Dynamics of a Healthy Society

Minor

2023-2024

Please note: In 23/24, this minor is only open to students who master the Dutch language.

Language of Instruction

The courses in this minor are mostly offered in English, but Dutch is needed for several elements including contact with the target population.

Course period

This is a 15 EC minor, offered over a period of 10 weeks in the first semester.

Objectives

Health inequities, obesity among children, loneliness, performance stress among youngsters. What are the drivers behind such ‘wicked problems’ and how might they be related? This minor offers you the possibility to work with societal partners to gain a deeper understanding of real-life problems.

In this minor we apply a so-called ‘challenge based learning’ approach in which societal partners present students with a specific challenge for creating a healthy society. Students with various backgrounds work in interdisciplinary teams in which they engage in fieldwork and start collaborations with external stakeholders, such as policy makers from the municipality, public health workers and residents.

Students will be equipped for this ‘learning by doing approach’ by learning skills for interdisciplinary and participatory collaboration, such as participatory action research, and for conducting qualitative and quantitative research to understand the dynamics of a healthy society. Moreover, teachers from different disciplines in Leiden, Rotterdam and the Applied Universities of Rotterdam, The Hague and Leiden will unfold the layers of a healthy society through the lenses of Psychology, Sociology/Anthropology and Governance.

Contact

For questions about the content of the courses, see the tab 'Courses' or contact the individual course coordinator for specific questions.
For questions about registration, see the tab 'Registration' or, for specific questions, contact the Students Services Centre
For questions about the Rules and Regulations, see the tab 'More Info' or contact the Psychology study adviser

Courses

This minor is offered by a collaboration between Leiden University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Vitale Delta Consortium van de Hogescholen. The courses ‘A Healthy Society: Health Behaviour, Well-Being and the Role of Stress’ and ‘Participatory Action Research with Interdisciplinary Reflection and Coaching’ will be organised by Leiden University, the latter one together with the Vitale Delta Consortium. The courses ‘Governing a Healthy Society’ and ‘Socio-Cultural Perspectives on the Healthy Society’ are organised by Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Activities will take place in Leiden, Rotterdam and The Hague.

Method of Instruction and Examination

See the individual course pages for details about learning objectives, mode of instruction, and assessment method. These may differ from what you are used to in your own study programme.

To arrange special examination accommodations, you must provide official documentation to the Psychology study adviser at least three weeks before the start of the examination period. This is also needed when you are already allowed these accommodations at your own study.

The registration for courses in the minor will be done by the Student Service Centre. This includes all classes and the final exam and resit.

Course	EC	Semester 1	Semester 2
A Healthy Society: Health Behaviour, Well-Being and the Role of Stress	4
Governing the Healthy Society	3
Socio-Cultural Perspectives on the Healthy Society	3
Participatory Action Research with Interdisciplinary Reflection and Coaching	5

Registration

You can register for this minor in eduXchange. The period of registrations differs per type of student (see below) and is between 8 May and 31 May.

Maximum amount of participants: 60 students (minimum 25)

Target Group

We welcome all students that feel inspired by learning from other disciplines and who are interested in issues with regard to health in a very broad sense, such as health, mental well-being, prevention, lifestyle and health inequities!

This minor is open to all third-year bachelor students of the three LDE universities. In addition to this, we welcome students of the HSL, HHS, HRO and InHolland. This way, we aim for a unique interdisciplinary collaboration with students from various backgrounds to build strong cross-disciplinary teams.

You will follow courses in Leiden and Rotterdam (please check the information for each module), and will conduct fieldwork in the region. Please note that in the first year of this course, we open our minor for students that master the Dutch language to facilitate contact with the target population.

Registration

For students of Leiden University, see the minor page at the student website.
For students of TU Delft or Erasmus University: more information about the minor offers and registration can be found here.
For students from other universities and HSL, HHS, HRO and InHolland: more information about minor offers, registration and placement can be found here.

After the application period is over, you will receive more information and the Student Service Centre will registre students for the courses. This includes all classes and final exams and resits.

More info

The Board of Examiners of Psychology is authorised to examine this minor. This minor follows the Rules and Regulations of the Institute of Psychology. Students enrolled in this minor are expected to be familiar with and understand the implications of our Faculty and Study programme regulations.

Learning Outcomes

After finishing this minor, the student is able to:

Analyse the fundamentals of the challenges to a healthy society by interpreting different knowledge sources;
Formulate an interdisciplinary problem definition, synthesizing monodisciplinary perspectives on the problem;
Apply the fundamentals of transdisciplinary, transformations and transitions, including complexity theory and systems and transitions thinking relevant to the project;
Reflect on their academic, theoretical, practical and (intra)personal experiences and biases, both as a group and individually;
Interpret normativity and a variety of interests from different stakeholders while navigating uncertainty and complexity in an open learning environment.

Rooms in Pieter de la Court

In the building, the rooms are marked as follows:
The floor is marked as: S = basement, 1 = first floor, etc
This is followed by the letter A, B or C:

the left side of the building is A, which is the side of the restaurant
the right side of the building is B, which is the side of the library
the sides and rooms connected to the central hall are C