The Competence Centre in Experimental and Participatory Research (EXPAR) is a cross-departmental initiative. Our ambition is to improve awareness of and skills in experimental and participatory research methods to strengthen LISER’s position at the forefront of internationally high quality, scientifically rigorous and societally relevant research.
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- Behavioural and Experimental Economics: applies behavioural economics principles and perspectives in experimental research to evaluate policies and understand human behavior in social and economic contexts.
- Geo-Experimentation: applies geo-experimental and other experimental research techniques and methodologies in controlled laboratory experiments, in online and in field experiments.
- Participatory Research: developing and applying new formats of collaborations (e.g. living labs and citizen science) between policy-makers, companies, NGO’s, citizens and scientists.
- Qualitative Methodologies: qualitative analysis seeks to understand social phenomena through a holistic and fact-based perspective by applying various methodologies.
In view of the realisation of our ambition, cc-EXPAR:
- organises expert seminars with internationally well-known scholars,
- launches seed money calls to fund ideas about research focused on the development – or the application – of innovative methodologies, which strengthen the academic output and/or prospects for future fund-raising capacity,
- provides training in methodologies. Multiple training sessions have thus far been organised, e.g. in Design Thinking for participatory methods, qualitative methodologies and experimental research,
- gives support for research proposals.
In the research project portfolio of LISER, a number of projects include experiments in a controlled setting, for which LISER has a dedicated room, the “LISER experimental lab”.
VR equipment
Virtualizer ELITE 2 omnidirectional treadmill
This omnidirectional treadmill allows participants to walk comfortably in Virtual Reality applications, in various directions, creating a strong sense of presence. Walking on it is intuitive, and adjusts quickly to both forward and backward walking. Moreover, the treadmill offers adaptability through its adjustable harness and incline angle, making it well-suited for a wide range of users. The motion platform is actively supported and the treadmill operates with a fully implemented optical tracking system.
HTC Vive Focus Vision Business Edition
Virtual Reality Headset
Monitoring / sensor equipment
NUSHU Smart sensor shoes
Shoes equipped with sensors able to collect IoT data for the medical-grade gait analysis of mobility activity. The AI powered gait analysis provides 40+ gait parameters, ranging from spatio-temporal parameters to balance and symmetry metrics.
The vibrotactile biofeedback can then be used to interact with the wearer, as the algorithms detect gait events in real-time to warn or guide patients. Furthermore, analysis results are accessible through a dashboard that allows (health) professionals to see the progress of the patients, compare individual assessments, and check whether the gait parameters are in the expected range.
Empatica Health Monitoring Bracelet
Bracelet to capture physiological indicators of behavior
Pupils Core headset + Observer XT software
Modular, durable, and lightweight eye tracking glasses with World camera and binocular eye cameras + software for the analysis of eye tracking data and video data in general.
Robotics
Unitree Go - robot dog
The Unitree Go is a robotic dog equipped with advanced sensors and AI, designed for agile movement, autonomous navigation, and real-time environment interaction.
Geospatial Data Collection Equipment
Drone DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium & DJI Mavic 3T Thermal
The DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium Bundle is a high-end drone package designed for professional aerial photography and videography. The drone features a dual-camera system, including a 4/3 CMOS Hasselblad camera and a telephoto lens for versatile shooting. It supports video recording and offers built-in SSD storage, enabling smooth, high-resolution footage capture. The Mavic 3 boasts advanced obstacle sensing in all directions, extended flight time of up to 43 minutes, and precise GPS-based tracking. The bundle includes two additional DJI Mavic 3 batteries, ensuring longer shooting sessions.
Regarding pilot licensing requirements, these depend on your location and the drone's specifications. The DJI Mavic 3 Cine Premium drone has a takeoff weight of approximately 963 grams.
Deep learning camera
DL camera is a very recent intelligent imaging device that uses neural networks to automatically collect, analyze and interpret visual data in real time, by extracting information from images fast and easily. It can be used for image classification, face recognition, traffic monitoring, crowd/people/counting, travel mode classification (i.e., car, track, bikes, and walk), air pollution monitoring through hyperspectral images, species monitoring, computer vision for automatic inspection (e.g., of pipelines, city center, industry), etc. It can be embedded into mobile, desktop, and handheld systems, because of its very small size, low weight and power consumption. It can be mounted on a mobile vehicle or in a fixed location.
LiDAR scanner
The RPLIDAR A3 is a mobile (handheld) 360-degree laser LiDAR scanner capable of measuring 2D distances up to 25 meters, ideal for mapping, navigation and robotic applications.
Digital camera with GPS (RICOH WG-5 GPS)
Waterproof, shockproof, dustproof, freezeproof camera for superior image depiction under extreme conditions such as night scenes, underwater scenes, and fast moving subjects. Equipped to display the electromagnetic compass on the LCD monitor for checking latitude, longitude, and atmospheric pressure of the current location. Includes a GPS function that records the location information on the shooting data.
Participatory workshop toolkits
Gender Board Game
The GG is a board game designed by LISER researchers with the aim of promoting science to the public and deconstructing gender stereotypes. The game can be played with children (aged > 8y), young people and adults, as well as across generations. The game is based on a Q&A mode. Interaction with the audience is led by a moderator and stimulated by gamification.
The GG won an FNR Award for Outstanding Promotion of science to the public in 2020. Currently the game is being developed in collaboration with the LIST (PSP Flagship project funded by the FNR, 2022-2024) with the aim to create a digitally enhanced version of the GG likely to increase the gaming experience for the players, the interaction with the audience, and to facilitate the moderator's tasks.
Ketso kit
Premium workshop toolkit for up to 24 participants, aimed at effective stakeholder engagement in multiple groups. Ideal for large workshops with 3 tables of up to 8 people each. The kit includes 3 different sizes of felt workspace to use for warm up exercises, the main focus of the workshop and break out groups. Comes complete with an action planning grid to produce timelines and action plans.
Through internal “seed grants” calls and a “High Risk High Gain” calls, cc-EXPAR is able to fund innovative and collaborative LISER project ideas with a high potential to contribute to the further development of the targeted areas of competence.
Seed grants focus on the development of small but relevant pieces of research, ideally providing the foundation of a future larger research project. “High Risk High Gain” grants focus on highly innovative, original contributions to the development of experimental and participatory research methods.