Innovations in the field of agriculture, food and natural resource management have a dual nature: they consist of new technological practices as well as new socio-organisational arrangements involving a variety of societal actors. As a result, society needs skilled professionals who are able to link human and technological dimensions of innovation and understand the role of knowledge in societal change processes in dynamic contexts across the globe. The MSc programme Development and Rural Innovation is tailored for students with a BSc degree in technical sciences, life sciences or relevant management studies with an interest in global development problems and social dimensions of technical change. The challenge for students in this programme is to combine their previously acquired competences with new academic competences in the field of social sciences in order to make innovations work. The programme consists of a combination of disciplinary and problem-oriented courses, administered in an interactive style where peer learning plays an important role. The programme is thesis-oriented with an individual research project as its core. Students can choose between four thesis tracks: Communication and Innovation Studies, Rural Sociology, Sociology of Development and Change, or Technology and Development Studies. Graduates are well equipped to continue academic training (PhD) or to start - or continue - in a variety of career opportunities oriented towards societal problem solving and innovation, such as applied research, knowledge brokering, policy-making, consultancy and process facilitation.