English

This courses explores the nature and impacts of globalization in Africa. It focuses on the geography of HIV/AIDS, gender and development, China’s rising role in the continent, oil politics and the so called “resource curse” or paradox of plenty that Africa is the most resource rich continent in the world but also the poorest. Other topics covered included gender and the mobile phone revolution. 

This course examines concepts, materials and methods of making that are indigenous to Aotearoa. It explores ways of developing and creating contemporary art in fiber and textile.

What is the meaning of love? Is it the same for different individuals and cultures at different periods? What is its relationship to desire, language and death? Why do the Greeks have three words for love and the English one? This courses explores the theme of love in a variety of national literatures including Arabic, English, Greek, French and Italian.

Humanity is facing an unprecedented ecological crisis for which it is the main driving force. Although globally, people report high levels of concern for climate change and a high willingness to act, this concern is often not reflected in people's actual behavior. What can explain this gap between people's reported desire to protect the environment and the lack of collective action around the environmental crises? This course explores the many factors that can act as barriers to climate action, such as people's tendency to favor short-term outcomes over long-term outcomes, the tension between seeking a high social status and reducing one's carbon footprint, the feeling that it may be too late to act, or the feeling that taking action is only worth it if others are also taking action.

The course covers aspects of physics including atoms, lasers, nuclear, and light in agriculture science. The course uses online lectures, while assessment contains lab-based experimental work and tutorials support learning.

The issue of market provision and/or state provision provides a central and recurring theme in this course. Within each policy area covered, the course investigates market failure and government failure, via for example consideration of externalities, informational problems, and an examination of the public choice perspective with respect to possible government failure. Specific topics to be covered include but are not limited to a subset of the following: resource allocation (regulated markets and/or state); taxation; distribution, inequality, and poverty; economic growth, employment, and unemployment; regulation; care (formal/paid and informal/unpaid); competition; education; health; housing; aging; agriculture; and energy. 

This course examines the role that money and capital markets play in the business and global environment. We first review the structure of financial markets and discuss basic concepts such as money demand and interest rates. We then develop equilibrium theories to understand the behavior of key financial variables such as interest rate, stock price, and exchange rate, and their interactions in global financial markets.  

Students gain enhanced understanding of international financial markets and capital markets and systematically learn the fundamental concepts and determining factors of key elements such as money, interest rates, and term premiums, and study the framework and transmission mechanism of central bank monetary policy.  

The course includes a detailed examination of the key objectives of monetary policy, intermediate targets, and both conventional and unconventional tools used in monetary policy. We explore international financial markets and the global transmission channels of monetary policy, focus on studying the foreign exchange market and exchange rates in detail, and study the experiences and recovery processes of historical financial crises, such as the Asian Financial Crisis and the Global Financial Crisis. Additionally, the course examines the impact of the recent pandemic crisis and inflation shocks, as well as the strategies used to address them. 

This course examines the impact intersectional relationships between race, gender, class, migration, and sexuality have on individuals. It explores how interlocking social inequalities change and are reproduced through what sociologists call “inequality-producing mechanisms,” which function simultaneously to produce the outcomes we observe in the lives of individuals, groups, and in society. To understand and address challenges and barriers associated with social inequalities and social policy, this course look at different power analysis frameworks to address core concerns related to women and men. It begins taking a detailed look at the structural and interpersonal domains of power dynamics that produce social inequalities. From this foundation, it will direct a critical lens toward major challenges to understand contemporary issues. 

Social innovation has been described as the process of developing and deploying effective solutions to challenging and often systemic societal and environmental issues. This course examines patterns of social innovation against a backdrop of the great climate and biodiversity crises of our times, with cases drawn from climate justice, the circular economy, nature-based enterprise and food systems. The course critically assesses the evidence in support of social innovation and examines theory and practice – local and international - in social innovation, social purpose scaling, social value creation, and impact measurement.  Students consider the organizational settings that social innovators adopt, including social and solidarity enterprises. Students work with theory, case studies, and their own projects to identify how social innovation can respond to and even drive social-economic-political change in the current context. 

This course gives an overview of contemporary approaches to tissue and cell engineering, including stem cells, cellular signaling, biomaterial scaffolds, use of bioreactors in tissue engineering, and controlled release strategies. Students explore ethical considerations related to clinical application of tissue and cell engineering technology. Topics include stem cells, embryogenesis, cellular signaling, extracellular matrix as a scaffold, degradable biomaterials for tissue engineering, cell-material interactions, scaffold design and fabrication, controlled drug release in tissue engineering, bioreactors in tissue engineering, production of mesenchymal stem cells, industrial tissue engineering manufacturing, cartilage tissue engineering, bone tissue engineering, cardiovascular tissue engineering, corneal tissue engineering and replacement, tissue engineering of the intervertebral disc (IVD).