Unbox is an innovative approach that can deepen how teams collaborate in research and education. Through a playful experience, using physicalized metaphors, groups have deeper conversations about how they work together, challenging assumptions, and opening new possibilities. Unbox helps them find the appropriate language to discuss and tell new stories about what and how they work together.

After three years of developing and testing, the research team has identified Unbox’s key strengths: sparking imagination, investigating hidden or difficult aspects of collaborations, and exploring possibilities for transformative outcomes. The approach shows promise in challenge-based education, transdisciplinary and transformative research, and design interventions.
This project investigates two main uses. As a tool, Unbox helps facilitate more imaginative, collaborative, and transformative processes. As a probe, it reveals hidden constraints—organizational, institutional, or subjective—that limit what teams believe is possible.

Team

Jonas Torrens
Femke van Beek
Merijn Bruijnes
Kornelia Dimitrova
Dan Lockton
Jillian Student
Daniel Tetteroo

Get in touch

j.colenladeiatorrens [at] uu.nl