The Erasmus School of Social and Behavioural Sciences (ESSB) is rooted in society. Our research, education and engagement activities are geared towards achieving societal impact by ensuring that our expertise is focused on contributing to the challenges that society is wrestling with. These challenges require close collaboration across disciplinary, organisational, and sectoral boundaries within and outside our school.
We operate in a unique metropolitan environment of the city and region of Rotterdam in which various global societal challenges come together, intertwine, and become visible in the daily life and work of citizens. In our strategy, we look at Rotterdam as a metaphor for metropolitan issues in general. ‘Joining forces’ implies close collaboration within the faculty and with regional, national, and international stakeholders.
What are we going to do?
In the coming years, we will focus on various challenges within ESSB. These can be summarized as ‘Living, working, and governing in the vital and resilient metropolitan area’. We want to link the following themes to our research, education and business operations:
- Resilience of youth
- Social transformation and behavioural change
- AI, innovation and well-being
- Sustainability and DEI
- Methodological innovation
- Social inequalities
How are we going to do that?
To really make an impact on these themes, we will focus on four key points:
Strengthening and innovating the educational portfolio and its organization:
Offering an attractive and future-proof educational portfolio for different types of students, which aligns with the financial developments and available staff resources.
Increasing impact of research and education:
The overarching goal of this anchoring point is to build on ESSB’s strong focus and position on impact and engagement. Leveraging the metropolitan environment of Rotterdam to position ESSB as an attractive partner is a crucial aspect of the strategy.
Facilitating obtaining grants and funding:
Securing and improving the acquisition of external research funding and enhancing the research capabilities and innovation possibilities by modernising research infrastructure and implementing cutting-edge methodologies.
Strengthening governance and support:
Advancing team science and team-based education to become a distinctive part of the ESSB profile, improving support and facilities, and offering an attractive work environment for all ESSB employees.
To properly address these social challenges, it is necessary that we join forces. Every researcher, teacher, supporting professional and student is crucial. We have shown in recent years that we can excel together. Now we are taking a new step forward with our strategy 'Joining Forces: Focus and Innovation.'
Read more in the strategy document ‘Joining Forces’
Take a look at the main points of the strategy
Watch the video about our strategy
