Deze informatie is alleen in het Engels beschikbaar.
Topics: TBA
Disciplines: TBA
Admission requirements:
This course is an (extracurricular) Honours Class: an elective course within the Honours College programme. Third year students who don’t participate in the Honours College, have the opportunity to apply for a Bachelor Honours Class. Students will be selected based on i.a. their motivation and average grade.
Description:
During the course City Lab, you will analyze societal challenges within the city of Leiden. In an interdisciplinary team, you will learn more about the interaction between science and society, how to work with external stakeholders, how to conduct applied research, and how to use scientific theory and information from stakeholders for a problem analysis. This course is organized in collaboration with the programme Leren met de Stad ('Learning with the City').
The local challenges you will analyze, relate to ‘bigger’ issues, such as health problems among people in disadvantaged neighborhoods, financial problems and/ or poverty, (perceived) safety for women, and increasing exercise and outdoor play amongst children. For your challenge, you will collaborate with one of the following partners: the municipality of Leiden, Incluzio Leiden, Buzz, SOL, or Leiden Police. An important part of the course is the fieldwork; we expect you to gather information for your analyses by engaging with stakeholders or situations that are relevant to your challenge.
The class will be divided into three or four workgroups and small teams within these workgroups. Each group will work on a specific societal problem. In this course you will work together with your interdisciplinary subgroup and receive feedback from and give feedback to the students in other subgroups. You will also be guided by your research group supervisor. Be aware that this course requires active participation and independent learning from students. You are expected to plan and organise your fieldwork in Leiden well.
Course objectives:
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
analyze societal challenges and problems based on scientific theory;
define a problem using all possible sources of information;
relate a problem definition to interventions and policy;
reflect on effective research skills and collaboration skills;
reflect on working in an interdisciplinary context;
present research outcomes to a broad audience;
reflect peer to peer.
Programme and timetable:
The meetings of this course will take place from 15.00 - 17.00 on the following Wednesdays (workgroups) and Fridays (plenary sessions):
Session 1: Friday, 13 February, 2026
Plenary session
Session 2: Wednesday, 18 February, 2026
Work group
Session 4: Friday, 20 February, 2026
Plenary session
Session 3: Wednesday, 4 March, 2026
Work group
Session 5: Friday, 6 March, 2026
Plenary session
Session 6: Wednesday, 18 March, 2026
Work group
Session 7: Wednesday, 1 April, 2026
Work group
Session 8: Wednesday, 15 April, 2026
Work group
Session 9: Wednesday, 29 April, 2026
Work group
Session 10: Friday, 1 May, 2026
Plenary session
Location:
TBA
Reading list:
Literature on applied research and local versus global issues, on how to conduct a problem analysis, how to collaborate with stakeholders, and ethical aspects will be provided on Brightspace.
Each week, you will get instructions/ assignments through Brightspace.
Course load and teaching method:
This course is worth 5 ECTS, which means the total course load equals 140 hours:
Start: During the first weeks students will learn which types of research are relevant when working on complex societal problems and challenges. We will look at methodological issues and discuss preconditions of interdisciplinary research in an applied context. Students will also meet the societal partners from the city of Leiden.
Middle: During the next weeks student teams will setup and conduct research to tackle the societal challenge/ problem, based on thorough analysis of the problem (e.g., interviews with stakeholders, observations) and relevant theory. During this fieldwork students will further develop their research-, analytical-, communication-, and collaboration skills.
After their fieldwork, students will write a report and share their outcomes with relevant stakeholders, other members of the municipality of Leiden city, and their peers. These outcomes should at least contain a problem definition, but can have various other forms, for example: a proposed intervention, an expert advice how to inform citizens, or an advice how to change policy measures. Presentations will be given in a plenary session.
Participation in plenary class meetings and meetings in workgroups is mandatory.
Assessment methods:
Assignment final group report
Assignment final group presentation for the municipality of Leiden
Self-reflection report
Students can only pass this course after successful completion of all partial exams.
The assessment methods will be further explained in the first session of the class.
Brightspace and uSis:
Brightspace will be used in this course. Upon admission students will be enrolled in Brightspace by the teaching administration.
Please note: students are not required to register through uSis for the Bachelor Honours Classes. Your registration will be done centrally.
Application process:
Submitting an application for this course is possible from Monday, 27 October 2025 up to and including Sunday, 16 November 2025 23:59 through the link on the Honours Academy student website.
Note: students don’t have to register for the Bachelor Honours Classes in uSis. The registration is done centrally before the start of the class.
Contact:
Coen Wirtz: c.wirtz@fsw.leidenuniv.nl