About CSPS

The Centre for Space, Place and Society (CSPS) is a platform of collaboration and outreach for researchers from four chair groups within Wageningen University & Research (WUR), straddling the environmental and social sciences.

Our aim is to facilitate and advance creative, critical and engaging scholarship within and beyond the social sciences. Learn more about the Centre for Space, Place and Society, join one of the research clusters, or get in touch with us via the contact page.

Centre for Space, Place and Society

By facilitating research collaborations and various activities, both within and outside the four chair groups, the Centre for Space, Place, and Society explores the dynamics of spatial and social anchoring, connections, and circulations, with special attention to issues of inequality, exclusion, difference, and plurality. The Centre for Space, Place, and Society aims to translate this knowledge into practical action in the pursuit of a more just and equitable world.

Research collaboration

The four chair groups that together form the Centre for Space, Place, and Society are Health and Society (HSO), Rural Sociology (RSO), Sociology of Development and Change (SDC), and Cultural Geography (GEO).

> Chair Group Health and Society

The Health and Society group focuses on the sociological study of public health, health promotion, and health protection, in resource poor and research rich contexts, with emphasis on (1) the social, natural and built environment, and (2) the role of actors and social institutions in advancing health and wellbeing.

> Chair Group Rural Sociology

The Rural Sociology group studies the dynamics of food provisioning, agrarian change, and rural and regional development with an international comparative perspective. They study and analyze processes of change using various critical sociological approaches, employing both qualitative and quantitative research methods.

> Chair Group Sociology of Development and Change

The Sociology of Development and Change group focuses on the structures and practices of development and change with a particular scientific interest in inequality, marginalization and political agency. We are a politically engaged and interdisciplinary research and educational centre in development studies, political ecology, anthropology of law and crisis and disaster studies.

> Chair Group Cultural Geography

The Cultural Geography group values social theories in all their spatial expressions. Their work centers on mobility and the cultural politics of the landscape in relation to spatial theories. By researching space, place, and culture and engaging with current, historical, and future dynamics of societies worldwide, the group pays special attention to questions of inequality, exclusion, mobility, and diversity. They also utilize critical tourism studies across all aspects of social and environmental sciences, unraveling relational complexities in wilderness to urban environments.

Aim

Specific objects of the Centre for Space, Place and Society include

Produce high quality and internationally acclaimed conceptual and empirical research, drawing on innovative and transdisciplinary methods and perspectives.
Support and encourage collaboration among creative and critical scholars inside and outside of academia, through research, education and exchange activities.
Contribute towards positively impacting society not only in terms of advancing knowledge but also ensuring that this knowledge can empower and be of practical and political use to social groups, as well as to draw attention to processes that marginalize and disenfranchise vulnerable people.
Facilitate high quality knowledge transfer and collaboration through activities including publication, education, public presentation and outreach, workshops, and conferences.
Inspire and nurture budding social scientists and early career researchers, and in doing so contribute towards the development of a dynamic space in which critical social science is practiced, celebrated and supported.

CSPS Team

The CSPS Team is a dedicated group of professionals who provide excellent service and support. With a wide range of skills, we work together to create solutions that fit the specific needs of our clients. Our strong focus on quality and customer satisfaction has made us a trusted partner in the industry.