English

This course enables students to write better creative prose and poetry. For prose, students develop an awareness of how fiction and creative non-fiction is constructed with emphasis on the short story and the literary essay. The focus is on a deeper understanding of the creative process through language, imagery, ideas, methods of characterization, narrative movement, and dramatic tension. For poetry, students develop an awareness of the creative process, and understand some of the techniques poets use to shape material into finished works. Issues of texture in language and content are raised and a variety of techniques are discussed, using examples drawn mainly from recent and contemporary works. 

This course equips early-stage entrepreneurs wishing to start their own venture or work in a start-up with the theoretical frameworks, practical tools, and entrepreneurial mindsets required to identify, design, and launch new ventures—ranging from profit-driven startups to mission-driven social enterprises. Students apply concepts to develop a business pitch based on one of the ideas they generated in class, bridging theory and practice.

This course situates migration within broader social and economic contexts. To understand human mobility, it conceives migration as an intrinsic part of wider processes of economic and social change, rather than as a “problem to be solved”. Drawing on empirical and theoretical work, it demonstrates the contradictions and continuities in how migration has been understood in social science scholarship and explores how migration affects key areas of the economy and society, including implications from a public health perspective. By examining historical and contemporary examples, the course shows how migration patterns evolve in response to shifting economic demands, political decisions and social transformations.

This course introduces the concepts and methods of comparative public law to provide tools to analyze existing juridical systems and also to challenge existing definitions and classifications. Comparing different approaches to separation of powers, federalism, judicial review and rights, the course also gives an understanding on how different constitutional orders have addressed some common issues in public law and contemporary democracies and how they could face contemporary challenges.

From the 9/11 attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic, the “politics of emergency” have moved from the periphery to the center of governance. This course examines how the state of exception, no longer a rare response to crisis, became a recurring technique used to justify extraordinary measures, expand executive authority, and suspend normal legal and democratic processes. It examines how this logic operates across regimes, from liberal democracies to authoritarian states, and investigate its contrasting applications to current issues such as climate change or migration. Drawing upon political theories and comparative case studies, the course explores how emergency politics fundamentally transform political practice and challenge democratic norms.

This course examines basic scientific knowledge about indoor and outdoor air pollution, as well as global and regional climate change, in relation to human health. The following questions will be talked and discussed: What types of air pollution are there in
indoor and outdoor environment? What types of compounds form the pollution? Can they be measured? Do we know the levels of different pollutants? How about the relationship between outdoor and indoor environment? Is it safer to stay in indoor environment if there is a high outdoor air pollution? Do we have any measures to prevent or reduce the pollution level? What are the health effects of these pollutants? Do they affect our respiratory health, cardiovascular system or even our endocrine systems? How much does the climate change interact with air pollution and affect our health? How are international or national fighting strategies on it?

This course analyzes the impact of economic variables in a national and international context through a case study, identifying sources of competitive advantage for the organization. 

Hydrological systems such as river catchments represent a fundamental component of our landscapes. The environmental and hydrological processes which operate in river catchments influence important ecosystem services such as water supply, the provision of high water quality, and high (flood) and low flow regulation. The effective management of these systems is dependent on our scientific understanding of these processes and their dynamics. This course covers the key principles of hydrology and catchment systems and introduces key principles for monitoring and managing catchment systems.

The course provides an up-to-date survey of the rapidly changing field of stem cell research, from fundamental principles to the practicalities of regenerative medicine. Students learn about the basic biology of stem cells and how it differs in various tissues, how stem cells are involved in disease from genetic disorders to ageing, how stem cells can be harnessed to regenerate tissues, what challenges regenerative medicine faces, and the approaches taken by researchers to overcome them.

This course introduces students to contemporary Chinese foreign policy. It examines how historical and geographical legacies, domestic institutions, political leadership, and societal forces shape China’s foreign policy decisions. The course also explores China’s relations with major countries and regions, including the United States, Russia, Japan, and the Korean Peninsula, as well as China’s growing role in global governance in areas such as the economy, technology, and the environment. By the end of the course, students will be able to critically analyze China’s foreign policy in a changing global context.