English

This course introduces the principate of Augustus (27 BCE - 14 CE) as a pivotal moment in the political and cultural history of Rome and its subsequent influence. This course helps students understand the creation and design of the Principate in the context of the late Republic, its experiments in one-man rule, and the Civil Wars; explores the literature and art of the Augustan period, above all Virgil's Aeneid, with particular attention to their cultural and political backgrounds, and discusses the development of the Principate over the course of Augustus' reign.

This course provides an integrated treatment of two critical topics for a computing professional: human computer interaction (HCI) and security. It will cover basic skills to evaluate systems for their effectiveness in meeting people's needs within the contexts of their use, building knowledge of common mistakes in systems, and approaches to avoid those mistakes.

This introductory course on feminist theory offers a panoramic overview of the field, while maintaining sensitivity to the historical emergence of gender studies as an academic discipline. After a general introduction, the course begins with a session on women's becoming subjects of research and the implications this had for academic topics and approaches. The course sessions address topics such as: abortion, motherhood and reproductive justice; theories of sexual liberation; feminist, queer and trans materialisms; ecofeminisms; intersectionality; queer and feminist theories of the state and nationalism; sexual violence; the institutionalization of feminist thought; feminist theory at the crossroad of other political sets of theory (liberalism, Marxism, anarchism, Critical Theory and postmodernism) and feminist perspectives on far-right sexual politics. Although the course primarily follows a lecture format, interactive segments are regularly incorporated.

The widespread adoption of deep learning methods has been largely driven by the availability of easy-to-use systems such as PyTorch and TensorFlow. However, it is less common for users to explore the internals of the libraries and understand how they function, as well as how to optimize the high-level code for hardware systems. When deep learning algorithms are deployed into custom hardware, they are often modified to run faster and more efficiently. This course provides students with the basic concepts and principles of modern deep learning systems, and it explores how optimizations can be applied from both the software and hardware aspects of the system stack.

Students study the principles, procedures, and practices  of drug discovery and development; discuss the challenge facing those involved in drug discovery and development; evaluate experimental observations in relation to current theory; and explore technical expertise in certain areas of experimental pharmacology.

The course provides technological insights into hydropower harnessing, with special emphasis on Icelandic conditions. Topics include hydropower potential, technically feasible hydropower, main structural components in a hydropower plant, structural design of hydropower plants, both underground (tunnels) and above ground (dams, spillways), regulations, environment, health and safety considerations over life cycle of plant, ice and sedimentation, hydro- and electromechanical components, electricity production, cost analysis of main structures and equipment, and feasibility of the power plant.

This course provides an overview of some of the main legal, ethical and policy foundations that shape public health debates in contemporary societies through a multi-disciplinary perspective. During thematic sessions, it explores how legal and ethical considerations structure public health policies and decision-making. The course provides starter tools in policy analysis and engagement with legal texts as well as with bioethical principles. The topics covered include an introduction to comparative analysis of healthcare systems, health policy debates such as the question of access to medicines and reproductive health care, the study of legal levers available to citizens through the example of the right to health, but also a specific focus on public health crisis. Finally, moving to a selection of main contemporary bioethical debates, three classes are devoted to the exploration of the rapidly evolving intersections between innovation, bioethics and legal frameworks. The reading materials include news articles, public organization reports, academic articles and book chapters that present diverse viewpoints on the topics presented. Students are expected to have completed all assigned readings prior to each class to ensure fruitful discussion and an interactive experience. This course is based on guided discussions enriched by concrete case studies.

This course examines the relationship between humans and animals in the Middle Ages. The recent "animal turn" in the Humanities and Social Sciences has prompted a re-evaluation of assumptions about the relationship between humans and their ever present animal neighbors. The course investigates key aspects of that relationship in the Medieval world, investigating and contrasting materials from a range of medieval societies, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and "pagan". How were animals and the natural world interpreted by medieval people? The course examines various types of medieval sources, visual as well as textual in this exploration of the interface between humans and animals.

People, alone and in groups, shape who we are, how we eat, heal, work, love, laugh, learn, and think, what we buy or believe, where we live, and how. Resistance, too, rarely happens in isolation; it requires coordination, collaboration, and communication. This course explores the interplay of individual lives and the social world. First, it develops conceptual dimensions—formal, relational, cultural, and institutional—for understanding collective processes. Second, it examines methodological approaches, from qualitative and ethnographic to quantitative and computational. Throughout, the course stays close to real social problems: the drivers of inequality and political activism, the dynamics of technological innovation and failure, and institutional change in financial markets and everyday work.

This course examines major figures of liberal political philosophy (Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill), and their defense of capitalism as a route to a more just and efficient society. It will look at whether it’s fair for the Australian government to force people to take jobs they don’t want while others inherit larger fortunes tax-free, whether employers have power over workers akin to authoritarian dictators, whether it should be illegal to sell human organs to save lives, and what role the assessment of capitalism should have in coming to terms with the history of colonialism in Australia and elsewhere. It'll also examine the role of markets in generating and distributing the coronavirus vaccine we desperately need, and what ought to be done to address the economic consequences of the pandemic.