WCG Activities

The Wageningen Centre of Governance offers different types of activities to exchange ideas and information.

1. Scaling and Governance – PhD discussion group

The ‘Scaling and Governance discussion group’ is a multi-disciplinary group of PhD-students, focused on the theme of ‘Scaling and Governance’. This theme refers to both governance levels and bio-geographical scales. Empirical research demonstrated that levels of decision making almost never coincide with scale of impact. To make it more complex it appears that many direct and indirect links are important between scales and levels. Also observations are often disciplinary specific complicating interdisciplinary up and downscaling of results. In this group we discuss this complex field of research. We do that by informing each other of our work by presentations and discussions afterwards. The frequency of the meetings are every 6-8 weeks. People who are interested in participating in our meetings can contact Menno Mandemaker, Maryia Mandryk or Susan Boonman-Berson.

2. The ‘governance reading group’

This reading group is an initiative from and for PhD students who share an interest in governance theory and want to apply this to their PhD research. The reading group offers the opportunity to discuss literature (classics and newly published material) in order to develop our theoretical understanding. In doing so we often use each others research projects as examples to see how we can apply (new) theoretical insights. For every meeting we read 2-3 articles focusing on specific debates in governance literature. This could be; the role of power, networks, public-private interactions, multi-level governance, etc. Meetings are held approximately every 6 weeks. People who are interested in participating in our meetings can get in touch with Sarah Stattman.

3. Interpretative Analysis discussion group

The ‘Interpretative Analysis discussion group’ is a discussion platform for PhD students and Postdoc’s, who are going to or conduct interpretative analyses in their research. It is a setting in which we discuss how we actually do an interpretative analysis. The set-up of the meetings are twofold.

In the first hour we discuss some back ground papers about interpretative analysis. In the second hour the members can bring something in, like a draft paper, an interview transcript, presentation etc., which will be discussed together. Besides these meetings we facilitate in organizing and inviting interesting people in this area for a more broader public as well. Meetings are held every 6 weeks for two hours. People who are interested (also from other universities) can get in touch with Susan Boonman-Berson.

4. Research Colloquia to present research and exchange ideas

The WCG organizes several research colloquia. The upcoming events are listed in the calender.