Wislikofen
Wislikofen is a typical Swiss village in Aargau canton, home to the Propstei Abbey and within commuting distance to Zurich. Despite the idyllic context, locals in Wislikofen are dealing with challenging transformations and tough decisions about their future sustainability.
Wislikofen has was a living lab between 2013, when TdLab started running annual winter schools called "Science meets Practice", and 2020. The winter schools were the main pillars of the living lab, and through them we addressed topics that were mutually agreed upon with the mayor and the community secretary. For example in the last two years we focused on community mergers and the consequences of amalgamating administrative districts (see also the article [in German] in the external pageAargauer Zeitung of 19.1.2020). We have previously worked on topics such as energy use.
The main winter school participants were doctoral students, who learned to organize a dialogue with the villagers and contribute to burning issues in Wislikofen. Through the school, we trained young scientists to generate and cultivate fruitful dialogue with people outside of academia. Our vision was to provide structure, time and space for them to learn how to make a meaningful connection between science and their own research to the wider public.
History
The Winter School "Science meets Practice" was initiated in 2011 by the Competence Centre Environment and Sustainability (CCES) of the ETH domain. Over the years, the winter school developed from an approach using Wislikofen a testing ground for organizing truly collaborative workshops that focus on topics of local interest. As of April 2017, the TdLab was responsible for the organisation and implementation of the programme. In 2020, the programme was discontinued.
TdLab's Project Team
- Dr BinBin Pearce
- Dr Pius Krütli
- Prof. Dr Michael Stauffacher
- Dr Christian Pohl
- Dr Patricia Fry
Testimonials
"For the first time, I experienced a very dynamic learning process interacting with other participants, lecturers and stakeholders from diverse fields" (PhD student)
"The ETH guests, who meet regularly in Wislikofen, help the villagers to discover themselves. This creates openness based on mutual trust. Scientists and villagers who first come together as strangers always leave as friends." (Newspaper article)