MICA Lab for Transition Communication

The MICA Lab for Transition Communication brings together vocational (mbo), applied university (hbo), and master’s students with researchers, companies, governments, and societal organizations.

Project leader

Bianca Harms

Duration

September 2025 - August 2028

Domains

Communication, Media, Design

In this multilevel collaboration, they work on real communication challenges related to transitions. In doing so, students discover how their talents can have a direct impact, while partners benefit from new knowledge and concrete solutions that contribute to broad prosperity.

What is the background of the project?

Our society faces major challenges: the shift to a circular economy, the energy transition, new perspectives on health, and the digitalization of almost every aspect of our lives. At the same time, issues such as inequality, demographic decline, and mobility are pressing. These transitions require not only technological and policy solutions, but also a change in thinking and behavior—by people, businesses, institutions, and governments. Communication plays a crucial role here. Yet in many existing transition initiatives, communication remains an underexposed factor. The MICA Lab for Transition Communication aims to change this by researching, testing, and teaching how communication can contribute to behavioral change, awareness, and engagement.

Project approach

In the MICA Lab for Transition Communication, education, research, and practice come together. Students from vocational, applied university, and master’s levels collaborate with researchers, companies, governments, and societal organizations on communication challenges related to major societal transitions. The lab thus offers a unique learning environment where theory is directly linked to practice.

Students learn to apply academic and methodological frameworks and experience how communication can contribute to societal change. Examples include campaigns that encourage sustainable behavior, media concepts that activate young people around health, or marketing communication that supports sustainable SMEs. These projects are connected to the regional ecosystem of living labs, hubs, and research groups with which the lab collaborates closely.

The strength of the lab lies in its multilevel collaboration: students from different educational levels and disciplines discover how their backgrounds complement one another and how they can jointly deliver meaningful contributions. In doing so, they develop skills that are valuable not only for their studies but also for their future careers.

Within this project, the research group investigates the role of communication and media in transitions, focusing on themes such as awareness, support, and behavioral change. Students are provided with the frameworks to analyze and critically assess interventions. In addition, the research group fulfills a connecting role by collecting insights from Frisian living labs, interpreting them, and making them widely accessible through a knowledge platform. This prevents fragmentation and ensures that knowledge is available for education, research, and practice.