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Welcome
Welcome to the website of the department Social Risks and Safety Studies.
The department of “Social Risks and Safety Studies” (MR&V) specializes in sociological research and education of social problems in modern societies. Within this broad field two specific areas are distinguished. On the one hand, the study of (new) social risks concerns issues like public and private pensions, changing labour markets, discrimination, immigration and integration. On the other hand the study of social safety focuses mainly on crime science, policing and crime prevention.
The central research questions in both areas concern the questions of how to govern and manage these social problems and risks. These questions of governance and management do not only address the traditional issues of public governance, but also include new modes of governance in private environments and issues of public-private interplay. Research is mainly conducted under the auspices of the university research institute, the Institute for Governance Studies (IGS 
).
The department is composed of two groups and four chairs. One group focuses on the governance of social risks in changing societies (chair ‘Sociology of Public Governance’ (vacancy) and the chair ‘Intercultural Governance’). The other group focuses on social safety, crime science, crime and policing (chair ‘Social Safety Studies’ and the chair ‘Investigating Public Safety Risks’). Its research activities are embedded in the Institute of Social Safety Studies (IPIT) which is part of the department MR&V. Both groups collaborate permanently in both research and education.
The department is responsible for a broad spectrum of regular courses in the Bachelor’s and Master’s programmes and for several post-graduate courses in the school of Management and Governance.
Head of the department: prof.dr. A. (Ariana) Need (a.need@utwente.nl).
Secretary: J.L.M. (Annette) van der Tuuk (j.l.m.vandertuuk@utwente.nl).
