Research & Industry Services
The Central Coast Health & Wellbeing Living Lab partners with researchers, industry and community organisations to address shared challenges across health, aged care and social care.
We support participatory and co-design approaches that involve consumers, practitioners, and end users in shaping ideas and testing concepts, ensuring innovation is grounded in lived experience and local service context.
Bringing people together to inform research, design and innovation
Our Services
Our work is structured across five interconnected pillars:
-
Lived experience engagement to shape solutions.
We support teams to meaningfully involve people with lived and living experience in shaping services, technologies, care models and research. Through structured cycles of engagement and feedback, we ensure insights are grounded in place-based and community-informed insight.
What we offer
Design, plan and facilitate co-design workshops and participatory engagement sessions
Discovery workshops to identify unmet needs and opportunities relevant to your work
Recruitment of participants through established health, academic and community networks
Ethical guidance on consumer involvement in research
Qualitative insight generation and reporting to inform research, design and strategy
Support and partnership on competitive grant applications requiring co-design or consumer involvement (e.g. NHMRC, MRFF, ARC)
Recent projects
▢ Living Well After Hospital co-design (details coming soon) →
▢ Carer Self-Identification workshop series (details coming soon) →
Work with the CCLL
Interested in embedding lived experience into your project, research or service redesign?
-
Usability testing, feasibility, evaluation and real-world scenarios
We support researchers and industry partners in testing early-stage and pre-commercial innovations (products, theories, models of practice) with the people who will ultimately use them, ensuring the proposed solutions are practical, usable, and ready for real-world contexts.
What we offer
Usability testing with diverse community members and professionals working across health, social care and community services.
Prototype testing and feasibility assessment with relevant end-users and connected parties
Scenario-based trials conducted in realistic environments
Qualitative and quantitative data capture and opportunities to run evaluation in partnership with University of Newcastle researchers
Partnership on opportunities for industry–research matched funding
Recent projects
iLA AI-enabled care planning · VR/AR assistive technologies training tools
Rel8 communication app · The Seniors Channel digital engagement research · A Moment With digital storytelling platform
-
Innovation challenges, hackathons and collaborative idea-generation
We design and deliver innovation programs that bring researchers, community members, industry partners and health services together to explore complex challenges, generate new ideas and move promising concepts toward action.
What we offer
Innovation challenges focused on priority themes (healthy ageing, mental health, digital health, social isolation)
Design sprints and idea-collider sessions
Hackathons and rapid prototyping workshops
Innovation forums and speaker events
Support for pre-accelerator pathways
Cross-sector collaboration to address complex system challenges
Examples of our work
▢ Ideas Collider →
▢ Community Connection Challenge Theme →
▢ CCLL Launch & Strategic Direction – Collaborative Workshop →
-
Strategic Doing workshops, co-design capability building, and collaboration methods for complex challenges.
We support researchers, industry and community partners to strengthen how they work together and how solutions are developed. Progress on complex challenges often depends on effective collaboration, and participatory, co-design approaches can improve relevance, adoption and long-term impact across health, aged care and social care.
Strategic Doing supports collaboration where there is no single problem owner or hierarchy, helping groups align on shared challenges and take practical action using existing resources. (Learn more about Strategic Doing →)
Co-design focuses on how projects and solutions are shaped — ensuring they are developed with the people they aim to benefit, and are more likely to be effective, adopted and sustained.
What we offer
Participatory design capability uplift for researchers and industry, including shared language, principles and practical approaches
Strategic Doing workshops for cross-sector collaboration
Collaboration capability building across health, aged care and social care
Coaching and mentoring as teams apply these approaches to real projects
Pathways from capability building to co-design delivery and grant-funded work
Work with the CCLL
If you are interested in:
Hosting a Strategic Doing or co-design workshop
Building collaboration capability within your organisation
Running an applied pilot or “learn-as-you-go” project
Exploring partnership opportunities linked to research or grant funding
-
Grant Partnership & Funding Pathways
We collaborate with researchers, industry and community partners to strengthen funding applications and embed participatory approaches from the outset.
Our role includes shaping project design, aligning partnerships and integrating meaningful co-creation and consumer involvement in ways that meet contemporary funding expectations.
What we offer
Integration of participatory and lived experience approaches into grant proposals
Support with consumer involvement planning and documentation
Facilitation of collaborative project scoping and design workshops
Partnership development across community, industry, government and academia
Linking industry- or community-led initiatives with research and evaluation partners
Pathways from early-stage ideas to grant-ready concepts
We support research and innovation projects in which collaboration, real-world testing, and meaningful engagement are essential but often difficult to achieve within existing structures.
Partners work with us because we offer practical support that reduces risk, saves time and strengthens the relevance of their work.
Why partner with us
Access to people and real-world settings
We provide established pathways to involve consumers, practitioners and community members in ways that are ethical, appropriate and proportionate to the project. This helps teams move beyond assumptions and test ideas in contexts that reflect real-world use.
Experience convening cross-sector collaboration
We bring together researchers, industry, services and community stakeholders who may not typically work together, supporting shared understanding and practical progress on complex challenges.
Support across the research–innovation lifecycle
From early discovery and concept testing through to evaluation and grant-funded work, we work alongside partners at different stages — adapting our role as projects evolve.
Embedded within a trusted research environment
As part of the University of Newcastle ecosystem, we support rigorous research practice, ethical governance and opportunities for collaboration with academic partners.
A flexible partnership approach
We recognise that not all projects require the same level of involvement. We work flexibly from light-touch support through to deeper collaboration and partner with specialist providers where additional expertise is needed.
Let’s Work Together
Have an idea, project or collaboration in mind? We’d love to hear from you.
Share a few details and we’ll be in touch.
Accredited Member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL)
The Central Coast Health & Wellbeing Living Lab is an accredited member of the European Network of Living Labs (ENoLL) — a global community advancing user-centred, open innovation through co-creation in real-life settings.
ENoLL membership is awarded through a competitive, merit-based process, recognising Living Labs that demonstrate strong collaboration, governance and meaningful citizen involvement.
