Freie Universität Berlin

The aim of our Living Lab is to understand and creatively promote the diverse relationships between humans and non-human living beings on campus, while also supporting the well-being and mental health of students.

In this Living Lab, we are expanding the activities of the Blooming Campus at the FU Berlin into a Multispecies Campus.

The aim is to create a campus that actively considers non-human living beings and promotes a positive relationship between humans and nature. In doing so, we are guided by the principles of Animal Aided Design (AAD). We want to increase acceptance of biodiversity and corresponding measures through art projects and targeted public relations work. We are also investigating the interactions between biodiversity, mental health and the well-being of students in a research project. Our Living Lab combines activities from research, teaching and campus life.

The poster from the Teaching Day on 18.11.2024 summarizes our project, which was submitted also to the FEdA conference in 2024.

News:

• The final evaluation of the studies in module three, “Researching the connection between biodiversity, mental health and well-being”, is currently underway, focusing on how students experience contact with urban wildlife on and around campus. Contact the research team at: multispecies@psychologie.fu-berlin.de.

• The final report is currently being written.

• On January 6, 2026, there will be a lecture entitled “How do urban wildlife affect our well-being?” as part of the lecture series “Biodiverse Berlin – from the perspective of research, nature conservation, and society.”

What has happened so far:

• Target species workshop in module one “Recording and promoting biodiversity” held on March 17, 2025.
• Forty-two species from the workshop were captured at the mural on the glass facades in the reading room of the campus library.

• Winter study in module three “Researching the connection between biodiversity, mental health and well-being” successfully completed. The spring study from April 4 to May 5, the summer study from June 16 to July 4, and the fall study from November 3 to November 17 also took place.
• Work of the campus nature ranger in module one, “Recording and promoting biodiversity”, implemented by the end of June 2025.
• Vernissage from Wed July 02 - Sun August 03, 2025 in the "Blätterlaube" and between Thielallee and "Theaterhof" on the Campus Dahlem as part of module two “Improving the acceptance and visibility of biodiversity” took place, attracting large crowds.
• Exchange of experiences within the framework of the ISCN network's Community of Practice Living Labs on December 3 and 4, 2025.

Contact:

Prof. Tanja Straka

Jonas Schramm

We are a team of 9 people. Our Living Lab is based on three modules that complement each other. The contact persons for the respective modules can be found in the descriptions

This project is funded by the Living Lab program of Freie Universität Berlin.