English

A sustainable future requires to focus not only on the responsible use of natural resources but also on the social, economic, and cultural challenges we face as a global society. This course explores the role education plays in key global issues such as poverty, migration, conflict, human rights abuses, and climate change to better understand how it can contribute to a sustainable and equitable society.

This course introduces the variety of music in Southeast Asia, from traditional to pop, and contributes to students' understanding of the region. Lectures with audiovisual illustrations, which emphasize cultural and contextual approaches, are complemented by practical instruction in playing Javanese gamelan music. The course explores the different musical aesthetics, changing cultural and social contexts and functions (from village and palace rituals to arts academies, the cassette industry, and concerts), musical and cultural interaction, and the changing musical landscape of Southeast Asia.

The course explores the relationships between cinematographic language and new digital technologies, investigates trends and iconographic recurrences of contemporary cinema, and creates awareness of the many ways which we read cinematic images. Students may pitch and create an audiovisual work, while developing critiquing skills. The course deepens the links between cinema and new technologies starting from the narrative, theoretical, and aesthetic modalities of contemporary digital cinema. The course also observes the historical context in which digital cinema fits. A part of the course is dedicated to the analysis of some specific symbolic orders of contemporary digital cinema and their film representation. The most significant correlations include: the film narrative and the forms of contemporary realism; the rediscovery of autobiographism; archive images and recycled cinema; the forms of hybridization and the aesthetics of video-art; the relationships between cinema space and museum space; the relationship between visible items and invisible items; the relationship between cinematic images and authenticity; and cinematic strategies used in different modes of production. The course includes the possibility to create a short audiovisual work. The course is aimed toward students studying communication and recommends a knowledge of basic topics in film and media history as a prerequisite.

This seminar provides students with a comprehensive insight into the evolution of language, encompassing both biological and cultural changes. We will explore thought-provoking questions based on language evolution theories, such as the distinctions between human and animal communication and the reasons behind humans' ability to acquire a vast vocabulary compared to our closest ancestors. Through an exploration of neurocognitive experimental research and incorporating insights from artificial neurocomputational modeling, we will investigate the underlying mechanisms in the human mind and brain that govern language processing, usage, and evolution. Additionally, we will place particular emphasis on linguistic pragmatics, a sub-discipline that examines language as a tool of communication in social contexts, drawing upon foundational concepts from analytical philosophy and linguistic pragmatic models. Throughout these discussions, we will explore factors such as social interaction, turn-taking, and the establishment of common ground. Furthermore, there will be planned visits to the electroencephalography (EEG) laboratory to provide hands-on experience with neurocognitive experiments, as well as a visit to the aphasia therapy center of the Brain Language Unit at the Freie Universität Berlin.

This course provides an introduction to written and spoken Modern Standard Arabic for students with no previous knowledge of the language. On completion of this course, the student is able to read and write the Arabic script; has a basic knowledge of grammar and a variety of everyday vocabulary of Modern Standard Arabic; has knowledge of Arabic pronunciation; and is able to conduct simple conversations on a limited range of topics.

This course begins by taking a brief historical perspective in an attempt to see how all the fundamental questions of Brexit and the future of the relationship between the various nations of Great Britain came to such prominence in the last decade. It looks back to the formations of separate national identities across the British Isles, how the relations between them evolved, and how the various "unions" came about: by conquest, by assimilation, or by unification. The main focus of the course then moves onto the more contemporary debates, from the post-second world war period up to the present day.

This course introduces the world of digital platforms and helps understand what makes them click. From network effects to monetization strategies to metrics, students are exposed to the underlying nuts and bolts of creating successful digital platforms. Digital platforms – whose value proposition differs from the traditional pipeline business paradigm – still employ certain business fundamentals such as corporate governance, customer lifetime value, pricing, etc. The course also curates these fundamentals and applies them to a platform setting. Overall, the course aims to equip students to critically analyze digital platforms and serve as an impetus to creating their own. In this interdisciplinary course, students are exposed to the world of platform-based business models as well as the underlying fundamentals of finance and marketing. The course tries to answer interesting questions such as: what’s Airbnb’s business model, how much do you have to save every year for retirement, how do you read a company’s balance sheet, why is Starbucks successful, how do you price a product, etc. For the platforms section of this course, students learn about platform models of business and how they differ from a traditional pipeline model of business. Students learn how platforms generate value through network effects. Students are exposed to the types of metrics they should keep in mind during various phases of a platform: startup, growth, and maturity. Finally, students learn about the types of industries most susceptible to the platform revolution, and thus, the future of platforms. For the finance part, students learn four carefully curated topics: corporate governance, basics of financial accounting, financial statement analysis, and time value of money. These topics allow a student to easily grasp the fundamentals of modern corporate finance and help to critically analyze contemporary issues in the world of business. The marketing part of the course attempts to unravel the secrets of what it takes to be global leaders in various products and services. The course delves into the fundamentals of marketing and introduces the idea of customer lifetime value-a principle that’s indispensable in today’s world of platforms. Finally, the course explores the idea of pricing, and various pricing strategies that are used by successful companies.

This course examines the collapse of communist system in East Central Europe and the post-1989 struggle for democracy in the region. The Polish case is examined closely as the example of this process. The course examines the process of transition from communism to democracy in East Central Europe and the global significance of the 1989 revolutions. It provides analysis of the core issues that shaped the region's politics: regime change, creation of civil society, economic reforms, and the changing nature of the post-communist system. 

This course is based around the rich visual resources of London. Through lectures and visits to monuments and national museums such as Westminster Abbey, the National Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The British Museum and the Tate Galleries, as well as to local collections such as the Whitechapel Gallery and contemporary art galleries in the East End, students explore the histories of art from the medieval period to the present day by focusing on a selected group of objects, images, or buildings. This allows students to develop skills of visual analysis and provide an understanding of the historical context in which the object or building in question was originally made. At the same time students examine issues of how these objects are presented today, considering the questions of museology, curatorial practice, and the contemporary art market. Topics covered may vary according to exhibitions and temporary displays that are open to the public during the semester.

This course develops appropriate methods and constructs enabling students to examine forces operating within food supply chains. The course covers supply chain analysis, vertical coordination, power and analytical frameworks.