Research
Interdisciplinary focus
Characteristic of humanities in Utrecht are the intensive cooperative efforts in research and education, especially across geographical and disciplinary borders. Researchers from the faculty research programmes are active in 5 of Utrecht University’s 15 interdisciplinary focus areas, in which the university bundles its top research activities:
What tells us who we are?
Research on the interaction between the use of media, image forming and social inclusion and exclusion from a theoretical, historical or cultural-comparative perspective. This type of research is conducted within the focus area Cultures and Identities.
Why are some societies more affluent than others?
Historians, jurists, public administrators, economists and sociologists all study why the rules of social movement and the organisations related to these rules have attained their specific form and how they operate. Why are desirable effects such as affluence, safety and justice more pervasive in some societies and not in others? How did they get that way? And why is it so difficult to avoid negative side effects such as social polarisation and environmental pollution? Research in these and other similar issues is conducted in the focus area Origins and Impacts of Institutions.
Is one type of science more important than the others?
Research on the history and foundations of the sciences, philosophy of science and philosophy is conducted in the focus area History and Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities.
What is the main difference between humans and apes?
Research into the cognitive processes that underlie the structure and application of human language takes place in the focus area Neuroscience and Cognition Utrecht.
Climate change, globalisation and the crisis of democracy: new challenges for human rights
Research on the historic, political, social, ethical and legal aspects of international conflicts and human rights and their interrelations is conducted within the focus area Conflicts and Human Rights.
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