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This six-week summer course provides individual research training through the experience of belonging to a specific laboratory at Tohoku University. Students are assigned to a laboratory research group with Japanese and international students under the supervision of Tohoku University faculty. They participate in various group activities, including seminars, for the purpose of training in research methods and developing teamwork skills. The specific topic studied depends on the instructor in charge of the laboratory to which each student is assigned. The methods of assessment vary with the student's project and laboratory instructor. Students submit an abstract concerning the results of their individual research each semester and present the results near the end of this program.

Over the past decades, the radical right has been on the rise worldwide, creating challenges to democratic governance. This seminar investigates the drivers of radical right support, the consequences of their success, as well as responses by civic society to foster democratic resilience. The focus is on quantitative research on Europe and North America. The seminar is split into four parts. The first part gives a brief overview of core concepts and definitions that guide students throughout the course. This involves a discussion of ideological features that characterize the radical right as well as the issues they campaign on. The second part covers the causes of far right success by examining demand-side explanations involving classic theories of voting behavior, as well as supply-side explanations with a focus on theories of political competition. This includes the strategies radical right parties employ and how mainstream party reaction affects their electoral fortunes. The third part gives an extensive overview of consequences of radical right success on democratic governance and civic society. Students analyze how these successes affect democratic governance, other parties’ positions, as well as public opinion. The fourth part engages with a growing literature on interventions that are aimed at bolstering democratic resilience. The seminar is designed to familiarize students with seminal contributions in the theoretical and empirical literature on voting behavior, political competition, and democratic governance that help understand the rise of the radical right.

This course highlights the complexity of the interactions between information and communication technologies and the economic and social sphere, outlining some dynamics between digital technologies, different economic/business models and emerging sustainability needs. Students are invited to critically read, evaluate, and discuss events at the intersection of society, economy, and technology besides simplifications and techno-solutionism, developing an analytic competence. Topics include: systems and complexity; sustainability; shared resources management and regulation; technological neutrality; attitudes towards technology; surveillance capitalism in the communication ecosystem; privacy and democracy.

This an intermediate-level course in macroeconomics. Students learn about money and inflation, and how central banks can use monetary policy to control inflation. Students study business cycles - booms and recessions - and the potential role for fiscal and monetary policy in stabilizing the economy. Students learn about the interaction between the economy and financial markets and banks, especially in times of crisis. Students also study the international aspects of macroeconomics arising from trade in goods and financial assets with the rest of the world. The class applies the tools developed in the course to historical and contemporary events.

In today's rapidly evolving digital landscape, businesses face both immense opportunities and significant challenges. The pervasiveness of digital channels and artificial intelligence is reshaping the business landscape, giving rise to innovative business models and transforming the way companies interact with their customers. The Digital Strategy course delves into the intricacies of this dynamic environment, equipping students with the knowledge and skills to navigate these transformative changes and thrive in the digital era. This course aims to deepen the evolution of policies and strategies for interaction with the market and innovation in the field of the digital economy. The main emerging business models and their management principles are analyzed, with reference both to players present exclusively online, whose main objective is to use the network to directly create value, as well as to companies that use the Web and mobile technology to enhance and complete their traditional activities, according to an intrinsically integrated strategic approach. In this perspective, the most recent developments in content management, gamification, metaverse, and digital products are explored. The courses features technology-enhanced lectures, guest speakers who will bring their real-world experience and expertise, case studies, and group work. 

This introductory course covers mathematical topics closely related to computer science. Topics include: logic, sets, functions, relations, countability, combinatorics, proof techniques, mathematical induction, recursion, recurrence relations, graph theory, and number theory. The course emphasizes the context and applications of these concepts within computer science. Prerequisites: No prior programming experience is assumed. 

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. International Security (a.k.a Strategic Studies) is an established field within the International Relations discipline, focusing on the role and functions of military forces in international politics. More specifically, the course covers both theory and practice of war and warfare, with emphasis on the contemporary era. It is subdivided into two sections (of different lengths). The first part ("Strategic Theory", shorter) examines some of the principal "theories of war" (e.g. Sun Tzu & Clausewitz ). The first part provides the participants with the relevant analytics tools to attend the second part ("the Tools of Warfare"), which is devoted to the application of those theories to modern warfare as well as an examination of the principal military doctrines, the weapons of mass destructions and irregular warfare (insurgencies, guerrilla and terrorism).

By the end of the course, students are able to: 1) Appreciate variation in conceptions of international security theories. 2) Understand the origins and evolution of mainstream theories on military strategy. 3) Understand the significance of alternative conceptions of national security for states' policies. 4) Develop an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of modern warfare in strategic international events. 5) Develop analytical skills to be applied to international security issues.

Students consider a range of Shakespeare's plays (comedies, tragedies, tragi-comedies, and romances) from different stages of his career, analyzing the playwright's stagecraft, his use of language and his reworking of traditional forms for the commercial stage. While students explore some recent adaptations for stage and screen, the course also focuses on the plays as produced in their original historical and cultural contexts. The course familiarizes students with Renaissance drama's negotiation of contested social and political issues at the turn of the 17th century. Students investigate the social processes of the theatre – notably the playhouses used by Shakespeare's company (the Theatre, the Globe and Blackfriars) – and focus on the interplay of Shakespearean texts and their performance in the production of meaning.

This course explores the basic equations that govern mass and momentum transfer of incompressible fluids as well as of important modes of heat transfer, for instance by phase-change (including boiling and condensation). By building on the fundamental aspects of the subject, problems are considered for a number of settings relevant to engineering applications.

This course is an overview of marine environments, organisms, and ecosystems. Students explore the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the ocean, emphasizing major marine ecosystems (coastal, pelagic, polar/subpolar). The course also examines how human activities affect marine ecosystems and discusses possible conservation strategies.