Research Focus

The research institute of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at Maastricht University analyses societies and cultures as they have unfolded during the modern and contemporary era. We study the interrelationships between various current and historical trends in an explicitly interdisciplinary manner: How do globalisation, Europeanisation, scientific and technological development, political change, and cultural innovation link to each other?

We investigate how the societies of today and of the past respond to these developments. The phenomena we research include:

  • artistic practices, forms of remembrance, and cultural ideologies;
  • governance, co-operation, and integration at the EU- and the global level;
  • strategies for managing knowledge, technologies, and risks;
  • the emergence and change of linkages between people and localities across the globe.

Our research thus aims to create a deep understanding of pressing societal issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The breadth of expertise from different fields in the humanities and social sciences, united in one faculty, makes us distinctive in the ways we do research.

In this annual report we provide an overview of the activities and successes of the FASoS research institute in 2019. Please check the menu below to find out what we have done over the past year and continue to do at present.