The Master in Conflict and Development Studies is an intensive full-year programme. Our students are offered a set of introductory course units to become acquainted with the politics of conflict and development. These course units do not merely offer an introduction to ongoing debates, but start from a critical reading of influential authors in the field. They provide the conceptual and theoretical groundwork necessary to engage in more specific debates in the second semester.
Elective course units are aimed at deepening your understanding of research-related or policy-oriented questions, as well as being able to deepen your area-specific knowledge. These course units will take the form of research seminars or more direct policy applications. This will allow you to customise your own programme according to your academic and professional interests.
The course unit 'Methodology and Fieldwork Practice' will teach you about methodology and research design , and prepare students for doing their own fieldwork, whether in the Global South or in Europe.
The final part of the programme is the Master's dissertation , in which you will develop your own research project in collaboration with a supervisor. These projects are interdisciplinary by nature, and aim towards a critical understanding of your research question. Many of these dissertations will be based on fieldwork, but students can also opt for a dissertation based on scholarly literature.