English

This course introduces the theoretical concepts in corporate finance and their practical applications. Topics covered include capital structure, payout policy, corporate governance, corporate bonds, financial derivatives, and leasing.

This seminar introduces the concept of epistemic injustice, when one is wronged in their capacity as a knower. The class starts by introducing the foundations for epistemic injustice as long described in feminist and critical race theory documents and continues by discussing three different interpretations. Then, newer concepts, such as testimonial smothering, wilful hermeneutical ignorance, gaslighting, and epistemic exploitation, are considered before conducting application case studies.

This course examines the genre of film as a key medium for the representation of children’s literature.  It will take a number of children’s ‘classics’, as well as three key 21st century novels for young readers, and considers how they have been adapted and interpreted in diverse ways, using varied film technologies, as entertainment objects for children, family and adult audiences. Topics will include: the emergence of cinema as a storytelling tool; development and impact of animation and special effects technologies; the importance of fairy tales in the development of children’s media; theories of adaptation; child-centred storytelling; theories of audiences and spectatorship; genre; fantasy; gender; humor and the grotesque; horror and the uncanny; and contemporary dystopian film and fiction. 
 

This course concerns the architectural and urban heritage of Fustat - Cairo from 641 CE to the present. It introduces Islamic architecture and the major architectural works of Cairo from the introduction of Islam to the present day. With reference to the historical and social contexts, the course also considers how and why Islamic architecture changed in Cairo over the centuries, and deepen understanding of the culture in which students live and share with the Islamic world. The assignments provide an opportunity to learn how art historians think and argue with one another, and develop perceptual abilities, research, presentation skills, and critical thinking.

In this course, students gain in-depth knowledge and understanding of contemporary change in the UK. Key themes to be addressed in seminar discussion include neo-liberalism, the North-South divide, culture-led urban regeneration, urban heritage and identity, migration, and urban health. 

This course addresses key developments in contemporary digital culture. It focuses on how still and moving images, and art and visual culture in general change with the triumph of big data analytics and artificial intelligence. The course is structured around concepts key to such developments, such as the user and viewer, body and affect, (social) platform and metrics, interface and interaction, city and infrastructure, ecology and nature. 
 

This course offers a study of basic Machine Learning techniques, when to use Machine Learning on real problems, how to determine which technique is appropriate for each problem, and to apply the techniques in a practical way to real problems. Topics include: learning decision trees and rules; methodological aspects; learning regression trees and rules; ensembles of learning methods; frequent itemsets and association rules; reinforcement learning; relational learning.

This course introduces the history of design in Italy from the post-war period to the present day and explores the connection between design and the rebuilding of Italy and the Italian economy, following the devastations of World War II. The link between Italian design and Italian identity, and the concept of ‘Made in Italy’, is explored through the study of design in different areas, including fashion, objects, transport, and furniture. By looking at the impact of Italian design outside of Italy and the emergence of global companies, including the main fashion houses, the course leads students to understand the importance of design both as part of the Italian economy and as a lens through which the world views Italy. Finally, through visits, lectures, case studies analyzed through a cross-cultural lens, and in-class discussions, the course builds awareness and inspires creativity for new projects in an ever-changing world and society, with an eye on sustainability, ethics, design justice, and life cycle assessment in today’s market. 

Barbie has been one of the iconic toys in US-American culture for decades. But what kinds of cultural messages do the dolls actually convey? How do they participate in debates about gender, 'race,' and class? About sexuality? Ability? Religion? Settler Colonialism? Ecological issues? How is this bound up with the process of their production and distribution – and the plastic waste they become when they are discarded? These are some of the questions we will discuss in class.

One of the key features of postmodernist thinking is the assertion of the fuzzy boundaries between reality and fiction: the realization that in everyday lives fictions, projections or hypothesis-building constantly interact with objects and facts of life (you can call this constructivist thinking); the realization that people’s identities are negotiations between social demands and imaginary projects; the realization that people’s senses of reality are heavily influenced by certain hegemonic (dominating) posits in terms of gender, labor (and consumption), media, race and ethnicity. Brian McHale has characterized the resultant tensions, as they are enacted in literature as “worlds in collision.” Cinema, as an art of montage and suturing, seems predetermined to enact these clashes. In this seminar we will explore the fuzzy boundaries discussing postmodern obsessions such as identities, surfaces, worlds, play, parody, high & low, consumer culture, media, gender performances and difference.