English

This class provides a forum for students to discuss issues of education, development, and globalization. Seminars will be held with various development organizations. The colloquium theme will vary and include such topics as globalization of Asian models of educational development, democratization and education, etc.

This course introduces and discusses some key issues and problems in cognitive neurosciences. The course covers an introduction to the brain and behavior; vision; memory; brain and artificial intelligence; communication; disorders of the mind, etc.

Human Rights has been an object of literary studies since the 1980s-2000s. Tapping into the knowledge produced in this new field, this course reframes the history of modern literature as part of a broader development: the invention and history of human rights. This course explores several 'classics' in the history of Human Rights literature as well as a broad range of literary texts that discuss human rights from various perspectives but are not considered part of the literary canon. This course studies these forms as they have evolved since the late eighteenth century and across the globe in oral and written modes (songs, poems, novels, (auto-)biographies, graphic novels/comics, and so forth). There will be two seminar-style classes per week with assigned reading in advance of each session. There is a particular focus on partner/small-group work and interactive discussions, presentations, and discussions on the literature for an assigned session. An introduction to literature course is required for entry. 

The course examines the development of art in Britain, and its struggle to assert itself in the wider international art world. Students take as a starting point the careers of four artists who are central to the canon of British art, and whose work still sparks debate. These case-studies vary from year to year. Previously, they have included William Hogarth, William Blake, J.M.W Turner, Walter Sickert, Vanessa Bell, Bridget Riley, Steve McQueen and Lubaina Himid. Possible examples are Lucian Freud, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry, Pauline Boty and Olafur Eliasson. Building through the course is a larger discussion about the idea of a tradition of British art, and the value and stability of an artistic canon. Is there such a thing as tradition, and if so, what are its themes and preoccupations, and where might it be tending?

This course gives insights into resource management in sustainable (including organic) agriculture through the integration of knowledge about farm components (soils, plants, livestock) and the surrounding landscapes. The course includes on each of the four themes: soils, crops, animals, and systems analysis/modeling as well as an excursion to a local dairy farm. Basic knowledge of soil, crop, and livestock science is assumed.

This course examines the practice of folk medicine in Ireland, in the past and in the present. Irish popular tradition includes a great richness of material on this subject, encompassing a wide range of healing agents and media, from botanical remedies to prescribed rituals and actions, and from specific locations to particular individuals who were credited with special powers. The importance of ritual behavior will be examined, as will the position of the healer in the community. The course looks at what we might learn about the dynamics of popular tradition, and the ways in which popular tradition functions, from an examination of folk healing practices. The remarkable resilience of many such practices is also explored. 

The course introduces students to the key terminologies, concepts, and applications of acrylic painting. Students receive one to one tuition on the choice of subject matter, the rendering of their drawing, the application of paint, and their approach to layering paint.

This course reviews how genetic factors that influence human traits are identified. The traits focused on are human diseases, but the techniques can be applied to a wide field of subjects. The background knowledge necessary to understand and apply the different methods, the molecular laboratory techniques (theoretically), and the approaches to finding causal variants for human heritable diseases are taught. Students practice using the vast number of databases containing human genetic information. The subjects can roughly be divided into two main groups: Organization and evolution of genomes and genes and identification of mutations that influence human diseases. Requirements for admission include a knowledge of the structure and organization of DNA; the processes of meiosis and mitosis, including recombination; transcription and translation; gene expression; laboratory techniques such as PCR, restriction enzymes, and DNA-hybridization. 

This course is an introduction to the study of religion in the social sciences. It examines what people do with religion and what religion does to people. The guiding thread of this course is to investigate how “religion” itself as a category is debated and contested, what counts as religion, and who gets to decide. The course is divided into three parts. The first part explores the definitions of religion that have been provided by classical authors. The second part analyzes the intersections of religion with other social categories such as class, gender, and race. The third part interrogates the politics of religion and how States, international organizations, political actors, and citizens grapple with religion, seek to regulate it, or use it to further political ends. The course is interdisciplinary and exposes students to various approaches of religion rooted in political science, sociology, history, and anthropology. It provides the theoretical and methodological tools to best appraise the place of religion in contemporary societies and discuss such complex and debated issues as secularism, fundamentalism, religious freedom, and religious discrimination.

The course introduces fundamental concepts in designing and implementing computer communication networks. The course covers topics such as network architecture, applications, security, and mobility, with examples primarily from the Internet protocol suite. 
Written assignments, programming assignments, and hands-on lab (that can be done on any Internet-connected PC) will be part of the course.