Co-creative Methods

We regularly develop workshops to raise awareness and build capacity in the area of co-creation & engagement for specific target groups, concerns and contexts. If you are interested or have specific needs in your research area, discipline or doctoral programme, please get in touch with us.

Workshop Formats (Selection)

• ‘Citizen Sensing: What opportunities does participatory data collection with sensors open up for science, local communities or politics?’ Getting to know the concept through playful exercises and examples from other cities. Using mobile sensors to independently measure particulate matter. Read out results with a view to the Helmholtz Centre HEREON's digital platform for air quality forecasting. Discussing and reflecting on data quality and analysis, the relationship between measurement and modelling, possible applications and their opportunities and limitations, etc
  

• ‘Introduction to moderation and mediation of multi-stakeholder projects’:  A deeper understanding of moderation and mediation is conveyed through theoretical inputs, simulations and role plays. Practical cases of moderated events, meetings or conflict discussions are analysed. This develops an awareness of the challenges and barriers in multi-party communication and the need for an empathetic yet assertive approach to communication on the part of the moderator.

• "Collaborating through play? Opportunities and challenges of serious play in co-creative processes":  After a brief introduction, the participants play through specific formats from the field of serious gaming in small groups following instructions. Based on the experiences gained, we will then reflect in plenary on the effects the games produced in the workshop and what effects may have been intended in the use contexts for which the respective format was developed. We conclude the workshop by considering for which of our own scenarios we can imagine playful approaches, or perhaps exactly why not. Co-Creation & Engagement team of the TransferAgentur co-designs customized workshops upon request and offers a complete package for self-application (consultation + material rental + follow-up discussion). 

• "Walk & Talk":  This format invites participants to leave the campus and get to know the surrounding community along various stations. Along the way, interesting conversations can be held and contacts made. Walk & Talks consist of 6-8 stations, each with an assigned task and a conversation prompt for the walk in between. The stations can be visited in any order. We offer the Walk & Talk format for two Campuses: von Melle Mark and Science City Bahrenfeld, as a package, meaning the Co-Creation & Engagement team of the TransferAgentur co-designs customized workshops upon request and offers a complete package for self-application (consultation + material rental + follow-up discussion).

• "Matchmaking":  This format specifically focuses on networking between society and academia, between needs and expertise, between problems and those seeking solutions. Through offerings for inspiration, speed networking, and matchmaking, interested researchers and students, activists from associations, volunteer work and initiatives, and foundations are brought together to discuss moderated topic areas that have either been explored in advance during consultation with the Team Co-Creation & Engagement or brought by the requesters. In this format, many contacts are exchanged and concrete collaborations are initiated. We offer consultation and co-design of matchmaking formats, as well as reflection formats afterward.

• "Writing Workshop: Societal Impact Story":  Societal Impact Stories provide understandable reporting to third parties, such as stakeholders, media representatives, colleagues from other disciplines, and strengthen legitimacy toward various stakeholder groups (e.g., funders, multipliers, media). Furthermore, Societal Impact Stories can provide inspiration for one's own (transdisciplinary) research through expansion of the methodological spectrum, reflexive design, and the retention and recruitment of practice partners. In a Societal Impact Story writing workshop, we work with participants to determine exactly how their project can be well presented in such a SIS and support you in creating it. See also the corresponding chapter on our homepage 

• Potentials and Challenges of Co-Creativity in Research (Part 1 can be combined with Part 2 and/or Part 3 (each 3.5 hours incl. break)

1. Part: Fundamentals: Theoretical impulse (relevance of co-creation in the research context) & Interactive exploration of stakeholder analysis, process design, and method selection - based on case examples from participants' research contexts (3.5 hours incl. break)
2. Part: Roles and Competencies: Conceptual impulses (roles and competencies in heterogeneous stakeholder constellations) & Simulation and reflection of moderation and conflict management in co-creative processes. (3.5 hours incl. break)
3. Part: Process Design: Conceptual impulses (challenges of process design – based on the results presented in Part 1 / role and challenges of moderation / dilemmas ethical aspects) & Interactive exploration of stakeholder analysis, process design, and method selection - based on the results from Part 1 - within the framework of case examples from participants' research contexts (1/2 day or 1 day)

The Team Co-Creation & Engagement regularly contributes to teaching activities, such as guest lectures or collaborative teaching tandems, to jointly explore the theoretical foundations and discipline-specific knowledge of co-creative work with educators and students. We also aim to support the development of methodological skills and critical-reflective competencies. You can find some examples here.

If you are interested in a co-operation in the field of teaching, please do not hesitate to contact us. Together we will examine the potential for targeted guest contributions or joint teaching tandems in your department or degree programme.

• Mendes, Claudia. Multistakeholder collaboration for sustainability transformation: Potentials and Challenges of Real-world Labs. Guest lecture for Edinger-Schons, Laura & Gebken, Larissa: Lecture Series: “Sustainability Transformation in Management, Economics and Society”, WiSe 2025/26
• Mendes, Claudia & Ribeiro Douglas. Partizipation trifft Effizienz: Ko-Kreative Wege in der öffentlichen Verwaltung, SoSe 2024 (PDF)
• Caser, Ursula & Mendes, Claudia. Digitale Mittagspause: Das Co-Creation & Engagement Center stellt sich vor, SoSe 2024
• Mendes, Claudia & Ribeiro Douglas. Die Kraft der Vielfalt für die Ko-Kreation, WiSe 2023/24 (PDF)
• Maasen, Sabine. Re-Thinking Innovation: Green, Open, Social, WiSe 2023/24
• Caser, Ursula & Mendes, Claudia. Die „gemeinsame Sprache“ in ko-kreativen Projekten finden - eine Herausforderung!, SoSe 2023
• Maasen, Sabine & Ribeiro Douglas mit Mendes, Claudia & Caser, Ursula. Kommunikation, Ko-Kreation und Mediation: praktische Aspekte der integrativen Forschung, WiSe 2022/23 (PDF)
• Caser, Ursula. Green Office and Co-creative Research at the Knowledge Exchange Agency (TransferAgentur), SoSe2022
• Maasen, Sabine. Innovation als Signatur der Gegenwartsgesellschaft, WiSe 2021/22
• Maasen, Sabine mit Sutter, Barbara. Dissertation - exzellent und relevant!, WiSe2021/22
• Maasen, Sabine mit Sutter, Barbara. Requalifizierte Bürger, Experten des Alltags, Scientific Citizen: Kompetenzen für Öffentliche Wissenschaft, WiSe 2021/22
• Maasen, Sabine. Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft – Szenen einer komplizierten Beziehung, SoSe 2021
• Maasen, Sabine. Von Action Research über Transdisziplinarität bis Co-Creation: Formen und Begründungen partizipativer Forschung, SoSe 2021