Social and Behavioural Sciences

About us

Over the coming decades, the Faculty’s goal is to continue playing a leading role in facilitating excellent research and teaching by and for innovative and talented researchers, in close connection with society. Teaching and research are explicitly interlinked; teaching is shaped and informed by the latest scientific insights.

The current range of courses on offer are highly relevant for students who wish to acquire knowledge and skills associated with the social and behavioural science disciplines. With its ambitions in the field of research and teaching, the Faculty aims to meet the constantly evolving demands of today’s (and tomorrow’s) society.

Institutes

The Faculty encompasses 5 institutes:

• Centre for Science and Technology Studies
• Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology,
• Education and Child Studies,
• Political Science, and
• Psychology.

First-rate research is carried out in all these scientific fields, and increasingly across these fields, in an interdisciplinary approach. The Institutes provide a broad, disciplinary teaching programme at both the Bachelor’s and Master’s level.

Research and society

Researchers in the social and behavioural sciences investigate questions prompted by urgent problems in society. These problems are generally connected with individuals’ behaviour and their relationship to systems, such as the family, school, social groups, political institutions, and societies. In today’s world, societal issues develop with an unprecedented dynamic. These issues may relate, for instance, to large migration flows, changes in healthcare and teaching, or a decline in political legitimacy. The effects of globalization call for socio- and behavioural-scientific approaches and solutions.

Teaching and society

Not only the research, but also the teaching provided by the Institutes of the Faculty has a direct two-way relation with society. With ca. 5000 students from all over the world, the Faculty prepares large numbers of young people for leading positions in society in the Netherlands or abroad.

In the Bachelor’s and Master’s degree programmes, students acquire a solid scientific grounding in a given area of knowledge and develop the skills to address social and societal developments throughout their professional careers. In taking on and exercising important civic roles and positions, our students contribute to society, as well as to innovation and development in the area of socio- and behavioural-scientific issues.