We Are The Ubuntu Lab
The Ubuntu Lab exists to help people understand people, and to create a home for humanity in a rapidly evolving world.
Ubuntu at the Core
Our name is a promise fulfilled to our mentor and a promise to our community. Ubuntu is our most deeply held principle and our everyday practice: the truth that our humanity exists through the humanity of others. To be human is to belong, and to belong is to act with humanity. This is the thread that runs through all we do.
Our Story
The Ubuntu Lab has worked in 77 countries, with over 11,000 learners, educators, and leaders. Today, we stand ready for our next phase, the work we were founded to do, to bring the world Seum.
Ideas & Founding
Two decades ago, Archbishop Desmond Tutu pointed our co-founder Michael toward this work while he was researching cultures of peace. In 2012, Michael and Kristi Radke founded The Ubuntu Lab to bring an experience of understanding to the world.
Testing & Learning
We’ve worked across 77 countries with 11,000+ learners, educators, and leaders. We've bridged continents and disciplines to build methods that create impactful experiences for learners from many backgrounds, and are relevant and exciting across cultures.
Prototyping & Piloting
Through hands-on prototypes, including Impact Kit, a global series of workshops, and custom curriculum adaptations, we have translated theory into practice, along the way refining facilitation, content development, and training. These cycles led to our networked global museum concept.
In 2025, Kristin Alford joined our leadership team, bringing with her the experience of founding MOD, a proto-Seum. With a focus on contextualizing big social challenges through a futures lens, this serves as a foundational pilot of the Seum concept.
Leadership
The Ubuntu Lab is led by a circle of passionate experts who carry knowledge across continents and disciplines. Their experience spans the cultural sector, peace education, media, international education, technology, and startup innovation. Among them are voices from Silicon Valley and the Nobel Peace community, and educators who have worked in more than a hundred countries.
