Research Workshops

General Information

One aspect that makes the M.Sc. Programme unique is the fact that participants are encouraged to perform action-oriented research in their home countries or a country other than their own during the fieldwork period; there will be cases in which participants stay in Rotterdam and do their data collection in the Netherlands. To support the participants’ thesis work, as well as the quality of their output, IHS, in line with its research policy and research interest, offers participants the research workshops. Research workshops are designed to facilitate the iterative research process needed by each individual to compose a sound research proposal, with a strong theoretical framework and a focused and realistic research design to be implemented in their home countries. The research workshops are guided and facilitated by academic staff whose own research interest is circumscribed within the different thematic areas offered. A wide range of topics related to each one of the master tracks can be researched under the umbrella of the different workshops. 

The main objective of these workshops is to support the individual research process of participants and at the same time produce a body of collective knowledge that is expected to contribute to the understanding of the domain of urban management and development in developing, transitional and developed countries.

The six thematic areas are:

• Equitable Urban Land Governance
• Urban Environment, Sustainability and Climate Change
• Urban Economic Development and Resilience
• Sustainable Infrastructure for Green Cities
• Urban Socio-Spatial Dynamics
• Urban Housing Justice in the Global South

Attendance RW: attendance during RW courses is mandatory only if the Research Workshop Coordinator (RWC) determines it.

Participation in Colloquia; the participant is expected to attend at least three of four colloquia. If they do not, they will be assessed as "failed" (i.e. not in compliance) and will be given an assignment by the RWC Coordinator, which they have to pass, in order to compensate for their non-attendance. 

Assessment criteria for Research Workshops

The “go” or “no go” system

• Go: the participant is allowed to go for fieldwork/data collection and analysis
• Conditional Go: the participant needs to address minor comments/quick fixes before going for fieldwork.
• No Go: the participant is not yet ready to go for fieldwork and needs to improve the thesis proposal and bring it to the level of “go for fieldwork” as soon as possible. Following the submission of the revised (improved) proposal, the supervisor must communicate if the participant can go for field work.
• The field work can only be conducted after a “go” for fieldwork is officially granted.
• A student approved to go for fieldwork will be given a fieldwork letter.
• Supervisors and second readers must jointly grant and communicate the “go”. “conditional go” or “no go” for fieldwork to the Workshop Coordinator, Programme Management and Examination Committee.
• Both supervisor and second reader must give a “go”. If one of them gives a “no go”, then the student cannot go for fieldwork.
• If the proposal is still not to the level that permits him/her to go for fieldwork, then the participant will be given an automatic extension. Alternatively, the participant can of his/her own volition decide to take an extension up to two months. The final date of submission in 2021 is on 15 November. 

• The participant can receive two rounds of comments if he/she submits improved versions of the thesis.

At the end of September, the options are:

• If the thesis is accepted, the participant uses the two months extension for conducting field work and writing up the thesis (deadline 15 November 2021). Based on the number of hours of supervision already received, supervision could continue until the allocated hours are exhausted.
• If the thesis is not accepted, the participant will need to decide if he/she stops or submits the thesis on 15 November despite the advice given, running the risk of not passing. Comments on further proposal improvements, or thesis supervision are not provided in this case.
• If the thesis is not accepted for this academic year, the participant will have a third submission option in the next academic year.

Course information