Organisation

WASS Director and Staff

The Director is responsible for all executive affairs of WASS, develops its long-term plans and its scientific direction, together with committees and participating groups. The Social Sciences Group of Wageningen University hosts the management and administration of WASS and supports WASS with the services of a Secretary, Secretariat and Financial Administration.

WASS Board

The Board is in charge of the main decisions of WASS. The Director and the Secretary prepare and attend the meetings of the Board and so does a representative of the PhD candidates.

WASS Education Committee

The Education Committee supervises the work of the WASS Education Coordinator on:

• The selection and planning of courses
• The Training and Supervision Plans (TSP) of PhDs
• And any other business concerning the education of PhD candidates

The chair of the committee acts as adviser to the WASS Board. Membership of the Education Committee is limited to a maximum of 5 years. Membership has to be approved by the WASS Board.

Research and Assessment Committee

The Research and Assessment Committee:

• Ensures a coherent structure of the research themes, by encouraging exchange and debate between (groups of) researchers
• Stimulates the external visibility of the research themes and advises the Director in preparing and co-ordinating research activities (seminars, lectures, master classes)
• Generates proposals to the Education Committee on PhD courses relevant to the different themes 
• Assesses the quality and feasibility of PhD projects for admittance to WASS

Membership of the Research and Assessment Committee is to a maximum of 5 years. Membership is by approval of the Board.

Publication Policy and Criteria Committee 

The Publication Policy and Criteria Committee:

• Formulates concrete proposals to the Board with regard to publication policy in order to enhance productivity and to stimulate the quality of the scientific output, while taking into account the different research traditions in WASS.
• Regularly evaluates the criteria for admittance to WASS and proposes adaptations to the Board.
• Annually develops and adapts the WASS publisher list on the basis of suggestions of fellows.
• Discusses the future of the "Mansholt Publication Series" and the "Mansholt Working Papers" with the members of the editorial boards of these series.

Confidential Advice

Both PhD candidates and supervisors may seek confidential advice on challenges, issues and conflicts related to the PhD project with the graduate school's PhD advisor. In case problems or issues are beyond the graduate school's mandate, for instance (sexual) harassment, undesired behaviour or scientific integrity, supervisors and PhD candidates may contacat the HR department, the confidential councillor for unwanted behaviour of the science group, the confidential councillors for scientific integrity of occupational social work.

International Advisory Board

The main task of the International Advisory Board is to provide WASS with outlines of strategic issues concerning the research and the educational programme of the Graduate School and to evaluate its performance. The Board consists of five leading international scientists representing the various social-scientific fields of WASS.

• Professor Dr Alan Irwin, Professor at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark

• Professor Dr Dan Brockington, Professor and Director of the Sheffield Institute for International Development, UK

• Professor Dr Lisa House, Director of the Florida Agricultural Market Research Center and a Professor in the Food and Resource Economics Department at the University of Florida, USA.

• Professor Dr Andrea Lenschow, professor of Integration and Policy and Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Osnabrück, Germany

• Dr Paolo Sckokai, Associate professor Agricultural Economics, Universitá Cattolica Piacenza, Italy