Activism: A very personal project of change

How does an ordinary citizen become an activist? What is it that powers their transformation from a passive citizen into an active one? These questions sat at the heart of my PhD research, which explored the changes in identity that people go through as they become activists. Findings indicated that activism may change individuals in a fundamental way, similarly as religion.

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How to put scientific understanding of students in the picture?

Scientific understanding is considered increasingly important for both science performance itself and for future adults to be able to fully participate in society. An important question is how to put scientific understanding of students in the picture in such a way that students may eventually flourish in these fields.

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A true learning experience. Acting outside the classroom!

Last summer, students, refugees, academics, and practitioners from different nations and disciplines came together to explore the complexity of migration, the problems around it, and alternatives to current practices in policy and society at the RUG. The summer school ‘Migration Matters’ resulted in three concrete student initiatives to improve the lives of refugees.

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With great power comes great responsibility… right?

Many hope that Donald Trump will behave appropriately now that he is president –arguably the most powerful position on earth. Research, however, shows that power usually increases the correspondence between people’s internal beliefs, states and traits and their behavior. In Trump’s case this could potentially be unfortunate news.

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Too bad to be true? An antidote to PosPos (Positivist Philosophy of Science) and the Crises in Social Psychology

We all know that we test theories by subjecting them to experimental test, allowing us to potentially falsify hypotheses. But where do theories come from? A realist philosophy of science, and the method of retroduction, allows us to use empirical evidence, even from “failed” experiments, to generate as well as test theory.

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