologist, an intercultural psychologist and a senior designer.
Project management, planned research activities and budget allocations.
Co-authored the research report.
Initiated and co-developed co-design workshop methodology.
Facilitated 2 co-design workshops and moderated 7 events in The Hague, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
Co-developed questions for the open ended survey and analysed the results.
Stakeholders communication.
Marketing and Communication activities including social media campaigns.
Methodology
The methodology we used for our research was fundamentally qualitative.
In order to track and establish patterns regarding the shared meanings of participants, the following qualitative methods were used:
co-design workshops.
participant observation.
photo, audio and video documentation.
debriefing and feedback directly after the events.
open-ended surveys distributed after participation in the WTTLR.
Synthesis and reporting.
My Process
Planning
I developed an annual plan that included main activities, timeline, milestones and reporting to the donor, resources, team responsibilities, budget, and presentation of the final research report.
Collaboration
I formed and led a research team that included a sociologist, an intercultural therapist and a senior designer. Together we worked closely on developing the main activities (co-design workshops and the public living rooms); conduct research, participate in and document the events, and contribute to the drafting of the research report.
Co-design workshops and facilitation
Together with the research team I developed a co-design methodology that helped organise and inform inclusive public events under the form of Migrationlab public living rooms. Each member of the research team facilitated and documented one of the four sections of the workshop.
Bringing together migrants, refugees and locals this way to express and work on concerns they faced daily in their local contexts was immensely embraced by these communities and considered innovative by various other, such as academia, local governments, and design representatives.
Here you can have a more comprehensive view on the various co-design sessions I organised and facilitated.
Participant observation
Together with the research team, I conducted participant observation during the co-design workshops, public events and occasionally daily activities of the participants.
Photo, audio and video documentation
We used various media to document our research: for the co-design workshops we worked with audio recordings and photographs. For the public events we worked with video filming, photographs, and canvases for participants who preferred to write down their opinions and feelings rather than speak publicly.
Open-ended surveys
We also created open-ended surveys that we distributed after participation in the public events. We had a high response rate despite the deliberate delay in the distribution of the surveys. We chose to delay the distribution because we wanted to see how people remembered the events after they had time to reflect on them.
For one event in Amsterdam, the surveys were issued four months after the initial event, and for the event in The Hague, two months. Out of a total of 50 participants in these events, we received 25 responses.
In the case of one event in Rotterdam, the survey was sent the day following the event, and out of 44 participants we received 26 feedback forms. The high response rates helped in reconstructing participants’ memories and experiences of the Migrationlab Living Rooms.
Debriefing and feedback directly after the events
Directly after the co-design workshops and public events, my colleagues and I came together for debriefing and feedback sessions. We shared our notes and impressions and wrote down important insights or ideas which would inform the main themes in the research report.
Synthesis
Besides the insights from the debriefing and feedback questions, and those gathered from the open-ended surveys, I also worked on transcribing the audio recordings and highlighted main themes.
With all the insights mapped out, I worked together with my sociologist colleague on drafting a detailed research report that emphasised the activities we developed, the findings of our research, the impact our research had, direct quotes from the participants in various events, the challenges we encountered and learnings we could draw from for future Migrationlab activities.
Findings
The key findings included:
The WTTLR experiences are a way to produce public spaces, offering a safe environment by creatively transforming each specific location.
Migrants, refugees and locals are willing, eager and need to tell their stories and be heard in a safe environment. There’s a need and will to build together, a need and will to stay connected, and a need and will to build a community around the WTTLR experiences.
The WTTLR experiences offer these communities the possibility to together construct a new language and concepts of how we can look at the world and each other.
Presentation
Together with the research team, I presented the report to the entire Migrationlab team and the donor during a special Migrationlab event in The Hague that also celebrated our work and achievements.
The research report was published on the Migrationlab website and social media channels. It represented the basis for further Migrationlab collaborations including with policy makers and helped other actors, such as researchers, students, organisations to explore similar topics.
Publication of the social impact report available at: www.migrationlab.org/impact
Migrationlab was featured among the most exciting innovators in social design that responded to the refugee crisis.
The research contributed to the consolidation of Migrationlab as an organisation and it made possible to become financially sustainable by offering professional services.
I further used the co-design design workshop methodology for organisational development and co-creation of solutions together with project teams. Examples are available in the co-design section.
The research helped academia and designer communities to further research on the topic of social inclusion, public space, and social design. It also inspired cultural organisations active in the same field as Migrationlab to work on co-creating solutions for/with their communities.
Thought leadership: I was invited to speak at international conferences about co-design, social innovation, and migration.