Organizational scientist Zakia Essanhaji has received a Veni grant for her research on social safety at Dutch universities.
Zakia Essanhaji is researching how the concept of social safety takes shape in everyday practice and how universities can use their policies more effectively to combat harassment, bullying, abuse of power, and structural inequality.
Focus on practice
Social safety is high on universities’ agendas. Yet it is often unclear exactly what the concept means. Its interpretation varies depending on the policy document, complaint procedure, lecture hall, or staff meeting. Essanhaji is therefore investigating not only what social safety looks like on paper, but above all how staff and students use, experience, and sometimes even challenge the concept in practice.
For her research, she is conducting ethnographic fieldwork at three Dutch universities. By studying policy documents, reporting systems, educational practices, and everyday work situations, she is mapping out how social safety takes shape within different institutions. In this way, she demonstrates that the meaning and functioning of the concept depend on the organizational culture, the history of an institution, and the people who work and study there.
The results of the research are intended to help universities better align their policies with daily practice. Currently, there is often a lack of insight into whether social safety measures actually achieve their intended goals. Essanhaji’s research provides a scientific basis for this and offers concrete starting points for improving policies and procedures.
Societal impact
These insights can support universities in developing a more effective approach to social safety, one that addresses not only incidents but also the underlying structural inequalities that contribute to them. As such, the research offers valuable guidance for policymakers, social safety professionals, faculty members, and university administrators.
The Veni project builds on Essanhaji’s earlier research on diversity policy and institutional inequality. In that work, she demonstrated how policy concepts such as diversity are interpreted in practice and what consequences this has for the experiences and careers of marginalized scholars. With her current research, she is now applying that same critical lens to social safety: how does this policy concept take on meaning in daily practice, and for whom does it actually work?
Photo credits: Deniece Brouwer