The Research Master Social Sciences for a Digital Society prepares you to become the researcher of the future: critical, creative, conscientious, and at the cutting-edge.
Themes such as polarisation, security, international migration, healthcare, and minority rights can no longer be understood without taking into account the role of algorithms, platforms, apps, and online social networks. These issues are highly complex and interconnected, and do not keep to disciplinary or methodological boundaries.
Over the course of two years, you’ll become an expert in interdisciplinary and mixed methods approaches. Offering a solid foundation in theory and methods, including the latest computational techniques in the social sciences, this programme equips you to analyse and respond to today’s and tomorrow’s societal problems.
At the same time, you’ll develop the communication, self-reflection, and project management skills needed to be able to collaborate in multi-disciplinary teams, all of which are highly valued in the job market. You will also actively work towards building a professional portfolio.
In this small-scale programme, you have a high degree of freedom to shape your own research identity: you are encouraged to explore your own ideas, and build towards meaningful career opportunities. Furthermore, as a student in this programme, you are a part of the School of Social Sciences’ research community, where you benefit from personal attention and mentorship from your teachers, and have real input in the programme.
Year 1 of the programme is structured around theoretical, methodological, skills, and practice-based courses, which culminate in an internship and a thesis in Year 2. As such, the Research Master Social Sciences for a Digital Society is the ideal preparation for a research career, in academia but also in government, non-profit, and corporate organisations.
This Research Master offers a unique proposition: while other computational social sciences programs tend to focus on data methods, this programme pairs methodological courses with theoretical and thematic courses to engage with real-world problems and real-world organisations.
The start date of this Research Master is 1 September.
Where social sciences meet digital transformation
Year 1
In the first year of this Research Master, you take theoretical, methodological, skills, and practice-based courses.
The thematic and theoretical courses are each co-taught by social scientists with different disciplinary backgrounds to foster your sensibility for interdisciplinarity approaches. In the methodological courses, you learn a variety of data analysis methods, such as digital ethnography, advanced data mining algorithms, qualitative and computational text analysis, and online network analysis, including how to connect them.
Courses
- Big Problems
- Research Design Principles
- Big Data, Small Data
- Digital Society Research
- Mixed Methods
- Advanced Methods 1: Data Mining and Text Analysis (Elective)
- Advanced Methods 1: Qualitative Methods (Elective)
- Dynamics of Polarization and Inclusion
- Digital Technology and Health
- Integrative Research Project
- Research Design in Practice
- Research Integrity and Responsible Scholarship
- Communicating Science
- Peer Group Learning Year 1
You can find an overview of the programme here. Please consult the Study Guide for more information.
Year 2
In the second year of this Research Master, the focus is on your internship and thesis. The first half of the year is made up of the internship, which can be done at a university or a societal organisation whose work interests you. During the internship, you have the option to specialise in a research method by taking a smaller internship topped up with a methods course. In the second half of the year, you’ll write your Master's thesis.
Subjects
- Societal or Academic Internship
- Advanced Methods 2 (Elective)
- Writing a Scientific Paper
- Master Thesis Social Sciences for a Digital Society
- Peer Group Learning Year 2
You can find an overview of the programme here. Please consult the Study Guide for more information.
Want to chat with a student?
Contact Social Sciences for a Digital Society Student Advisor Florian
Social Science for Society
VU Amsterdam’s School of Social Sciences is committed to “Social Sciences for Society”. In our activities in teaching, research, and valorisation, we engage, work on, and are committed to finding solutions to the challenging societal problems our world faces today. We invest in diversity and internationalisation of our staff and students.
Change your future with the Research Master Social Sciences for a Digital Society
Upon completion of this Research Master’s program, your career opportunities include PhD research at a university, but also roles such as data analyst, researcher, or advisor at a knowledge institute, private sector company, (international) government organisation, or NGO.
