Laboratory of Health and Road Safety (LaHeRS) 
LaHeRS is affiliated to the Department of Social Work at the Technological Educational Institute of Crete, Greece (TEI of Crete). LaHeRS has been actively involved in the undergraduate education of Social Work students and promotes research in health and safety related areas. Since its foundation LaHeRS has been a partner or a coordinating institution in several research projects under the Operational Programme for Education and Initial Vocational Training, which is co-financed by the European Social Fund, the European Regional Development Fund and national resources (e.g.www.teicrete.gr/archimedes). Besides national funds LaHeRS has an active involvement in projects under international funding schemes (COST "357 PROHELMET"), LdV "LLP-LdV-TOI-2007-TR-008"). LaHeRS has also established strategic partnerships with many Greek and European educational and research institutions to increase its research capacity [e.g. Technical University of Ankara, Department of Psychology, Univesrity of Pavia, Medical School, Centre of Study and Research on Road Safety (CIRSS), University of Hannover, Medical School, Accident Research Unit].
Several European projects, that LaHeRS either coordinates or participates in, are the REHABIL-AID project: "Reducing the Harm and the Burden of Injuries and Human Loss caused by road traffic crashes and Addressing Injury Demands through effective interventions", the Commun-AID project: "Increasing the capacity of domestic workers of different origins to respond to sexual violence through community-based interventions:, the WOM-POWER project: "Empowering women to fight against domestic violence through an integrated model of training, support and counseling", the Y-SAV project: Understanding and addressing youth sexual coercion and violence as a threat to young people's sexual health in Europe (Youth Sexual Violence)" and the COST Action TU1101: "Towards safer bicycling through optimization of bicycle helmets and usage"
LaHeRS has produced considerable evidence on the above research areas and has authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings to disseminate its work (Social Sciences Citation, Scopus, Medline-indexed). LaHeRS has retained an explicit inter-disciplinary character with academic partners from sociology, social psychology, health promotion, social work, statistics, engineering and biomedical informatics.
Local Community Development Laboratory 
The laboratory of Local Community Development (L.C.D.) from 1994 is a carrier of programs, which are aimed at community development, applying methods with emphasis on Community Social Work without excluding other methods of Social Work composting today a holistic model of work in the community.
The purpose of the laboratory is to educate students to a holistic model of social work, with particular emphasis on Community Social Work, the Community Organization and Development and Research. The primary objective of the laboratory is to develop the community by promoting educational processes that are implemented through education in the social reality of the local social space, research, design and implementation of programs and activation of local government agencies.
L.C.D.With reference to actions-interventions and the L.C.D. programs, characteristic examples can be found in a series of studies on the community profile in rural areas according to Seippel’s model (Seippel, 1974), in the measurement of social capital on urban and rural communities as regards the community, the household and the organizations, in the cultural adaptation for providing health and welfare services, in the planning of preventive interventions for the reduction of alcohol consumption by young people, in the steps taken towards improving the health of women residing in rural communities by calling informal community networks into action, and finally in the reorganization of health and social welfare services for the elderly and caregivers in rural communities by using a series of methods ranging from action research to social epidemiology and GIS mapping and for the recording of health needs and services.Αt the map someone could see the region that L.C.D. takes action
Laboratory of Cross-cultural Education and Action (La.C.E.A) 
The Department of Social Work of TEI of Crete has established the "Laboratory of Cross-cultural Education and Action" since 2007 in the city of Heraklion. The main target of the La.C.E.A is to educate students in cross-cultural social work, as well as in the General Social Work in order to build students' capacity to implement the three methods of Social Work (S.W with individual, S.W. with groups and S.W. with Communities). Other objectives regards to students' education are:
- The gradual involvement to the activities, programs and interventions of the La.C.E.A. to build the capacity in the assess and to manage effectively their own emotional involvement, attitudes and prejudices that affect their intervention to an individual, or to a group, or to the community.
- To build their capacity in tolerance and to raise the respect towards to cross-cultural issues.
- To recognize the role of a social worker and the limits between the different disciplines within the multidisciplinary team.
- The Gradual familiarization and implementation of diagnostic assessment according to the General Social Work and the cross-cultural perspective.
According to the educational objectives the La.C.E.A.is planning researches, interventions and programmes, mostly in local level, through collaborative relations for the social integration of migrants in the local community, as well as for the further local community development.
Individual goals regards to, initiatives and planning activities for the development of respect for diversity of color, origin, culture, language and religion, the awareness in social issues, e.t.c. In parallel, one of the main pursuing is the contribution of local authorities, institutions and organizations to expand the opportunities, interventions or activities for the orderly coexistence and cooperation within the local communities and immigrants.
In this context, the Department of Social Work has signed an agreement with the Municipality ofHeraklion, the target of which is, the study of the phenomenon of migration and its intervention on issues related to the social integration of immigrants in the social life of the city.
