English

This course provides students with practical knowledge and understanding of basic issues and techniques in data management, with sufficient theory to understand the reasons for these techniques. Topics include conceptual (entity relationship model) and logical design (relational model) of database models, relational database management (data definition, data manipulation, SQL, visual interactive query interfaces), and their use in application development (in particular, data extraction from DBMS to spreadsheets application and data extraction to Web applications). Projects in developing a database within an application form an essential component of this course.

This course focuses on issues, approaches, and analyses of existing research related to globalization in International Political Economy.

Biotechnology is an exciting subject that combines the application of knowledge and expertise in biochemistry, chemistry, genetics, microbiology, molecular biology, and physics. Biotechnology is relevant to several areas of activity: agriculture and food production; public health and medicines; ecological and environmental management; creation of novel products; development of new advanced techniques. Biotechnology is a very innovative scientific area and is well supported by UK Government Research Councils, in particular the BBSRC. Biotechnology also involves a high level of commercial activity, creation of new intellectual property and start-up companies, and job opportunities (requiring scientific, business and legal skills) in industry. 

This course addresses the meaning, expression, material, and technique of Japanese visual art masterpieces.  It teaches the skills to appreciate fundamental and diverse characteristics of Japanese visual art from the ancient times to the contemporary.

This course introduces students to Aristotle’s wonderfully rich but intricate philosophical writings by focusing on some of the most prominent topics in Aristotle’s philosophy. Students learn how to read, how to criticize, and how to make sense of Aristotle and benefit from the wealth of Aristotle’s thought. In the early part of the course students explore some of the basic themes of Aristotle’s epistemology, metaphysics and philosophy of nature. Students then focus on key topics from his psychology and ethics, perhaps of all his wide-ranging enquiries the areas that continue to provide the greatest stimulus for contemporary thinkers.

 In this course, students examine the contributions of geographers to the theorizing and study of migration. Taking a main focus on Britain and our former colonies to understand migration patterns and processes, there are options to investigate other examples of global migration across the course and assessment. To critically engage with the geographies of migration students draw on theories of post-colonialism and anti-racism strategies, with reflection on ethnicity and religion, and reflect on the important contributions of feminist and intersectional approaches. For instance the course considers the interconnections between areas of Pakistan and Manchester in the textile and garment industry, that continue today. In the second half of the course students deepen their knowledge of key concepts of transnationalism, mobilities, encounter, integration, assimilation, statelessness, citizenship and belonging.  

This course introduces students to the theory and practice of ethnographic fieldwork. At the heart of this course is collaborative project in which students learn about qualitative methods by putting them to the test in practical group work. Their collective ethnographies require them to write extensive field notes, which are assessed, and which function as an extended period of learning to write effectively in an academic manner. 

The course provides a general introduction to the psychology of learning and cognitive psychology. The main emphasis of the course is placed on cognitive psychology, which covers thinking and knowledge processes, with memory as a central component. Other areas that are covered include neuropsychology, knowledge representations, decision-making, visualization, language, and problem-solving. The part concerning the psychology of learning covers how behavior is developed in the interaction between the individual and the environment, with emphasis on classical and operant conditioning. The third part of the course covers applications of cognitive psychology and psychology of learning and considers how principles and models from these two areas can be applied, both in other areas of psychology and in areas outside of psychology.

This course explores the fascinating new field of digital mental health, which combines theories and methodologies from psychology and human-computer interaction science. The course starts with a general introduction to how technology has and can be used in the prevention, treatment, and support of common mental health problems (e.g., depression and anxiety). The comprehensive problem-based learning approach allows students to develop a basic understanding of the causes and symptoms of common mental health problems, and explore the active ingredients of traditional (e.g., cognitive behavior therapy) and digital interventions.  Different methods used across the two disciplines to design, develop, and evaluate digital mental health interventions and programs are examined. There are many opportunities to practice and get hands-on experience in applying cross-disciplinary methods. Students take part in co-design workshops, introductory sessions on systematic literature reviews, and develop and pitch their own (non-digital) prototypes and intervention ideas. Towards the end of the course, students are encouraged to think critically about current challenges in the field, including the ethical and moral implications of digital applications, and the future of digital mental health.

This course complicates our understanding of North American cities.  It takes us through the histories and geographies of the emergence of the first North American cities.  Both Canada and the US are examples of settler colonialism – where European settlers evicted through violence those on whose land the two nation’s cities were built.  And the labor of slaves from inside and outside of Canada and the US was used to build these cities. The  course builds upon critical understandings of the two nations and their cities. It examines the changing ways in which North American cities have been governed and their changing position in American and Canadian societies, particularly with the emergence of suburbanization from the late 1940s and the gentrification-driven-renaissance of some of their downtown from the late 1980s.