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The research programme Maastricht University – Science, Technology and Society Studies (MUSTS) draws on a combination of philosophical, historical, sociological and anthropological approaches. The general question is how modern societies are constituted by science and technology, and how, vice versa, social and cultural conditions shape technological and scientific developments. The research focuses on the 20th and 21st centuries, with attention to the historical roots in the 17th-19th centuries.

Our research has a strong coherence in terms of approach and methodology. Cultures of research and innovation are studied in a radically interdisciplinary way. The classic disciplines of sociology, history and philosophy play an important constituting role. Sociological problems are historicized; historical questions are shown to have normative dimensions; and ethical issues are studied as social phenomena. Analysis typically moves between different levels (from micro-level studies of local practices to macro-level questions of governance, policy and morality). MUSTS research is adventurous in exploring a variety of theoretical and empirical fault lines; but it is always rigorous in its methodological approach, theoretical grounding, and scholarly justifications.

Director: Prof. Cyrus Mody

View recent MUSTS publications

Across a rich variety of disciplinary backgrounds and research styles all Maastricht University Science Technology and Society Studies (MUSTS) members aim to understand the newest developments in the sciences—varying from sustainable technology to digital streaming services, vaccination or quantum computing—by situating those in historical trends, global exchange, artful experiments or imaginaries of the future.

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45th Dies Natalis

Every year, the best master's and bachelor's theses by our students are rewarded during the Dies Natalis celebration in January. They receive five hundred euros, a certificate and a small gift as a token of appreciation from our Rector Magnificus. Unfortunately, the current COVID-19 measures has forced us to adjust our plans for Maastricht University’s 45th Dies Natalis. Therefore, we shine a spotlight on the winners on these web pages.

Bachelor Student Prizes
Master Student Prizes

Bachelor's Student Prizes

Eighteen students completed their bachelor's degree in 2020 with a thesis that was labelled excellent by their faculty. Using the links below their names, you will find an "elevator pitch" from each student, plus a video in which the supervisor congratulates the lucky winner.

Sarah Samuel

Bachelor Dutch Law
'The realization of the punishment adjustment for infanticide, remarkable or logical?'

Rebecca Aspetti

Bachelor European Law
'A Genuine Lack of Confidence throughout the European Union Legal Space: The Rebuttal of Mutual Trust as a Ripe Instrument of Protection of Rule of Law and Fundamental Rights'

Nordine Lgarah

Bachelor Tax Law
'Interaction between fraus legis and the additional tax assessment'

Imke van der Velden

University College Venlo
'Instagram intervention for increasing adolescents' intention to adhere to a healthy Plant-based Diet'

Ruben Tammaro

Maastricht Science Programme
'In Silico Tomography of Membrane-Embedded Mycobacterial Type VII Secretion Systems'

Lucas Uberti-Bona Marin

Department of Data Science and Knowledge Engineering
'Learning to learn: a drug resistance learning pipeline'

Joanne Snel

University College Maastricht
'The ‘fatherhood penalty’: How fathers’ use of parental leave impacts their wages'

Greta Magnani

Bachelor Arts and Culture
'Female Anger. You ask: why give anger a gender?'

Jette Banning

Bachelor European Studies
'(Non)European Others? The Role of Identity in ENP: A Comparative Study of EU Discourse on Tunisia and Ukraine'

Jule Hodok

Bachelor Economics and Business Economics
'An Analysis of Cooperative Behaviour in Games'

Kevin van Abswoude

Bachelor Fiscal Economics
'The migration of football players in response to tax rates'

Marc Mertens

Bachelor International Business
'Under Pressure: Implications of a Competitive Shock on Alliance Portfolio Diversity'

Francine Fijen

Bachelor Econometrics and Operations Research
'The Search for a Moving Target: Under the object’s worst case initial position'

Evi Groenhuijzen

Bachelor Biomedical Sciences
'Fetuin B in white adipose tissue associates with insulin resistance'

Johanna Tassot

Bachelor European Public Health
'Risks of Oocyte Donation for Donors: a Systematic Literature Review'

Gijs Bongaarts

Bachelor Medicine
'Biomarkers of oxidative stress'

Esther Schouwenaar

Bachelor Health Sciences
'Defining the influence of miR-30d-3p on the angiogenic capacity of cardiac endothelial cells in vitro and in vivo'

Ana Reinartz Groba

Bachelor Psychology
'It Comes in Waves: Measuring Neural Correlates of ASMR with EEG'

SBE’s Spearhead Fair and Smart Data – the Currency for Global Sustainability (FSD)

Global value networks derived from business activities are often complex, limited in inclusivity, and limited in transparency, partially because they have been historically designed in this manner, often to the benefit of multinational corporations. This current design limits the development of sustainable value chains that are competitive, inclusive, and fair.

The complementary partners in the FSD Spearhead see strong opportunities for implementing digital technologies and new business models that can improve social and environmental sustainability across the globe, next to economic prosperity. Digital technologies can create ‘smart’ data, that is transparent and traceable throughout the value network. This smart data can also become ‘fair data’ which provides civil society with ownership of their data and related intelligence it produces.

The FSD Spearhead will use boundary work theory as the transdisciplinary approach over several years to prove and validate the concept of fair and smart data for global sustainability and then scale up for delivery.

Partners in the FSD Spearhead are the Brightlands Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (BISCI), Marketing & Supply Chain Management (MSCM-UM), Maastricht Sustainability Institute (MSI-UM), Maastricht School of Management (MSM-UM), Data and Analytics Department (DAD-UM), Solidaridad Network, and Rabobank. The consortium opens up the research for others at SBE and elsewhere, and there will be education at SBE and beyond, and sharing of best practice on boundary work. Contact person at MSI is Ron Cörvers (r.corvers@maastrichtuniversity.nl).

The MORSE spearhead initiative

Maastricht Observatory on Resilient, Responsible & Sustainable Enterprise and Economy (MORSE)

MORSE is an initiative of the School of Business and Economics (SBE) of Maastricht University (MU). Duration: 2021- 2025 (5 years).

The objective of MORSE is to mobilize and bring together researchers in UM and beyond around the challenge of building more resilient, responsible and sustainable enterprises and economies in Europe and globally as three distinct but related challenges. The 2008-2009 financial crisis and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic have clearly illustrated that countries, firms and citizens are vulnerable to shocks. This spearhead asks: How do we build sustainable systems that are efficient and competitive in normal times and resilient in response to crises?

A related challenge for enterprises and economies is to become more sustainable, responsible, just and fair. The call for responsible companies is getting louder. Society rightly demands more responsible leadership as an unethical organizational business culture has devastating economic and social consequences. The imperatives for change are clear but the solutions are not. The knowledge base for getting to solutions needs to be build. This brings us to the second question of MORSE: how can we build back something better: more sustainable, responsible, just and resilient?

MORSE will motivate and inspire researchers to work across disciplines and fields on complex, real-world questions, with stakeholders. By pooling the different expertise on the topics of resilience, responsibility and sustainability, MORSE aspires to having a visible and real-world impact on the topics of resilience, sustainability and responsibility, via education, outreach and new research projects.

Special attention will be given to collaboration with partners in the Limburg area and the Euregion. Concrete ideas for this are: a R4-Hub for Repair, Remanufacture, Reuse, Recycle Hub for a Sustainable Circular Economy, student projects on social entrepreneurship, participation in platforms and public events and post-graduate trainings in purposing, impact valuation and resilience. MORSE is an initiative from the School of Business and Economics of Maastricht University, and led by Prof René Kemp and Prof Mark Sanders.

MORSE has money for funding workshops and special events and serves as a contact point for science-stakeholders interactions. Budget: 5x150k euro.

If you wish to interact with SBE experts on the above topics, please contact the project leaders. Contact person at MSI is René Kemp (r.kemp@maastrichtuniversity.nl +31 43 3883285 / 2662.

As part of Maastricht University, the European University of the Netherlands, the School of Business and Economics' mission is to contribute to a better world by addressing societal problems, co-creating knowledge, and developing team players and leaders for the future.

SBE's Research Mission and Values document is based on consultation with members of our research community, the School’s leadership, and the School Board. The document outlines in-depth: SBE's vision on research, mission statement, core research values, strengths, and areas of expertise. It is a living document that will expand and grow as time goes on.

Click here to view SBE's Research

Mission and Values

Strengths and Areas of Expertise

SBE’s expertise covers a broad range within the fields of business and economics with several strength areas across different academic disciplines. These include the following:

Digital innovation, including service and social robots, data analytics and digitalisation
Education and labour market research
Entrepreneurship and innovation
Economics, including macro, micro, behavioural and quantitative
Governance and public policy
Leadership and service management
Sustainability, including sustainable development, circular economics, sustainable finance, responsible business

Departments

The SBE Graduate School

The SBE Graduate School offers four specialised PhD programmes:

PhD in Economics and Business
PhD in Innovation, Economics, Governance and Sustainable Development
PhD in Sustainability Science
Executive PhD in Private Sector Development

Find out more

Graduate Schools - Maastricht Graduate School of Governance

Bringing Academia Closer to Society through our Institutes

As one of the main sources of research activity at SBE, our institutes are an important vehicle by which SBE brings knowledge into society. These institutes are primarily funded by external sources via contract research. Our institutes are:

MA programme Information Management & Business Intelligence - Your Future

Structured around academic disciplines and bound by the common goals of sharing knowledge and inspiring students, our institutes are at the gravitational centre of SBE's work in promoting excellence and quality.

News

From pioneering phase to established institute: former directors Andries de Grip and Rolf van der Velden look back

Former directors Andries and Rolf reflect on ROA’s growth from a small team into an influential institute. Its success was driven by a strong focus on relevant research, data and collaboration. Despite the institute’s growth, its culture, team spirit and strong intellectual direction remain.

Lower risk of repeating a grade? Not all schools are the same…

UM news

At some schools, students are more likely to repeat a grade than at others. This isn’t just about how a student performs, but also about the school itself. That’s according to new research from Maastricht University and Hasselt University.

Basisschoolkinderen met rugzakjes en tekeningen

Why the more we tackle ageing, the more it matters

Life expectancy rose greatly in the 20th century but progress has slowed as ageing-related diseases now dominate the global health burden. Research shows that reducing ageing-related diseases yields increasing returns, making healthy ageing the key challenge for future health and economic policy.

Positive health: Beyond the token fruit basket and workplace fitness

Positive health—it’s a term that crops up more and more often, including in relation to work. But what does it actually mean, and how can employers and employees put it into practice? Professor Tim Huijts studies positive health in the workplace.

Owners of family businesses often lack adequate preparation for their role

UM news

Owners of family businesses feel they are insufficiently prepared for their role. While succession planning regarding management or employee positions within the family business is carefully discussed, attention to future ownership and the associated responsibilities is often lacking.

UM Behavioural Insights Centre

This spearhead represents a research community of more than 40 scholars who employ and develop insights into behavioral regularities to enhance the effectiveness of public policy and company practice, addressing a broad range of societal challenges.

Fair and Smart Data

This spearhead will use boundary work theory as the transdisciplinary approach over several years to prove and validate the concept of fair and smart data for global sustainability and then scale up for delivery.

The Maastricht Observatory on Responsible, Resilient and Sustainable Societies, Economies and Enterprise

This spearhead aims to mobilise and bring together researchers across Maastricht University and beyond around the challenge of building more resilient, responsible and sustainable societies, enterprises and economies in Europe and globally as three distinct but related challenges.

Meet the team

Name	Title
Andrea Willems	Management information officer
Lieve Hendrikx	Administrative officer
Anouk Hölsgens	Research policy advisor
Nick van der Sluiszen	Privacy officer
Rea Papaioannou	Funding advisor
Sam Theunissen	Financial advisor
Richard Senden	Financial advisor
Wilco Laschet	Financial advisor
Esther Heel-Cox	Financial advisor
Ralph Sleijpen	Financial advisor
Raymunde Neven	Head RSO office
Veronica Menegatto	PhD project officer

In the spotlight

Gender equality in academia: creating an environment where all talent can flourish

In a recent article, several SBE academics discuss some of the reasons behind the striking gender imbalance in academia.

There is not one cause for the issue, so you can’t work with just one solution. It is a challenging and multi-faceted problem. Yes, some women opt out of academia; however, you can also say that some women opt out under a system that we have created

I think that there are still many leaders within academia that are quite traditional and thus do not assign value to output other than hard-core economic publications. This can be a disadvantage for women who are often good in multiple output fields, such as teaching, social impact work and leadership, but may not excel in publishing hard-core economic papers

Please register here for the Virtual Experience Day for the master's programme Biobased Materials on Wednesday 3 February 2021.

Registration Virtual Experience Day - MSc Biobased Materials - 3 February

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