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  Engaged research fieldwork

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  International community

Do you aspire to make a positive social impact through your work? Are you interested in better understanding the major challenges of our time? Do you want to study how today’s institutions and societal structures can be transformed to improve society? Do you strive to turn critical ideas into meaningful action for change? Are you a self-reflective thinker and an engaged doer at the same time? Then this is the Master's programme for you.

Organising for a more sustainable, inclusive and just society

In response to the pressing societal challenges, our programme introduces actions organisations take to foster positive change in people, communities and institutions and promote a more socially just and ecologically sustainable society. Our programme collaborates with transformative and socially innovative organisations such as grassroots, civil associations, cooperatives, collectives and social enterprises across the Netherlands that mobilise individuals and communities to address issues such as economic inequality, poverty, climate change, violence and intolerance at the local and (inter)national levels.

This small-scale, intensive programme enables you to understand organising as a political action and process to foster institutional transformation, both in theory and practice. We offer you a unique combination of interdisciplinary critical knowledge of systematic change, engaged research methodologies, professional skills, and experience of ‘getting your hands dirty’ in the field, which altogether help you become a changemaker. The programme allows you to explore how to create impact and become part of social change by supporting and working with organisational partners such as Commons Network, CASCO Art Institute for Commons, Utrecht Natuurlijk, Masterpeace and Rutgers.

Engaged Research Fieldwork

As a part of the Research Seminar, our Master's programme provides the opportunity to do engaged research fieldwork in a partner organisation. This action-oriented research process exposes students to the practice of organising for social change during periods three and four. It is assessed through a thesis that can also take the form of a product thesis (e.g. documentary, organisational guidebook, workshops, etc.). In the thesis, through the societal challenge the partner organisation tackles, the student critically analyses the social issue at hand, looks into the organisational practices and processes, reflects on the power relations and provides insights how organising process can be advanced for a systematic and institutional transformation.

Become an expert and skilled changemaker

During the programme you will:

• gain interdisciplinary critical knowledge to analyse current social challenges and how organisations committed to social change tackle them;
• apply innovative and action-oriented research methodology skills for social change;
• experience and contribute to mobilisations of grassroots and other public or private organisations for social transformation and systematic change;
• bring together the theory and practice of organising social impact through your engaged research fieldwork
• learn and practice key professional skills for organising social change.

Career prospects

Graduates fill key managerial, mobilisation and political roles in organisations that actively address society’s grand challenges. This expertise and these professional competences are highly sought after in (inter)national organisations and NGOs with a social transformative mission. Our graduates find work with advocacy organisations, grassroots community organisations, political parties, (local) public administrations and (social) enterprises, among others.