English

This course examines concepts relating to gender and sexuality, and discuss the obsession with gendering in a historical, social, and cultural context.  Topics for discussion also include the sex/gender system; gender and sexuality in relation to identity, behavior, the body and desire. Questions include: to what extent are the characteristics of masculinity and femininity born with us, or to what extent do the makers of gender vary over time and between societies? Is sexuality innate of socially constructed or a combination of the two? 

In this course, students investigate how the brain is organized to produce actions that serve particular purposes, focusing primarily on voluntary actions. Such actions involve a motivational component, but also cognitive considerations, attention choices, and motor options. For each of these components, decisions must be made. Students explore the different parts of the brain involved in these decisions, in close collaboration with subcortical structures such as basal ganglia. The corresponding practical for this course is Neuronal Basis of Decision Making where students gain hands-on experience with and reflect critically on (a) the selection and administration of tasks that are used to measure these cognitive processes and (b) the analyses of data sets obtained by using neuroimaging techniques (like EEG). During the practical, students are provided with tests and EEG data sets and work in small groups to analyze the EEG data. Questions raised during the practical are: Which steps are needed while analyzing neuroimaging data? Do different brain states induce different decision-making behaviors? How are differences in neuroimaging data or test performance examined? Students also perform statistical analyzes on EEG data sets and write a brief report.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale program. The course is intended for advanced level students only. Enrollment is by consent of the instructor. This course describes and evaluates the results of recent research on multisensory integration. First, the mechanisms underlying multisensory integration are outlined. The course then examines the perception of multisensory events, the advantages afforded by the ability to combine different sensory modalities and the key determinants of intersensory interactions. Another key question addressed is how multisensory interactions are linked to and modulated by attention. The course specifically considers the latest evidence assessing the role of exogenous and endogenous attentional mechanisms on cross-modal processes. In addition, the course also focuses on recent research concerning how multisensory information is used to create multiple spatial representations of our body parts and of the spaces within which they can act. The course reviews how these representations that are used to guide body movements through space show a considerable degree of plasticity. Finally, the course considers how the cortical system for perception may become radically reorganized after sensory deprivation and evaluate this surprising degree of cross-modal plasticity.

This is UCL's principal Entrepreneurship course for students who are actively seeking to develop and test a new business idea. It is most relevant to those who are considering forming their own business but is also valuable for “intrapreneurs” promoting new initiatives within existing organizations. Through the study of existing high-potential ventures and the development of a business feasibility plan the course provides deep insights regarding critical success factors (desirability feasibility and viability) along with strategies to attract and retain the necessary resources (personal, technical, and finance) to launch a new venture.

This course addresses a range of issues related to the acquisition of a second language. It starts by examining the nature of the task by looking at how sound systems, words and word forms, sentence structure, and the meaning of phrases and sentences are learned. It then explores further topics such as language use by language learners (comprehension, discourse, sociolinguistic aspects), the role of the input in second language learning (exposure, instruction, correction), and the effect of the starting age on learning second languages.

This course operates from the premise that there is nothing natural about gender differences. It explores the theoretical underpinnings of this premise and its implications for how scholars, students, and practitioners can think about sustainable development centered around commoning and care. This overview course has a distinct approach to understanding how gender and ecological conditions are interrelated. Grounded in social theory, it is inherently critical of standard development and gender narratives and instead seeks explanatory power within historical and structural conditions and explores different approaches to this. The course readings are selected as key contributions to broad debates on gender, environment, and development and are rooted in disciplinary fields such as critical geography, political economy, feminist political ecology, and critical social theory. Structured around core themes including decoloniality, critiques of capitalism, globalization, performativity, care, and commoning, the course engages in primary readings of feminist and other critical scholars who have been at the forefront of conceptualizing gender and human/environment relations in different ways. It discusses how gender and ecological conditions are interrelated; the dynamics behind the widespread “dual oppression" of particular humans and the environment as well as the policy responses designed to redress these; critical perspectives on buzzwords like “sustainability,” "sustainable development,” and "gender” that circulate in policy and project documents, global “development goals,” and social movements; and a range of conceptual and analytical tools to both explain today’s realities and instigate change toward new future trajectories. The course offers students of environment and development, geography, global development, environmental science, food science, natural resources governance, or similar fields the opportunity to learn how to understand and analyze the relations between gender, environment, and sustainable development, and to engage in debates about different approaches to these issues. It combines close reading and discussion of texts with case studies, documentaries, and interactions with activists and social movements. It provides an opportunity to build skills to formulate critical questions and clear methodologies around the entanglements between issues of gender and the environment and the challenges these pose to sustainable development to understand and engage in diverse gender and environment conflicts and debates across diverse topics, scales, and contexts.

This course analyzes financial data in Microsoft Excel using Pivot Tables and various Excel financial functions and financial concepts. These concepts include capital budgeting and time value of money, corporate bonds and stock valuation models, discounted cash flows, portfolio analysis and the capital asset pricing model, forecasting sales and profits, measuring investment performance, financial sales analysis, and cost and profit analysis. The course combines the basic theory of finance with the intensive implementation of all concepts in Excel to provide a better understanding of financial theory and valuable skills in Excel.

This course examines the traditional arts of humor between the 17th and 19th centuries. Selections were chosen based on the connection between images and words. These include pictures, gesaku (popular fiction written in the mid-18th century), and short novels. 

This course introduces students to the history of the world from 1900 to the present. It focuses on the idea of modernity, following four major themes that help explain the making of the modern world: war and empire; the material world; politics and revolution; and societies and cultures. It also reflects on what it means to think globally about the past. A series of chronologically organized lectures and seminars addresses significant events, topics, and concepts relating to the history of Britain, Europe, and other world regions. 

This course introduces economic analysis of the government sector using microeconomic tools. It covers principles and policies concerning both tax and expenditure and analyzes the effects of fiscal actions on efficiency in resource allocation and on equity. The course also examines analytical tools and policy applications particularly as they relate to budgetary policies in Singapore.