Social Science Enterprise Lab

In a new Social Science Enterprise Lab at Durham University, we aim to scale up the impact of social science research through commercialisation. Unlike other science commercialisation activities, we bring research impact and business prospection together and early into the research process. In the Lab, we leverage the generative power of social science knowledge and the motivation behind social enterprising. Combined, they can give the research efforts of social scientists the necessary intentionality and direction to produce scalable research impact, as it is embedded into the research process itself and the daily practices of social scientists. 

At the core of The Social Science Enterprise Lab is a 10-month research incubation programme that supports teams of researchers and practitioners in conducting solution-oriented research. Each team will comprise three Durham University-based social scientists and three practitioners/ SME founders in the North-East of England. Social scientists receive training and support to develop their research into scalable and sustainable impact. Practitioners/ SME founders receive training and support to co-create research-based solutions with commercial potential. Participating practitioners/SME founders will become Entrepreneurs-in-Residence at Durham University Business School for the duration of the programme.

In the next three years (2024-2026), the Lab aims to support ten social science research project teams. These teams will receive training, conduct joint problematisation, engage in research activities, explore solutions through prospection, explore markets for research solutions, and engage in commercialisation activities. At the end of the 10-month programme, the intention is to have a scalable research intervention/solution and a clear pathway to bring the intervention/solution to the market. It is the ambition of the Lab to develop all methods and tools that support the research projects into a scalable intervention itself as well.

The following team members work in the Social Science Enterprise Lab:

• Professor Pablo Munoz (Professor in Entrepreneurship)
• Sanne Elbrink (Postdoctoral Research Associate, expert in communities of practice)
• Jeni Smith (PhD student exploring research-practice networks)
• Rodrigo Frias (PhD student exploring research-policy engagement)
• Dr. Laura Bond (Investor and expert in science spin-offs)

For more information about the Social Science Enterprise Lab, contact Professor Pablo Munoz.