UvA Research Priority Areas

In line with the Ministry of Education’s Research Vision 2025 (Wetenschapsvisie 2025), in order to create strong research profile (“focus en massa”), the UvA stimulated Research Priority Areas (RPAs) for ground-breaking research.

Since 2008, the UvA has pursued policies to create and facilitate research priority areas. As of 2019, the main goal in these policies is to stimulate innovation between disciplines. The aim of a university wide RPA is to explore possible innovation by bringing together researchers from different disciplines and faculties. The UvA is less focused on achieving a strong research profile (“focus en massa”), but more on bringing researchers together to work on specific themes with added value (competitive advantage) for the UvA.

Definition RPA

The definition of a university RPA is:

• an interdisciplinary collaboration of researchers from different faculties on a common research theme;
• with a coherent and innovative research programme;
• which has a competitive advantage and can create visibility internationally;
• that has potential for growth and can contribute to the research profile of UvA;
• that has the potential to obtain sufficient external research funding in the long term; and
• that might prove to be a sustainable form of research collaboration.

Through competition inter-faculty initiatives can obtain funding from UvA. In principle, this funding is available for five years.

Participation Amsterdam Law School in UvA RPAs

Researchers of the Amsterdam Law school participate in the following UvA RPAs:

• Personalized Communication
• The Amsterdam Centre for European Studies (ACES)
• Humane AI
• Global Health
• Organisational Ethics
• Energy Transition through the Lens of the SDGs (ENLENS)