Career

Career Perspective

The ESST Program in particular aspires to train problem-solvers who address the relationship between society, science and technology not from a singular point of view but by using a multidisciplinary and international approach.

The ESST program will train two kinds of graduates:

Researchers aiming for a university career
These graduates will typically continue after their ESST master with a PhD training or if necessary enter the second year of a research master. Some ESST graduates go on to doctorate programs in the social sciences, cultural studies, business, communications, engineering , etc. in Europe as well as the United States to get their PhD. Their topics of analysis can be found in the field of ICT; healthcare; rural development; sustainable city planning; sustainable technology; strategic management; innovation studies.

Researchers aiming at working in non-academic research institutes
Some graduates prefer a career in non-academic research environments and have gone into government agencies, industry think tanks or consultancies. These graduates will mainly be employed by public and private research institutes, such as an Advisory Council for Science and Technology Policy; an Energy research Centre; an Health Council; an Advisory council for research on spatial planning, nature and the environment; Management Agencies of several Ministries (e.g. Environment; Transport, Public Works and Water) and possibly large corporations such as DSM and Philips. The teaching program for both kinds of graduates is identical. What have you learned after completed the ESST program that makes you an interesting candidate on the job market!

ESST competences and benefits

1. You have learned to integrate empirical research and theoretical analysis.
2. You succeeded in integrating theory and empirics: one of the most difficult challenges in research. You can explain how all empirical data are theory-laden, how conceptual analysis will help to highlight ambiguities in empirical claims, how carefully crafted case-studies may support a certain theoretical perspective (without naively improving it)
3. You have encountered a variety of disciplines like, philosophy, history, sociology, economics, anthropology, ….
4. You have an education that was both broad and deep.The first semester is very broad, and opened your eyes for other approaches, vocabularies, disciplines, cultures, etc.). But in the second semester you focused and went into the depth of a subject. You can do that again on a very different issue.
5. You can switch between micro and macro levels of analysis. You have studied macro phenomena (from economics, historical, and philosophical perspectives), but also analyzed detailed case-studies at micro-level. Switching between macro and micro levels of analysis can yield important insights that remain hidden without such switching.
6. You have international experience which makes you extra flexible in a variety of ways; Living, researching, and surviving in another country, another language, and another culture is a substantial accomplishment: you have encountered difficulties and you did overcome them. This you can do again.
7. You are able to work with innovative concepts.
8. You have developed the ability to adapt to changing external circumstances.
9. You typically take an innovative approach to problems. ESST did not teach you a standard approach to problems, but rather stimulated you see every problem in its own right and look for the best possible solution „ in terms of discipline, concepts, methodology, empirical sources. You are helped by the variety of disciplines, levels of analysis that you encountered: it is quite likely that you will come up with a novel and feasible approach to a nagging problem because you can draw on more resources.
10. Your ESST training has extended your previous undergraduate education, not replaced it. You do not have to deny your first identity (from your undergraduate or other master degree). ESST builds on that. Now you can do the same things as previously but better, and how you can do new things that are still relevant for your previous agenda.
11. You are able to solve unexpected problems and challenges.
12. The world is generally moving into a “contextual” direction, and you are specifically prepared for that. You can cite the legal requirements in US law to pay attention to ELSA (= ethical, legal, and social aspects) of genetics and other new scientific developments such as nanotechnology. Many countries are specifically devoting funds to stimulate interdisciplinary research. Industry recognizes that narrow-minded innovation without attention to user requirements, environmental and ethical issues, does not work anymore. EU legislation and regulation recognize the multi-faceted nature of innovation and research.
13. You have a variety of specific skills. You can make a list that applies to yourself. For example: reading scientific literature from a variety of disciplines, searching literature, reviewing literature, making a conceptual analysis, historicizing an event/institution/problem/concept, interviewing, doing anthropological participant observation, researching archives, writing, presenting…

Testimonials

Anna Ntinidou, Insight Knowledge Manager at Global Trust Council, study year 2005-2006

“I enjoyed enormously my ESST studies and my Masters was quite useful for my career: not so much the fact that I had the diploma but the experience on how to write the thesis and the knowledge obtained during the course.

The multidisciplinary dimension was the most eye-opening aspect of the programme as I was able to acquire a more holistic understanding of the multifaceted relationships between science, technology and society. Coming from an engineering background where 1+1 always equals 2, the sociological and philosophical dimensions of scientific and technological development were thought-provoking and allowed me to re-evaluate the logic of my perceptions. Having acquired a new line of thought, it was exciting to realize how this could be put in practice in my work for solving problems that require an innovative solution.”

Ask Risom Bøge, Ph.D. student at Aarhus University

“Attending a semester at the ESST program in Maastricht was an extraordinary and intense academic experience that has helped me greatly in my path to becoming and performing well as a PhD student. At ESST, I was taught by some of the finest scholars and worked with the most diverse and engaged students STS has to offer. In this environment I grew personally, my social circle expanded and my knowledge about STS theory and method increased greatly. All this has contributed to my later success.

If I were to emphasize one thing about ESST, it would be the teaching method, which revolves around discussion and dialog between teacher and students much more than longwinded presentations. Every day is an intense experience as you find yourself in a small room engaging and reflecting with your teacher and a small group of fellow students. It is fast, it is back-and-forth, there is no hiding and you are guaranteed to come away smarter when you leave the room.”