English

This course addresses current needs for the statistical modeling of random patterns and structures in spatial contexts, which arise in multiple fields ranging from geophysical, life and earth sciences, to communication engineering and social network analysis. The course approach relies on computational and statistical tools from stochastic geometry. The course requires students to take prerequisites.

This course teaches the theory of political economics, a recently growing area in the field of economics, in which economic theory and game theory are applied to understand political-economic phenomena. 

Course Prerequisites: The lecture assumes that participants have a basic knowledge of microeconomics and game theory at the introductory level. Some algebra, such as differentiation and optimization, will be required.

Humans and other group-living species, such as bees, songbirds, nonhuman primates and dolphins (to name a few) face a number of challenges. Sociality provides benefits to individuals, but also exposes them to conflicts and competition. Understanding how these challenges are resolved is one of the most dynamic areas of research in evolutionary biology and comparative and developmental psychology. This course looks at sociality from an evolutionary perspective and focuses on how animals - humans included - use communication to live and cooperate with others (as well as deceive and manipulate them). Content includes: How language has evolved in humans, how non-linguistic communication evolved in humans and other species, the role of gesturing in communication, the flexibility of vocal signalling in nonhuman animals, the role of language for cognition and communication, the evolution of sociality, and game theoretical approaches to social interactions.

This course looks at the relationship between the built environment and spiritual space with special focus on Southeast Asia. It looks at a range of spiritual practices and the forms they take including temples, mosques, shrines, and symbols. It addresses how religion shapes and connects cities in different ways as well as how globalization transforms and is transformed by spiritual space. The course examines debates surrounding these questions through cases within and beyond Southeast Asia. Topics range from ghost films to heritage sites. It provides a strong understanding of the religious and spiritual practices, global processes and political events shaping Southeast Asia. It also develops visual analysis skills necessary to read and write about spiritual space in a variety of forms. Course discussions and assignments unpack the aesthetic traditions, politics, and morals surrounding specific cases in order to complicate what it means to be global, regional or local. The content goes beyond Southeast Asia and cuts across disciplines, drawing from Art and Architectural History, Anthropology, Urban Planning, and Geography.

Students read four pairs of plays which open up questions of commerce gender, city limits, liminal space, underbellies and architecture in the urban space: Thomas Dekker, THE SHOEMAKER’S HOLIDAY (1599); Ben Jonson, THE ALCHEMIST (1610) Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, THE ROARING GIRL (1607-10); Ben Jonson, EPICOENE OR THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) Christopher Marlowe, THE JEW OF MALTA (1592); John Webster, THE DUCHESS OF MALFI (c. 1614) Thomas Middleton, A CHASTE MAID IN CHEAPSIDE (1611-13); William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, John Ford, THE WITCH OF EDMONTON (1621) Students also read a selection of theory on the city from commentators such as Engels, Benjamin, Bachelard and Lefebvre. 

This course introduces students to the history of Europe in the early modern period. It also explores the history of early modern Europe from global perspectives, looking at connections with non-European peoples and polities, and examining what happened when very different cultures came into contact with each other. It compares changes and continuities in different parts of Europe, in a period marked by the disintegration of Western Christendom and the emergence of nation states. Chronologically, the main focus is on the 15th to 17th centuries, a period which saw changes of profound significance for the long-term development of Europe and the wider world, changes which continue to shape the landscape, institutions, and culture of our world today. Assuming no prior knowledge, this course provides an overview of the key political, social, economic, environmental, religious and intellectual developments of the early modern period. 

This course provides an overview of academic debates centred around evolving gender and sexual politics in contemporary China, which manifests as a unique area for studying the expansion of neoliberal economy, digital technologies as well as its socialist legacies. Bringing together significant theoretical insights and empirical research, teaching of this course will be facilitated through case studies of emerging forms of cultural representation, production, consumption and resistance. Topics will be covered include fandom and the popularity of online literature, influencers and gender performativity, feminist and LGBTQ+ activism and the creation of queer media, in the light of the Chinese context of censorship and governance.

The focus of the course is on what the concepts of risk and risk perception mean from various theoretical standpoints. Students explore people's responses to risks such as AIDS, Ebola, Covid, Climate Change and Earthquakes. Beyond gaining an understanding of the nature of these responses, students examine health and safety campaigns and methods of communicating to change health and safety behaviors. Analysis of how media portray risks is central to this course.

This course provides students with an introduction to the criminal justice system in England and Wales, as well as introducing students to key debates on crime, justice, and punishment.  Students learn about policing, the courts system, prisons and community punishments.