Mission

The Nijmegen Interdisciplinary Centre for Development and Cultural Change (NICCOS) was established in 1989 by the Board of Governors of the Radboud University Nijmegen in order to stimulate and co-ordinate research and related activities (for instance education) concerned with developments in countries of the Global South.

Under the inspiring leadership of Prof. Jan Kleinpenning (Human geography) and later Prof. Frans Wijsen (Religious studies) NICCOS has steadily gained recognition as a platform on which to bundle scholarly efforts regarding certain themes that cut across disciplines. Thus initiatives have arisen with input from scholars of disciplines such as Anthropology and Development Studies; Geography, Planning and Environmental Studies; Arabic and Islamic Studies; World Christianity and Inter-religious Relations; International Health and Public Health; and Gender Studies, from within the Radboud University.

We hold the basic belief that cross-disciplinary approaches to development in the global south is fundamental to understanding the social, cultural, political, legal and economic complexities in which these developments are often enshrouded. This calls for efforts traversing boundaries of Faculties and the disciplines they hold.

We also maintain the perspective that own efforts need be integrated with perspectives of the global south, notably its scholars and other actors, through equal basis partnerships.