Specialisation: Inclusive Innovation, Communication and Development
In the specialisation Inclusive Innovation, Communication and Development, you explore social transformation processes from a communication science and science-technology and society (STS) perspective, by examining how social, political, and cultural values affect innovation processes, and how these in turn affect society, politics, and culture. You pay special attention to how responsive innovation processes are to the needs of social actors, and also to the bio-material. You focus on how and why people, views, and values become included or excluded in social and technical change, and on strategies for the democratisation of science, technology, and communication for development.
Specialisation courses
In the first year, you follow two common courses, and a selection of profiling courses, and if necessary, supporting courses. You follow three specialisation courses within Inclusive Innovation, Communication and Development.
| Code | Name |
|---|---|
| CPT-37306 | Politics of Knowledge and Inclusive Innovation |
| CPT-37806 | Researching Socio-Technical Practices, Innovation and Responsible Futures |
| CPT-32806 | Change, Inter-human Processes and Communication |
For more information about the courses and course content of the specialisation, as well as the compulsory parts of the master's programme, please refer to the Study Handbook.
Depending on your educational background, the study adviser may determine that you need to follow some supporting courses which will be compulsory for you (for example the course SDC-33306 Methodology for Field Research in the Social Sciences).
Student experience
"I appreciate that in this specialisation, you take a pro-active approach to societal change. Opening the door to possibilities, but with warnings. That you receive some theoretical grounding stands to reason, but at the same time you are encouraged to apply it creatively to your own ideas. I now see at first-hand how social innovation can have the power to correct structural failures in the world, and that makes me very happy to be following this specialisation." - David from Belgium
MSc thesis
In the second year, you demonstrate your ability to design and conduct research by collecting and analysing information on a thesis topic of your choice. Your thesis will be based on the domain within your specialisation, and the specialisation courses will outline the context of your research. To get an impression of the kind of research done by students, these are a few thesis examples:
- Handing over the pods: succession arrangements on cocoa farms in Ghana [Student report] Wilke, Ileen
- Accessing groundwater in a context of Agrarian Change: a case study on the influence of Mexico’s agrarian reforms on distributional patterns of groundwater among smallholder irrigators in an ejido in Central Mexico [Student report] Massink, Gaya
- Perfect grain, perfect fit?: an analysis of the connection of a quality certificate for quinoa in the local situation of quinoa production in the Southern Altiplano of Bolivia [Student report] Rooijmans, Willemijn
Many more examples are found in the thesis library.
Teachers in the spotlight
Staff from the contributing chair-groups will be telling you about their own research experiences during the courses. Different teachers have different areas of thematic interest, and focus on different regions in the world. To get an impression of the specialisation, it can be helpful to become acquainted with the expertise of some of the staff. A few examples: