About research
PhD education and most research are organised within the Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organizations (METEOR), founded in 1993 and accredited by the Royal Dutch Academy of Science (KNAW) since 1997. Also part of the School are the institutes ROA (Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market, 1986) and MERIT (Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology, 1988), which carry out most of the School’s contract research. In 2005, MERIT merged with the Maastricht campus of United Nations University (UNU) to become MERIT-UNU.
Most of the research is organised within METEOR, whose mission is to generate and promote ideas that advance scientific economic and management knowledge and practices by: promoting and carrying out high-quality, internationally visible research in economics and business; and offering graduate education.
With the start of research school METEOR, the research profile began to focus on the study of firm behaviour. METEOR focused on financial, organisational and technological issues in business economics and business administration. The financial angle encompassed domains such as corporate finance, accounting and auditing, and asset pricing. The organisational perspective included issues such as company capabilities, labour force and strategy, as well as market competition. The technological domain dealt with technology, strategy and innovation, and human resources management. In the early 1990s the field of business economics was a unique strength; METEOR was the first Dutch research school to focus on business economics and management. With the growth of the Faculty during the 90s, METEOR’s research domain has broadened, with all departments contributing to METEOR research. In 2004, the NVAO accredited METEOR’s Business Research (BR) and Economic and Financial Research (EFR) master’s programmes.
METEOR has become the central authority on fundamental research within the School. It administers the PhD programme, stimulates research in various ways, provides incentives for new research initiatives, and oversees quality and productivity.