The Social Innovation Lab for Human Flourishing engages in research and development to equip organisations with the knowledge, skills, tools, and frameworks necessary to enable, beyond economic success, the human flourishing of their stakeholders, including employees and marginalised communities in their environment, driving both social and organisational advancement.

Human flourishing refers to living a good and meaningful life. It encompasses personal well-being, self-realization, a sense of purpose, positive relationships, and contributing to the well-being of others. It’s a worthy goal as, arguably, the highest expression of our potential as individuals, communities, and society. 

Learn about the Lab

Our work spans cutting-edge research, innovative design, experimentation, and social impact creation, focusing on Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. As an innovation co-creation lab, we closely collaborate with practitioners in local ecosystems, leveraging their deep understanding of local challenges, opportunities, and belief systems to enhance the relevance and effectiveness of organisational innovations for human flourishing. Our work has been supported by an Advanced European Research Council-grant, Leverhulme grants, a Dutch National Science Foundation innovation & impact-grant.

Our Lab encompasses a global community of researchers, at institutions in the UK (LSE, University of Leeds, King's College London), the US (California State University), Europe (Erasmus University Rotterdam, University of Nijmegen), and Africa (Strathmore University, Maseno University, University of Cape Town). We also maintain partnerships with local ecosystem actors in Sub-Saharan Africa (West, East, and Southern Africa) and South Asia (India, Bangladesh), ensuring our research has a wide-reaching and transformative impact.

Our Approach

We follow a dynamic cycle of knowledge creation, innovative design, experimentation, and contextual learning aimed at advancing human flourishing within the communities we work with. A key aspect of our methodology is to avoid imposing Northern paradigms, theories, and impact goals to the global South. Instead, we focus on developing, testing, and sharing new theories and practical skills that are directly relevant and valid in local contexts. A cross-cutting, evidence-based insight of our work is that bottom-up organisational innovations—unleashing the agency, knowledge, and meaning-making processes of local entrepreneurs, employees, and marginalised groups—strongly support their flourishing by supporting what they value in their lives and work. This approach ensures that the innovations we implement are not only contextually appropriate but also driven by the people they aim to serve, enabling more sustainable and meaningful impact. Our Lab operates within and subscribes to a social-justice framework.

What are SILF’s main goals?

The Lab provides valuable academic and practical insights into key questions regarding the advancement of human flourishing in organisational settings:

• What defines human flourishing in context and how can we measure it?
• How can key stakeholders of companies, NGOs, public, and other organizations achieve human flourishing? Which social innovations—new organisational processes, practices, frameworks—advance it?
• Why does this work, and under which conditions?