Master of Science (MSc) in Social and Cultural Science (Research)

Radboud University

The Research Master's programme in Social and Cultural Science is a two-year international programme that provides you with the research skills to pursue a career in comparative societal research; in academia or public institutions. Our key research themes are inequality, cohesion and cultural diversity.

Master's in Social and Cultural Science: something for you?

During this Master's programme, you will study topics such as inequality, cohesion and cultural diversity from a comparative societal perspective.
Dialogue and discussion are central in the many small-group teaching sessions led by inspiring lecturers of the Master’s programme.
In this Master's programme, you have the opportunity to collaborate with the best scholars of the research institute Radboud Social and Cultural Research.
A large majority of our graduates gain PhD and other research positions; almost all of our graduates found work shortly after graduating.

What will you learn?

This Master's programme teaches you how to perform high-quality cross-cultural comparative research. You'll learn how to translate social problems into empirical research questions and you will be trained in applying diverse theoretical approaches, research designs, data-collections and analyses to get the best possible answer. What's distinctive about the approach of this programme, is that we synthesise theories and methods of different disciplines, like sociology, anthropology, development studies, political science and communication science.

Career prospects

Master's programme in Social and Cultural Science (Research)

The career prospects of a graduate of Social and Cultural Science are good; a large majority of our graduates gain PhD and other research positions. Almost all of our graduates found work shortly after graduating.

Job positions

There are plenty of options open to graduates of the research Master’s in Social and Cultural Science:

• Scientific research career (academia)
• The programme provides an excellent basis for a scientific research career and attaining PhD positions.
• Societal research career
• Our graduates can also go on to have careers in relevant non-academic research and policy institutes like government ministries, Statistics Netherlands (CBS), The Netherlands Institute for Social Research (SCP) and The Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) and foreign equivalents.
• Other
• Of course, this Master’s programme does not close other doors. Students with a research Master’s are also highly sought after by (commercial) businesses and organisations because of their analytical and communication skills and in-depth understanding of social and cultural behaviour. Other careers, such as policymaker, manager, journalist, etc are certainly within reach.