Social Sciences
Business Economics
Strategically placed within Wageningen University & Research, the Business Economics Group (BEC) performs research and teaches across a wide range of aspects of agricultural business economics and food supply chains.
Information Technology
Our mission is to advance the field of smart systems engineering and informatics through education, research, and collaboration. We conduct cutting-edge research that pushes the boundaries of knowledge and addresses real-world challenges in food and health, business, and society. We work closely with industry, government, and other academic institutions to create a vibrant ecosystem of innovation, where our ideas can have a tangible impact on people's lives.
Operations Research and Logistics Group
Our mission is to contribute to the state-of-the-art of Operations Research and Logistics Management in agrifood and biobased supply chains to cope with contemporary complexity issues by developing innovative logistics concepts, decision support models, and solution approaches.
Urban Economics
The number of people living in urban environments is increasing rapidly. The mission of the Urban Economics (UEC) group is to contribute to more resilient cities in terms of social equality, economic advantages and environmental quality. Therefore, UEC focusses on two main themes: sustainable consumption and urban-rural interactions. We use insights from general-, urban- and behavioural economics to improve the understanding of consumer and household decision making concerning sustainability, health and well-being and the impacts at the individual, urban and regional level.
Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group
The goal of the Environmental Economics and Natural Resources Group (ENR) is to contribute to the construction of a sustainable and circular economy, as well as low-carbon, climate-resilient and biodiversity positive socio-ecological systems. We apply the concepts and principles of environmental and natural resource economics in multidisciplinary teams, attempting to steer production and consumption towards nature safe and just systems.
Development Economics Group
The mission of the Development Economics Group (DEC) is to contribute to an improved understanding of the processes of sustainable development, institutions, conflict and poverty alleviation. To this end, DEC selects teaching material and focuses on research that can shed light on the dynamics of factor productivity and resource use in developing countries.
Philosophy Group (PHI)
The PHI chair focuses on ethical and epistemic issues involved in the relationship of humans with nature, animals, food and agriculture. The group aims to understand processes of ethical deliberation around science and technology in different societal and cultural settings.
Strategic Communication Group (COM)
We study the dynamics and consequences of communication by (digital) media, political actors, organizations and citizens. We focus on the processes through which public images, discourses, opinions and behaviour come about and have a keen interest in communication challenges related to life science issues such as climate change, sustainability and health.
Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group (KTI)
Knowledge, technology, and innovation are central to global and local transformations. Our critical engagement with socio-technical innovations creates space for understanding and possible reshaping the production, exchange, integration, and use of scientific and other knowledge.
Sociology of Development and Change Group
The Sociology of Development and Change group (SDC) focuses on the structures and practices of development and change with a particular scientific interest in inequality, marginalization and political agency. We are a politically engaged and interdisciplinary research and educational centre in development studies, political ecology, anthropology of law and crisis and disaster studies.
Rural Sociology Group
The Rural Sociology Group recombines different sociological theories and interdisciplinary approaches to study the many forms of power, inequality and unevenness. It starts from the everyday life of people to understand transformation processes in agriculture, food provisioning, and rural development from a comparative perspective. Our research provides a theoretically informed understanding of issues of equity, governance, oppression, resistance, and hope by rethinking of possible alternative futures for a more sustainable, just and inclusive society.
Environmental Policy Group
The increasing globalisation of environmental issues, debates, practices and governance is reflected in the department's international research and education efforts, as well as in the variety of nationalities of our staff, PhD and MSc students.
Health and Society Group
We, in the Health and Society Group, see ourselves as embedded in widening circles of engagement with the major challenges facing human and planetary health today. Whether we are studying the domain of people, places, policies, or the planet more broadly, we engage with these domains with the aim to improve health and society.
Public Administration and Policy Group
The mission of the Public Administration and Policy group is to study the governance of wicked problems in the interrelated domains of water and climate, food and agriculture, and energy and circular economy, and to use the generated insights to develop governance arrangements. By doing so the group aims to contribute to scientific progress, to societal debates, and to policy practice.
Economic and Environmental History Group
The mission of the Economic and Environmental History Group (RHI) is to offer temporal depth to societal debates and social theories on sustainable and equitable welfare development.
Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles
The chair group Consumption and Healthy Lifestyles studies consumption and lifestyles of individuals and groups from an interdisciplinary perspective. The chair group embeds these insights in the design, evaluation and implementation of interventions to enable healthy and sustainable behaviours.
Education and Learning Sciences Group
The ELS (Education and Learning Sciences group) mission is to understand and facilitate the unfolding of human potential in response to global challenges. We aim to understand and facilitate learners throughout their lives to contribute to worldwide challenges in a meaningful, responsible and critical manner. Sustainable development is more than just knowledge creation and innovation, it concerns the drive of individuals and groups. This drive is reflected in the so-called Inner Development Goals, which concern skills and qualities such as being, thinking, relating, collaborating and acting. In our research and education the development of these inner development goals are central. Our vision is nicely illustrated in the graphic.
Law Group
The Law Group focusses on legal solutions to social problems, including those studied in life sciences domains. These issues touch on every aspect of the law, which means that we have collective expertise on matters relating to EU law, food law, environmental law, international law, WTO law, intellectual property law, private law and human rights law. The research of the group is also strongly interdisciplinary, with faculty and students from all over the world.
Business Management & Organisation
BMO studies how businesses contribute to a change towards sustainability at organisation, industry, and supply chain network levels, producing valuable and relevant knowledge further informing societal transitions. ‘Business’ includes for-profit (commercial), not-for-profit and public organisations. Businesses often need to collaborate closely to contribute to societal transformation and be competitive.
Marketing and Consumer Behaviour
The Marketing and Consumer Behaviour group (MCB) carries out research focusing on marketing (management) and consumer behaviour issues related to food and agribusiness, and institutions interested in food and agriculture. We teach in various education programmes.
Intersectional Gender Studies
Intersectional Gender Studies at Wageningen University & Research is an open space to develop and share knowledge, in particular within the fields of food, agriculture, and rural societies/environments, integrating or from an intersectional gender perspective. It provides a coherent space for cross disciplinary exchange on themes of international relevance, both practical and theoretical. Intersectional Gender Studies is quintessentially inter- or transdisciplinary.
Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group
The Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy Group (AEP) carries out research focusing on economic and institutional issues within the bio-economy, and teach across a wide range of aspects related to the contribution of the bio-economy and the agricultural sector in particular to sustainable development.
CSSI Partnerships Conference 2022
Important dates 15 October 2021: Call for Papers published on the website 21 February 2022: Extended Deadline for Abstract submissions 25 March 2022: Notification of acceptance 1 April: Registration opens 13 May: Deadline for Early Bird Registration with reduced fee 20 May 2022: Deadline for Full Paper submission 16 June 2022: Registration closes 21 June 2022: Doctoral Consortium 22-24 June 2022: CSSI 2022 Symposium 27 June 2022: Paper Development Workshop for BAS Special Issue
Department of Social Sciences
Connecting various science disciplines and perspectives: that’s the power of the Department of Social Sciences (DSS) of Wageningen University & Research. At the Department of Social Sciences 21 chair groups study and come up with solutions on how to change or improve systems, practices and behaviour, and how to build support in society that is more equal, more sustainable and healthier. This is how we contribute to designing a better future.