FGGA Honours course 'Wicked Problems Lab' has started
Today, February 6th, the new course Wicked Problems Lab (in full: Wicked Problems Lab: working with governance, leadership and social innovation) started. This new course for third-year Honours students is part of the Honours Track "Tackling Global Challenges" offered by the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs.
The Wicked Problems Lab is the result of a unique collaboration between Leiden University, the Municipality of The Hague, Deloitte Netherlands and social enterprises such as Happy Tosti. During the course of three months, about thirty-five Honours students will carry out an in-depth investigation into the major challenges facing The Hague, and with it the municipality of The Hague. At the same time they follow innovative and interactive education about analysing and tackling wicked problems. All this will result in concrete substantiated advice and suggestions for society and the municipality.
Teacher and supervisor Dr. Gijs van Houwelingen: "I am really looking forward to working with this special group of students. My goal is to help students become sensitive to the complexity of contemporary social challenges, without losing the courage to tackle those kinds of problems. I am also very pleased with the cooperation of the various partners. The municipality has been very helpful and cooperative in the development phase; the cooperation of social enterprises, such as Happy Tosti, also helps enormously to give students concrete insight into how challenges translate into practice ".
Matthijs de Jong, policy advisor Social Affairs and Employment and Coordinator at the Changemakers Lab of FGGA, is also enthusiastic: "the university and the municipality are increasingly looking for cooperation. I think this is a real win - win situation: students have a lot to offer the municipality with new and fresh ideas, at the same time this cooperation offers students the opportunity to do more research in practice. "
