Living Lab Opportunities for Staff

Stanford’s Living Lab ecosystem brings together faculty, researchers, operational leaders, staff, and students to turn campus into a platform for applied sustainability innovation. These academic–operational collaborations bridge theory and practice, accelerate strategic sustainability goals, and create meaningful opportunities for teaching, research, and student development. Explore this tool to learn about opportunities for operational staff partners to get involved with Stanford’s Living Lab.

Bring your sustainability priorities to life

Operational units can benefit from dedicated student support that advances priority initiatives, expands analytical and implementation capacity, and accelerates solutions that move Stanford toward its sustainability goals. They can also benefit from collaborations with faculty and academic research partners, who bring analytical rigor, subject-matter expertise, and fresh perspectives that inform strategy and implementation. Living Lab projects create structured collaboration where operational and academic expertise work together in real time.

Pathways for collaboration

There are several ways operational partners can collaborate through Stanford’s Living Lab:

1. Sustainable Stanford Fellowship projects (year-long) and internship positions

Year-long fellowship projects pair a student fellow with operational and academic mentors to lead applied, campus-engaged sustainability work. These projects are well-suited for efforts that require substantive change management, stakeholder engagement, planning, analysis, and multi-quarter execution. Sustainable Stanford interns engage in hands-on projects that support the operational backbone of campus sustainability. Proposals for internship positions for AY 2026-27 are open and due January 15th.

2. Academic course collaborations

 Course-based collaborations offer students real-world datasets, applied problem-solving, and hands-on work with campus systems. Operational partners benefit from targeted student analysis, prototypes, recommendations, and research-informed insights from course collaborations. To inquire about a course-based collaboration, fill out the Sustainable Stanford contact form.

3. Ad hoc applied research and project collaborations

Operational units can also initiate targeted collaborations outside of formal programs. These may include data access, pilot testing, scoping studies, evaluation support, or work aligned with ongoing operational priorities.