Social and Behavioural Sciences
About us
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences (FSW) aims to play a leading role in gaining insights on current developments in society. As a faculty, we want to contribute to strengthening and developing truly global social sciences, inspired by ideas and social challenges from all parts of the world.
Education at the Faculty focuses on how people (and/or groups) live together and how they behave. This education is grounded in the methods and approaches of the various disciplines within the social sciences. We also learn from and about current societal issues and challenges, such as sustainability, education, teacher shortages, quality of life in a healthy society, democracy, social transitions, inequality and diversity, digitalisation, and a safe working and learning environment.
For our research, the fundamental premise is Open Science and open knowledge practices. This means that we ensure that, in all stages of knowledge creation and knowledge transfer, our work processes and results are available, accessible, and reusable. Thus, our research also reflects our desire to establish a relationship between academia and society in a connected, reciprocal, and open way.
Organisation
The Faculty has five institutes, each providing high-quality research and scientific education, increasingly incorporating interdisciplinary approaches. The institutes offer degree programmes at both bachelor’s and master’s level. The institutes are:
- Centre for Science and Technology Studies
- Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology,
- Education and Child Studies,
- Political Science, and
- Psychology.
The Faculty Board is responsible for the administration and organisation of the Faculty for education and research. The board is supported by the Faculty Office.
More about the organisational structure >>
Locations
Most teaching takes place in the Pieter de la Court building. The bachelor's programme in International Relations and Organisations and the master's programmes in International Organisation and Political Science are based at Campus The Hague. Research takes place both in the Pieter de la Court building and at the new SSH labs in the Sylvius building.
Dignity and respect, diversity and inclusion
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences is committed to being a safe, comfortable, and equitable space for both staff and students: a place where a diversity of people feel valued, where there is room for a diversity of perspectives. This means constantly asking ourselves the difficult question of whether everyone truly feels they belong, and thus scrutinising our own implicit biases and exclusionary mechanisms. We view building and ensuring a diverse, inclusive, and healthy learning and working environment as an ongoing process. This process is never finished, and we are constantly gaining new insights.