Due to the combination of cultural sociology and the sociology of media and the arts, I thought the research master was one of the best international programmes available.
Julian Schaap
Alumnus Research Master Sociology of Culture, Media and the Arts
"While finishing my Bachelor programme in History I grew an interest in how historical processes continue to shape current societies. This caused a shift in my focus from history to sociology. Due to the combination of cultural sociology and the sociology of media and the arts, I thought the research master was one of the best international programmes available to develop my knowledge on this. Although I started the master with the idea of pursuing an academic career only in the back of my mind, it only took a few weeks into the first courses to make me realize this is exactly what I wanted – and still want – to do.
A piece of advice: Enjoy it as much as you can! In hindsight I realize how amazing it was to be able to read about so many different interesting topics while being in an intellectually stimulating group of peers and being guided by experts in the field. In addition to that, I can recommend to really grasp this ‘openness of your brain’ as long as you can and not decide at the start what you want to focus on. You have ample opportunity (internship, master thesis) to develop ideas at length, so use the different courses to write papers about various topics. It helps you to become truly inter-disciplinary and make the most of the two years the program offers. It goes without saying that going on international exchange is an absolute must."