The Master in at incorporates both perspectives, allowing students to combine fine-grained analysis of local issues with an assessment of possible avenues for change. ADS students are trained to apply their scientific, critical, analytical and reflective skills to make concrete contributions to society, using a mixed methods or ethnographic approach.

The ADS Master’s programme offers students a unique skill set that prepares them for a broad range of jobs. These skills are based on a combination of an open, investigative and reflective attitude, sociological imagination, theory-driven analysis of diverse life worlds, inequality and power, and the capacity to weigh the necessity and possibility of interventions in a pragmatic way. At the end of the Master you are capable of conducting your own research, know how to find your feet in diverse settings, assess and analyze complex situations and communicate your findings to various audiences

Possible jobs are that of a policy officer, advisor or researcher for the central or local government, an advisor at aid, welfare and civil society organisations such as the UN, Cordaid or the Dutch Council for Refugees, a researcher at a university or NGO, trade union, consultancy firm or private institution or as a journalist or communication officer.