What keeps cooperation going? Resilient societies succeed in maintaining high levels of care, work and inclusion, despite the manifold challenges posed by changing circumstances, which currently range from an aging population to climate change. Key to a society’s resilience is its ability to sustain cooperation within and between families, organizations, and communities. But why is it that some cooperative arrangements thrive, whereas others fall into decay? This puzzle of sustainable cooperation is at the core of the project ‘Sustainable Cooperation: Roadmaps to a Resilient Society’ (SCOOP).
Uniting scholars from sociology, psychology, history, and philosophy at the University of Groningen, Utrecht University, Radboud University Nijmegen and Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands), SCOOP will train a new generation of interdisciplinary researchers and practitioners to develop evidence-based solutions to this puzzle. SCOOP will develop roadmaps for effective policy strategies and solutions for some of societies’ most pressing challenges. How can we find sustainable arrangements for the balance of work and care? How sustainable are current arrangements for the integration of newcomers in society? How can we resolve the tension between the interests of employees and other stakeholders within and outside organisations? How should responsibilities be distributed across the members of workgroups or decision-making bodies?
Already 25 PhD projects in the SCOOP research program are dedicated to these questions. In 2019, SCOOP offers positions for the following 6 new projects:
1.3 - The provision of care: decentralization and cooperation
3.3 - The emergence of sustainable care cooperatives: the role of social networks
4.3 - Volunteering for refugees in the Netherlands: Building a common identity
6.3 - Ethnic diversity, norms and networks
6.4 - Reconciling epistemic and demographic diversity
8.2 - Flexible employment in 21st century workplaces
Detailed descriptions of these new projects can be found on the SCOOP website (
https://www.scoop-program.org/opportunities2).
We aim to attract outstanding PhD students who are motivated to participate in a challenging interdisciplinary research program focused on these and related questions.