About IOS

We live in a rapidly changing world. Several major global crises have put the established institutions of the open society to the test. In addition, these challenges often overlap and have the potential to deepen inequalities and erode public values. We believe we should respond to these challenges actively and cooperatively to safeguard the future of open and resilient societies, how do we contribute?

Global issues are complex and cannot be solved from one single perspective. At Utrecht University, we are leading the way when it comes to interdisciplinary research on the formal and informal rules of human interaction: institutions. We are working on innovative solutions to safeguard the transition towards an open society characterized by a flexible democratic structure, well-being with associated freedoms and human rights, equity and diversity, and wide dissemination of information. An open society is never completed and always open to improvement, especially in times like these.

Interdisciplinary collaboration

Within Institutions for Open Societies (IOS), excellent scholars from various disciplines ranging from economics and political to cultural, language and art history, from psychology to social geography and planning and from governance and law to digitalisation and AI work together on key topics that are essential for building or maintaining sustainable, open and resilient societies. Anywhere in the world. This is of great importance in order to respect human rights, as well as for a society’s ability to absorb shocks and to generate sustainable prosperity.

Within fifteen platforms, we not only work together between scientific disciplines but also with knowledge and know-how from professionals outside the scientific field. At IOS, we believe that innovation, and fruitful sustainable answers can only be achieved as we go beyond the existing academic frameworks.

We work together in

  • educating new students and professionals. For more information, read IOS education.
  • stimulating interdisciplinair research. For more information, read IOS research.
  • sharing knowledge i.e. in research projects, think papers, podcasts, and other initiatives, see IOS publications.
  • stimulating and fostering the dialogue in several events, seminars etc. For more information, consult the IOS calendar. 
Interested in joining forces with IOS?

Who is involved?

Institutions for Open Societies is an open network for anybody interested to join. The network within Utrecht University is supported by enthusiastic scholars who care about inter- and transdisciplinary research on institutions and open societies and a small team of staff members.

There are 15 platforms whose content is fed by their active members and platform leaders. Platform leaders are usually chosen from their active community and each platform handles this differently.

For theme-wide, there is an IOS Programme Team, including the academic directors, who is collectively responsible for the direction of IOS.