Courses
Find the course overview for each period and track below, or download an overview of the entire programme (pdf).
You can access your personal schedules in MyTimetable.
Period 1: Joint programme
Period 2: track specific content
Track coordinator: Dr Amy Nivette (A.E.Nivette@uu.nl).
In the Criminology and Safety track, you develop your understanding of issues surrounding crime and criminal justice policy responses. You will acquire knowledge about the causes of crime in different environments, the impact on public safety and the effectiveness of policy solutions.
Attention will be paid to both old and ‘new’ forms of crime that have emerged from new technologies and means of communication. You will examine the patterns and explanations of crimes that occur within the local neighbourhood environment, crimes that occur in the virtual world, and crimes that occur across borders.
Courses
First track course
The first course in this track is offered by sociology: Criminology and safety (theories, trends, and policies).
You will read theoretical literature on different crime problems and gain insight into the most important and current empirical findings. Using an existing data base, you will investigate trends and patterns of crime in the Netherlands and abroad, and where crimes and victimization are concentrated.
By the end of the course, you will ‘specialize’ in one type of crime of your choice by examining in depth the temporal trends and geographical patterns, reviewing theoretical explanations and empirical evidence, and developing potential policy solutions.
Second (elective) track course
We recommend the following course as your track elective:
Neighbourhoods and crime (GEO4-3316, Social Geography)
This course examines crime from a social geographic perspective, focusing on the spatial aspects of crime in a metropolitan context. In particular, this course addresses the question of how specific physical and social composition of city neighbourhoods relate to crime.
Questions addressed in this course include: How does residential segregation differ between countries? How can residential segregation be explained and how successful are policies aimed at combating segregation? What is the role of the built environment in the (perceived) safety of the neighbourhood? What role can urban design play in reducing criminality?
Third track course
As a third sociological course within this track you may choose between Social Research in a Digital Age and Essentials of care: analysing current policy trends.
Track coordinator: Dr Rense Corten (R.Corten@uu.nl).
The internet plays an increasingly important role in modern societies. This development implies many new sociological and societal questions, but also provides unprecedented opportunities for new research, new policies, and policy-oriented research. At the same time, these new research opportunities come with challenges and caveats that are often poorly understood by social scientists, data scientists, as well as policy makers. The track aims at delivering professionals who can provide a much-needed interface between data analysts on the one hand and policy makers and other stakeholders on the other hand.
Ideally you will be able to translate social problems and policy issues related to online processes into relevant research questions that can be studied with digital data, and conversely, you will be able to interpret and apply results from data analysis to relevant social contexts, and to provide policy recommendations based on this research.
Courses
First track course
The first course, Social Research in a Digital Age, is offered by Sociology.
This course takes a realistic approach to social science research in the digital age by introducing students to research strategies that, on the one hand, make use of the many research opportunities that the internet has to offer, but on the other hand, are usable and responsible, take the many pitfalls of digital trace data into account, and allow for research that is independent of "big tech" as much as possible. In the process, we introduce students to a number of hands-on techniques for collection of digital trace data such as collecting social media data and scraping. As such, the course aims to be useful to applied researchers as well as policy makers confronted with the need to make data-driven decisions in an increasingly datafied world.
Throughout the course, we will consistently discuss research strategies in connection with substantive sociological and policy-relevant problems, such as the spread of fake news or social cohesion (TBD).
Examples of issues that we will address in the course include:
- What types of sociological questions can we answer with digital traces data?
- How do we collect data on human behavior on the internet, and what are particular opportunities and caveats of these methods?
- How do we navigate ethical concerns around digital traces research?
Second (elective) track course
We recommend one of the following courses as your second track course:
Nudging (Social, Health and Organisational Psychology)
This course will focus on the use of nudging as a novel strategy to adapt behaviour, with a particular focus on the area of health and well-being.
We address the theoretical background of nudges in comparison to other approaches for behaviour modification, and incorporate empirical work providing insight into working mechanisms and (boundary conditions for) the effectiveness of nudges.
In addition, taking a more practical approach, students will be challenged to think about the design of a nudge, the implementation issues that may come along with it, and the requirements for a proper evaluation of its effectiveness.
Finally, the course will address the topical academic and societal debate about nudging and the role of various institutions in promoting health and well-being, including ethical considerations.
Organization Development: Monitoring and Changing Culture and Behavior
To survive in a competitive environment, contemporary organizations require their employees to be high performers who strive to maximize the organization’s profit, but who also adhere to high moral standards. This course will teach you to analyze existing organizational cultures and to develop theoretically sound and evidence-based interventions to change these cultures. In doing so, we will start with a general overview in which we detail what organizational culture is and how it connects to other design components of organizations, such as organizational structure and strategy, leadership styles, and team dynamics.
Research in a Commercial Setting
In this course the context of applied research (in a commercial/company setting) is being considered. The motivation of a psychologist (e.g. UX is interesting research, or human behavior is fascinating, or 'how does the brain work?') is very different from the motivation of an external client (that wants more conversion (sales) from a website, wants to significantly improve message transfer of an advertisement or wants to sell headphones because they sound better than those of competing companies). Insight into these differences and context is needed to perform successful acquisition. The student will learn to write a research proposal that is both feasible and realistic.
Third track course
As a third sociological course within this track you may choose between Essentials of care: analysing current policy trends and Criminology and Safety: Theories, trends, and policies).
Track coordinator: Dr Tali Spiegel (T.Spiegel@uu.nl).
In this track, you will develop an understanding of current changes in healthcare systems in the Western world.
The last decades have been marked by a strong increase in a demand for healthcare due to demographic changes (such as reduced fertility and increased life expectancy), which have had a great influence on healthcare costs. Western governments have been trying to respond to these changes by introducing various policy measures such as the privatization of healthcare and decentralization.
In this course, we will take a look at the policy transitions and their implications for various stakeholders.
Courses
First track course
The main sociology track course, Essentials of care: analysing current policy trends, lays emphasis on the unintended consequences of policy interventions in the field of healthcare. We will take a look at these policy shifts and their impact on social inequality and cohesion in Western societies and in the Netherlands in particular.
Questions addressed will include:
- Has the withdrawal of government agencies led to an increase in inequality between men and women or between old and young?
- In what way do demographic transitions and current events change the way we organize healthcare and what trends should we expect in the future?
- Do policies aimed at increasing the participation rate of people with chronic illness in the labour market work and under which conditions?
Second (elective) track course
We recommend one of the following courses as your track elective:
Nudging (Social, Health and Organisational Psychology)
This course will focus on the use of nudging as a novel strategy to adapt behaviour, with a particular focus on the area of health and well-being.
We address the theoretical background of nudges in comparison to other approaches for behaviour modification, and incorporate empirical work providing insight into working mechanisms and (boundary conditions for) the effectiveness of nudges.
In addition, taking a more practical approach, students will be challenged to think about the design of a nudge, the implementation issues that may come along with it, and the requirements for a proper evaluation of its effectiveness.
Finally, the course will address the topical academic and societal debate about nudging and the role of various institutions in promoting health and well-being, including ethical considerations.
Loss & psychotrauma (Clinical Psychology)
In the Master's course Loss and Psychotrauma, the consequences of major life events are considered in terms of their manifestations and course, risk and protective factors, and theoretical explanations.
Their societal and clinical relevance are explored. The broad spectrum of normal and complicated reactions is addressed, covering roles lay persons, counsellors and therapists can play in helping victims cope with such events. Based on evaluation of intervention efficacy studies, the possibilities and limitations of intervention will be critically appraised.
During the course, diagnostic systems (e.g. DSM-5) and assessment instruments for posttraumatic stress disorders and complicated grief will be discussed. Several evidence-based interventions (e.g. CBT, EMDR) will be introduced and discussed too.
Organization Development (Social, Health and Organisational Psychology)
In this course students learn to diagnose, substantiate and carry out targeted interventions in teams from the perspective of organisational development and change management. In light of the significant changes taking place in the healthcare sector, knowledge of these changes and related skills are especially valuable in this field.
Third track course
As a third sociological course within this track you may choose between Social Research in a Digital Age and Criminology and Safety: Theories, trends, and policies.