The LSE has built a strong research infrastructure to support the work of its economists in the area of growth and development, using the model of a lab-based research centre. The LSE Research Lab, opened in 2001, is a purpose-built facility to house research in the social sciences and hosts the LSE’s major research centres in economics – the Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines (STICERD) and the Centre for Economic Performance (CEP). The space also provides a home to PhD students, academic visitors, and researchers in a mode that fosters intellectual exchange and interaction. Although based around economics, it is also promotes interdisciplinary research and includes representatives from the departments of management, government, geography and social policy.