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FASoS Research Institute

Research Institute

Moving boundaries, bridging disciplines

The research institute of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASoS) at Maastricht University studies societies and cultures as they unfolded during the modern and contemporary era in a radically interdisciplinary manner. We analyse the interrelationships of Europeanisation, globalisation, scientific and technological development, political change and cultural innovation. We are interested in how today’s societies cope with and reflect these challenges in various ways. These could be artistic practices and practices of remembrance as well as specific forms of governance and political integration as well as strategies for managing knowledge, technologies and risks. While our research starts from today’s problems, we have a strong interest in how the modern world came to be.

Research

To nurture and maintain this kind of innovative, interdisciplinary research, the research institute of FASoS has created a matrix organisational structure. Its backbone are four distinct research programmes, each of which is composed by an interdisciplinary team of researchers. While the research programmes form the core of the research activities at FASoS, the faculty also has five centres as specific research hubs and to facilitate interaction with external academic partners and societal stakeholders. Together, the research programmes and the research centres provide a framework that facilitates flexibility, networking, and mobility beyond disciplinary boundaries.

Compilation research programmes FASoS

FASoS Research Programmes

research centres

Research Centres

Networks of Knowledge Production and Consumption

Research networks and project websites

News

Portret Marielle Wijermars

Event series 'The Perfect Storm' offers new perspectives on global unrest

Many people in the Netherlands are worried and feel uncertain about the future. For them, the event series The Perfect Storm , organised by our Platform for Outreach and Co-Creation (POCC), is well worth attending. Mariëlle Wijermars coordinates the POCC and tells us more about the event.
Felix, Georgi and Camilo
  • Researchers

Félix Streicher wins Luxembourg award for outstanding PhD thesis

His dissertation, The Forgotten Occupation: Politics, Everyday Life, and Gender in the Luxembourg Occupation Zone in Germany (1945–55) , was recognised for its outstanding scientific quality.
Anique INGRAIN
  • Researchers

Anique Hommels receives €1,000,000 grant to coordinate international project on resilient neighbourhoods

The three-year project brings together researchers, municipalities and societal partners from the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Portugal to investigate how former industrial areas can be transformed into greener, more inclusive and more resilient neighbourhoods.
Detail of the Tapestry of Limburg’s History of Slavery
  • UM news

Threads Completed: The Tapestry of Limburg’s History of Slavery

In August 2025, historians Diana Miryong Natermann and Christian Ernsten of Maastricht University launched a research project on the history of slavery in the province of Limburg. This was part of the national project "Threads of Our Dutch History of Slavery".
Betto van Waarden

“Historically speaking, propaganda was rarely a pure lie”

What if information deliberately misleads us when it is delivered via social media, newspapers or television? What are the consequences, and what can society do about it? In the Netherlands, too, we are increasingly confronted with this form of disinformation.