Origin

The founder of Change Lab is Choi Wai Maggie Chak, who had the idea of offering a shared and innovative learning platform for students to discuss societal and environmental challenges. From 2018 to 2022, Maggie was a Research Associate and PhD Candidate at the Science-to-Business Marketing Research Centre (S2BMRC). Her research focussed on engagement and collaboration between academia and communities.

In 2018/2019 the first semester project took place and was called "Bringing Changes for Good". A team of Bachelor's and Master's students conducted a survey to find out the most popular social topics among students. Building on this, two interactive events were then organized and very well received.

In 2021/2022, the second semester project took place on the topic "Changemakers of Münster". Once again, a team of Bachelor's and Master's students organized an event on the topic of social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, it was an online event. Several guest speakers were invited, which was very well received.

In 2023/2024, Judith Helmer, Research Associate at S2BMRC, took over Change Lab to continue the story. Titled "It's time to change through science", two semester projects were carried out in collaboration with the regional climate community in Saerbeck. Through this, Change Lab further embraced the idea of openness to incorporate principles of Citizen Science, Science-to-Society, and Science Communication to engage in deeper discussions with diverse stakeholders. In addition, first events and workshops were launched to establish a regional living lab.