* Apologies for crossposting *

Dear Colleague,

In the academic year of 2013-2014, the Department of Sociology and the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) at Utrecht University offer again a two-year research master's program "Sociology and Social Research" (in short: SaSR). The program is completely taught in English.

Our program offers structured and systematic training in theoretically and methodologically advanced research in sociology and in the social sciences in general.

Special features of the program include:

- A problem-driven approach with a substantive focus on topics such as social networks and social capital, migration, social integration, stratification and inequality, households, and organizations.

- A strong focus on the integration of social theory and methods of data-analysis.

- Hands on experience in state of the art techniques of social science data analysis.

- Hands on experience in writing a publishable research article: the master's thesis that completes the program is written in the format of an article. Many students have had article versions of their theses accepted for publication in journals like Social Forces, Social Networks, Journal of Marriage and the Family, or European Union Politics. In addition, quite some students meanwhile gained prizes and awards for their theses.

- The program comprises a master class taught by an outstanding visiting professor from abroad. Previous visiting professors include Andreas Diekmann, ETH Zurich; Hartmut Esser, Mannheim; Frank Kalter, Mannheim; Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Bamberg; Ted Mouw, North Carolina, Walter Muller, Mannheim; Anthony Heath, Oxford; Daniel McFarland, Stanford.Bonnie Erickson, Toronto, will be our visiting professor in 2013.

- Sociology and Social Research students themselves organize a mini-conference on their own research projects.

- Students are encouraged to participate in summer schools like Essex or Ljubljana.

- Students in the program benefit from intensive supervision. Instructors involved in teaching and supervision include prominent researchers such as Vincent Buskens, Tanja van der Lippe, Ineke Maas, Paul Nieuwbeerta,Anne-Rigt Poortman, Frank van Tubergen, Beate Volker, Jeroen Weesie, and others. Students likewise benefit from much interaction and collaboration in a relatively small group of peers.

The quality of the program can be inferred, among other things, from numerous favorable external evaluations of research and teaching in Sociology at Utrecht University and the ICS. Sociology and Social Research is currently the best research master's program in the Netherlands across all disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences voted by NVAO (the Dutch-Flanders Organization for Accreditation of educational programs).

The profile of the program ensures that the labor market position of alumni is excellent: students who have completed theprogram are very successful in acquiring subsequent positions as PhD students all over the world, as researchers in institutes and organizations outside the university system or as trainees in management or governmental organizations.

The target group of students consists of promising students with a Bachelor's degree or an equivalent period of at least three years of undergraduate study and qualifications that justify the expectation of successful completion of the program in due time. This includes students with a BA in Sociology or in the Social Sciences, broadly conceived and including Economics, Political Sciences, Public Administration, Demography, and (Social) Psychology and also Applied Statistics. While the program is designed for students with above-average grades, motivation of students andaffinity with the program have proven to be of greatest importance. Applicants with deficiencies in methods and statistics can be admitted conditional upon participation in a methods and statistics summer course right before the start of the first year of the program that is offered specifically for incoming research master's students by the Graduate School of Social and Behavioral Sciences of Utrecht University.

Students from outside the Netherlands are explicitly encouraged to apply. About 50% of the students are from outside the Netherlands, up to now including students from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, various countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as students from, e.g., China, Hungary, Israel, Taiwan, and Turkey.Some teaching and research assistantships are available for students. Also,some financial support is available for participation in summer schools outside the Netherlands (for example, Essex, Ljubljana, and Ann Arbor).

Admission to the program is selective. The number of new students per year is limited to +/-20.

We are currently looking for talented candidates for the academic year 2013/2014. Courses for this group will start on September 1, 2013. The

First opportunity to apply for the program is before

December, 1st 2012.

Detailed information on the program is available at www.uu.nl/sasrhttp://www.uu.nl/sasr

Information about the Department of Sociology of Utrecht University and the ICS is available at www.uu.nl/sbs/icshttp://www.uu.nl/sbs/ics

Please do not hesitate to contact me for any inquiries about the program and aboutadmission procedures.

We would be grateful if you could draw the attention of talented students to the program. Also, please feel free to forward this message to other colleagues who might wish to inform students on the program.

Kind regards,

Beate Volker Coordinator research master's program "Sociology and Social Research"

Beate Volker | Coordinator of 'Sociology and Social Research' | Professor of Sociology | Utrecht University | Padualaan 14 | 3584 CH Utrecht | Netherlands | phone +31-(0)30-253 3467 | b.volker@uu.nlmailto:b.volker@uu.nl | http://staff.fss.uu.nl/bvolkerhttp://medewerkers.fss.uu.nl/bvolker