Reparations are increasingly demanded by disenfranchised groups and Global South countries to address historical injustices. These demands often include apologies, institutional reforms, and sometimes monetary compensation. As part of efforts toward a fairer economy, reparations target issues like environmental damage, climate change, disease outbreaks, and injustices faced by Indigenous peoples and minorities.

This project examines reparations tied to global development challenges, focusing on infectious disease outbreaks, climate change, and toxic environments. It aims to compare the processes of reparations, explore their broader economic, moral, and political implications, and understand their impact on economic life.

Project duration: 1 Jan 2024 - 31 Dec 2028

Funded by: the European Research Council (ERC)

When organisations talk about equality, diversity and inclusion, they mainly focus on helping minority groups. But what about the norm group? This project examines what individuals and organisations do to maintain the norm, or ‘sameness’ (uniformity), by perpetuating privilege on the one hand and reproducing marginalisation on the other. The research will take place in different academic and professional settings where ‘professionalism’ is taught: in classrooms, middle management and the medical profession. It will reveal imagined similarities in values, attitudes and approaches to professionalism and develop concrete methods to break through them – to create more equal and inclusive Dutch universities. 

Project period: 01 Sept 2023 - 31 Aug 2026

Funded by: NWO Advancing Equity in Academia through Innovation

Crafting Resilience  is centred on the partnership between government, civil society organisations, and citizens to tackle social inequalities and foster social resilience, primarily within marginalised communities.

The project, led by Anouk de Koning, emphasises the significance of such collaboration in response to urgent social issues. However, forging connections between the state and marginalised citizens presents a significant challenge, particularly in light of mounting inequality, polarisation, and institutional racism.

Crafting Resilience investigates targeted programmes and methods to enhance social resilience by fostering new links between the state and citizens. It examines ways in which social workers can collaborate with policymakers and citizens to conceive and execute these novel relationships. The study examines potential conflicts, dilemmas, and power dynamics that may arise within collaborative relationships.

The study's findings offer valuable insights for social workers, shedding light on the intricacies of creating effective arrangements between the state and citizens. It also provides guidance on ways social workers can tackle these challenges, advance inclusive decision-making processes, and foster resilient communities.

Project period: 1 Sept 2022 to 31 Dec 2027

Funded by: Dutch Research Agenda (NWA)

This research investigates the entrepreneurial activities of undocumented Brazilian and Indonesian immigrants in the Netherlands. Aimed at both master’s students and undocumented entrepreneurs, it offers a chance to study social issues firsthand. Students will explore livelihood strategies, resilience, and the role of transnational networks through interviews, life histories, and surveys. Undocumented participants are assured privacy and independence from external influence.

By joining, students gain real-world research experience, and undocumented entrepreneurs contribute to increased societal understanding and potential policy advocacy. Email us to participate and contribute to this impactful project.

Project period: 1 April 2023 to 31 Dec 2024

Funded by: UvA's theme-based collaboration programme 'Fair and resilient societies'

Across Europe, welfare states are struggling to meet the demands of volatile economies, increased precarity, and social diversity. Unable to fulfill longstanding social contracts, these systems are under strain. The research project Prototyping Welfare in Europe, led by Anouk de Koning and team members Tessa Bonduelle, Martha Kapazoglou, and Vénicia Sananès, explores how new welfare models are being imagined and implemented. Funded by an NWO Vici grant, the team examines welfare transformation in Amsterdam, London, Marseille, and Thessaloniki, aiming to illuminate potential futures for European welfare.

While radical alternatives to governance often emerge from grassroots movements, this study focuses on state-sanctioned spaces that may more closely shape future welfare realities. Through ethnographic research, the team investigates how diverse actors—municipalities, charities, NGOs, and community groups—redefine welfare and the social contract by delivering essential services like food, housing, and health. They ask: Who steps in when traditional welfare fails? How do new models reshape governance and social expectations? Ultimately, the project seeks to understand how these initiatives may transform welfare practices and prefigure new sociopolitical landscapes.

Project period: 1 Nov 2022 to 31 Oct 2027

Funded by: NWO Vici

The Eur-Asian Border Lab aims to catalyse trans-regional synergies and intellectual conversations among scholars studying borders and bordering across different world regions. We test theoretical ideas in diverse empirical settings and apply insights from academically peripheral regions to the heart of mainstream theorization of border studies. We understand bordering as an increasingly complicated and nuanced conceptual process at the core of many critical developments and practices worldwide.

Project period: 1 Dec 2022 to 31 Oct 2025

Funded by: the Horizon Europe Twinning programme

The Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus highlights urgent needs for creative, transdisciplinary approaches to address interconnected insecurities. Focusing on urban areas impacted by Apartheid and colonial legacies, we propose community engagement and citizen science labs in Johannesburg, Mankweng, Alice, and East London.

These “Eco-Labs” will explore WEF precarity's unique impact on women and youth and foster socially inclusive, eco-cultural responses. By partnering with local residents, we aim to generate knowledge and best-practice guidelines that support livelihoods, environmental health, and wellbeing through collaborative, community-based solutions.

Project period: 4 April 2022 to 31 March 2026

Funded by: NWO Merian

This study examines how trees serve as political tools today. Seen as "the lungs of the world," trees face threats from overexploitation, and their protection is both ecologically urgent and politically complex. The project explores "arboreal nationalism"—using trees to advance political goals, from land occupation through tree planting to resisting deforestation impacting indigenous communities.

Key questions include how states, civil groups, and marginalized communities harness the symbolism of trees, how nationalism is “greenwashed,” and the colonial legacies in tree-related projects. Focusing on Israel-Palestine, this study aims to bridge state anthropology, environmental studies, and nationalist histories.

Project period: 1 Jan 2024 to 31 Dec 2025

Funded by the AISSR

ChinaWhite, with its full project title “The reconfiguration of whiteness in China: Privileges, precariousness, and racialized performances,” is a five-year research project (2019-2024).

With the rise of China’s economy, more and more westerners are moving to China for business and job opportunities. One consequence of this reverse migration is the transformation of whiteness from a majority identity in western countries to a minority identity in China. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being white in China’s thriving market economy and consumer culture? How is whiteness racialized in relation to blackness and other immigrant identities in various social domains and in different regions in China? How are multiple versions of whiteness negotiated and performed through daily life interactions between white migrants and Chinese in various social and personal settings?

Project period: 1 June 2019 to 31 may 2025

Funded by: the European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grant

Project period: 1 Jan 2021 to 30 June 2025   

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Project period: 1 Jan 2021 to 30 June 2025

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Project period: 1 Oct 2021 to 30 Sept 2025

Funded by the National Overseas Scholarship.

Period: 1 Sept 2021 to 31 Aug 2025

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Project period: 1 Feb 2022 to 31 Jan 2026

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Project period: 1 Sept 2022 to 31 Aug 2026

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Project period: 1 Dec 2022 to 30 Nov 2026

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Period: 21 Aug 2023 to 20 Aug 2027

Funded by the LPDP scholarship

Period: 1 Oct 2021 to 30 Sept 2025

Funded by the National Overseas Scholarship

Project period: 1 Dec 2022 to 30 Nov 2026

Funded by: Rajarshri Shahu Maharaj Scholarship

Project period: 1 Oct 2023 to 30 Sept 2027

Funded by: LPDP scholarship

Project Period: 1 Sept 2024 to 31 Aug 2024

Funded by: LPDP scholarship