English

This course explores the origins of the modern museum and trace the development of the Oxford collections as a paradigm for the assembly of a material analog for every kind of historic and scientific record. It considers the museum as an instrument for the promotion of national and racial ideologies and asks how we can constructively confront a past that has often embodied ideas that are deeply at odds with 21st century sensibilities. Most importantly, classes will be taught among the peerless collections of the Ashmolean. Students will handle and examine objects ranging from Palaeolithic hand axes to 19th century silver and from neo-Assyrian sculpture to Renaissance drawings by Michelangelo and Raphael, considering fundamental questions of sources, research, and what it is truly possible to know.

This course provides a study of Spanish artistic movements from the 16th century to today. It analyzes the stylistic characteristic of the Renaissance, Baroque, Romanticism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Particular attention is given to Spanish art within the European context, as well as aspects of patronage or the art market. The course includes examination of fundamental artists such as El Greco, Velázquez, Goya, Picasso, or Dalí, and their works in relation with artists from other areas of Europe.

The city of Paris is a constantly evolving structure, shaped by 2,000 years of history. Its urban layout and buildings reflect and stand on a substrate resulting from a balance between political, religious, social, demographic, heritage, and environmental aspects. This course provides an understanding of the city and its architecture during key periods through the analysis of notable buildings and neighborhoods. More specifically, it investigates constructions composed over a long period of time (on the scale of a building or site where different architectural styles coexist). Structures, materials, aesthetics, and ornamentation: the art of building reflects technical skill and thinking of an era. Thus, it is proposed to study this question of palimpsest architecture through a historical, cultural, and stylistic approach, through the transmission of essential urban and architectural vocabulary, as well as through bibliographical references. Furthermore, by focusing on strategic points in the city, this study connects to the history of architectural history and urban history, as well as themes that, beyond Paris, are linked to French and European history. Theoretical instruction is supplemented by field trips where students train their observation skills, making sketches that help them memorize and become familiar with architectures from ancient times to the present day.
 

The course explores a range of representational practices, their relationship to power, and their contemporary legacy. It offers an introduction to key debates about the visual aspects of power and how postcolonial theory can illuminate these dynamics. Combining empirical ethnographic case studies with theories from anthropology, postcolonial and subaltern studies, as well as philosophy and visual culture studies, the course extends the discussion beyond colonialism's original geographic boundaries to address hierarchy, desire, agency, and imagination in asymmetrical political contexts. 

This course introduces students to philosophical texts in their original English through a close reading of Bertrand Russell’s THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY (1912). Its primary focus is not linguistic mastery, but the understanding of philosophical concepts as they are constructed, argued, and refined through language. Students learn how to read, analyze, and interpret philosophical arguments in English by working directly with short textual fragments. Through guided collective reading, group discussion, and oral presentations, the course develops key skills such as identifying central problems, reconstructing arguments, clarifying concepts, and engaging critically with philosophical texts. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between language and thought, emphasizing how meaning, reasoning, and conceptual precision are shaped by linguistic choices. Designed to be inclusive and accessible, the course fosters confidence in working with English‑language texts while strengthening analytical rigor, oral expression, and critical reflection in philosophy.

The major processes involved in energy and environmental engineering are of an interdisciplinary nature. Understanding these important processes requires a good knowledge of the fundamental science in disciplines such as microbiology, chemistry, and thermodynamics. This course provides students with an overview of these disciplines with the focus on the application to a wide range of energy technologies and the environment.

This course examines the field of machine learning, focusing on the core concepts of supervised and unsupervised learning. In supervised learning, we will discuss algorithms that are trained on input data labelled with the desired output.  Examples of these topics include decision trees, regression, support vector machines, and neural networks. In unsupervised learning, we aim to discover latent structure from input data where no output labels are available. Examples of these topics include clustering and association rule mining.  Students will learn fundamental theory and algorithms that underpin these machine learning techniques, as well as develop an understanding of the relationships between these algorithms and their practical implementation. We will discuss practicalities in the application of machine learning to a range of problems.

What are the roots of the animosity between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans in the United States? To what extent are we predisposed to racism and xenophobia and what can we do to remedy it? Why are our minds so prone to conspiratorial thinking? Why are political activists often hypocritical? Why do we often not practice the principles we preach (eat less meat)? Those questions lie at the core of political psychology, a field at the crossroads of cognitive and social science, to which this course introduces. The course emphasizes that human cognition is shaped by social goals of influencing others, fitting in tribes, and enhancing our personal reputations. It also strives to explain political behaviors from the "proximal" level of analysis (psychological mechanisms and social influences) but also from the "ultimate" level of analysis (the evolutionary selection pressures that shaped our minds through natural selection).

This course develops intermediate skills in creative music making music using music technologies and digital audio workstations. Topics include audio and MIDI recording, editing and mixing techniques, sound design, mix automation and critical listening.

This course introduces how creative ideas can drive meaningful change in communities, organizations, and urban environments. With London as a living laboratory, the class uses neighborhoods, green spaces, cultural institutions, and social enterprises as places to observe, analyze, and experiment with new ways of thinking. It engages interactive workshops with practical methods such as design thinking, systems mapping, and co-design. The course teaches how creative and collaborative approaches can reveal insights, spark new perspectives, and support better decision-making. Course work includes collaboration in a small team on a real challenge set by an external partner from the voluntary sector, local government, or a socially-minded business.