Research Team ‘Institutions for Collective Action
Within its relatively short existence, the Research Team ‘Institutions for Collective Action’ has become a real knowledge centre on institutions for collective action, such as commons. The members of this team have done intensive research on the emergence, the functioning, the dynamics, and the longevity of historical commons. Within their research, commons have only been studied internationally (in cooperation with the Public University of Navarre (Spain) and Lancaster University (UK)), but also interdisciplinary, through cooperation with experts from other disciplines, such as sociology and law. Over the past few years, the team members have published several publications on commons in peer-reviewed journals as well as books on commons with renowned academic publishers. The research activities are not merely limited to historical commons, but also involve contemporary institutions for collective action, such as citizens’ collectivities. For more info, visit the website of the research team.
Utrecht University’s strategic theme ‘Institutions’
The researchers of Utrecht University’s strategic theme ‘Institutions’ form a multidisciplinary knowledge centre, comprising scholars from a large number of disciplines, such as economics, history, public administration, law, sociology, ethics, innovation studies, and geography, who have decided to join forces to improve the understanding of the formation and effects of these institutions. By combining their expertise, they contribute to the construction of open and sustainable societies. Their multidisciplinary endeavor is organized around five concrete themes that jointly form the main pillars on which open, sustainable societies are built: cooperation, innovation, sustainability, democracy, and equity. For more info, please visit the website of ‘Institutions’.
Utrecht University
The Research Team ‘Institutions for Collective Action’ is based within the Social and Economic History research group of the Department for History and Art History at the Faculty of Humanities of Utrecht University; the research team on Utrecht University’s strategic theme institutions is hosted and supported by various faculties within the same university. Utrecht University, established in 1636, is one of the leading universities in the Netherlands and has been ranked as the top research university in the Netherlands in several international rankings. The two main locations (the Uithof campus and the City centre) together offer study and research facilities to over 30,000 students and 6,300 staff members.
