Postgraduate Governing for the Future –
Research the governance and organisation of society to help us understand how we might live and work in the future.
In the modern world, we are increasingly confronted with complex questions that can only be solved with expertise from across the spectrum of human knowledge.
To understand contemporary issues that will affect the way that we organise and govern our society—like the impacts of climate change, the rise of artificial intelligence, and the drive to tackle inequality—we need to combine theories and knowledge from many different areas.
Available qualifications
A cross-disciplinary subject to tackle today’s big issues
Governing for the Future is a cross-disciplinary subject that focuses on issues of governance through the lens of the things that are important to you.
Take a holistic scholarly approach to how individual citizens, organisations, and communities engage and interact today, and may do so in the future. Use theories and methods from more than one discipline in your research, including indigenous research methodologies.
You might be interested in new forms of governance within organisations, digital sovereignty and transformation, or the modelling of organisations and society as complex adaptive systems. Combine your interests in criminology with approaches to co-governance, or find ways to use data visualisation to help understand society.
Whether you’re interested in the volunteer or non-profit sector, or looking towards the governance of large-scale commercial or political organisations, you’ll be able to focus on the issues that matter most to you.
Unique in Aotearoa
Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University in Wellington is the only university in Aotearoa New Zealand to offer this subject.
You’ll be studying at the seat of government and governance, the place where change happens, with access to all the important institutions that foster and serve an evolving democratic nation.
Take your research outside
At Te Herenga Waka, you‘ll become part of a community of inquiry—where academics, students, and alumni work with business and the wider society to use their research to contribute to real progress and change.
Within the subject you’ll might have opportunities to complete a research project as part of an internship for an organisation, or contribute to public knowledge by publishing your research online.
You may even be able to study part-time with the support of your current employer, concentrating your research on a topic that is important to your organisation. Talk to us to find out more.
After you graduate
When you study Governing for the Future, you’ll develop the skills to work outside the disciplinary boundaries in business and governance.
Work in local and regional government, iwi organisations, NGOs, law, education, health, social services, tourism, as well as commercial organisations.
Scholarships
You can look for scholarships based on your level of study, subject area, and background.