9th October 2025 saw the official launch of the TUM Public Science Lab. The lab will act as infrastructure for fostering society-centred innovation research. It brings together three TUM chairs: Professors Sabina Leonelli, Anne Rademacher, and Jörg Niewöhner, alongside researchers Dr. Elis Jones and Dr. Desirée Hetzel (see more on the About Page).
The launch proved to be a bustling and exciting showcase of various initiatives already taking place at TUM and beyond, chiefly through a ‘marketplace of ideas’ where stalls representing different projects offered places for discussion, entertainment, and hands-on activities related to public engagement. (For more on the stalls, see ‘PSL Launch Stalls Announced‘).
Stalls included two games, one focused on the sustainability of chemical sciences and the other on power imbalances in research. Attendees also got a sneak preview of the upcoming ‘Ecologies of the Machine: Landscapes of Cement and Power’ exhibition, to be held in Munich’s Pavillon 333 from 15-20 October 2025. The stalls featured lively discussion across a wide of topics: water management, ethical data use, and activist-engaged science, to name just a few.
The event took place at the TUM Think Tank in Munich city centre, with inaugural words offered by Prof. Jeanne Rubner, Vice President of Global Communications and Public Engagement, on the importance of engaging the public in scientific and technological development broadly, and in the research being done at TUM specifically, something the Public Science Lab is designed specifically to do.
At the end of the day attendees and stall-holders engaged in collective reflection on the ideas exchanged and connections formed. Over the coming months, research initiatives and activities at the PSL will continue to develop: we welcome contact from parties inside or outside of the university interested in collaboration, exchange and discussion (email psl.sts(at)sot.tum.de, or use the contact form on the homepage). We would like to vigorously thank everyone who attended and supported the event, particularly the team of student assistants and the TUM Think Tank.
Public Science Lab 