France

This course explores the use of writing in different sectors of information and communication and teaches students how to master some of the rules of professional writing. It complements the critical approach to journalistic writing with a practical application through writing workshops. The course includes practice in informational and communicational writing through a range of practical activities. Each session includes both a presentation of the issues specific to each topic and writing exercises to test what has been learned. The course is structured around three main themes: journalistic writing for the press (the rules and techniques of journalistic writing, news briefs, profiles); writing for press relations; cultural or scientific mediation (artwork labels, exhibition catalogs).

This course introduces the fundamental principles of microcontroller systems and their peripherals. It combines theoretical foundations with practical training in the design and implementation of application software using the C programming language. Emphasis is placed on developing control-oriented applications and understanding the interaction between microcontrollers and their peripheral modules. The course builds skills to design, program, and manage microcontroller-based applications, and apply knowledge across a range of typical use cases. The course concludes with two integrative mini-projects that serve as capstone exercises, synthesizing the concepts acquired and demonstrating abilities to implement effective microcontroller solutions.

This course provides a foundation of knowledge and ideas of the field of archaeology. The thematic approach allows for the presentation of the theories, practices, uses, and achievements of archaeology, from its origins to the contemporary world. The geographical scope covers Europe, the Mediterranean, Egypt, the Near East, and Southwest Asia.

This course introduces past and present-day economic phenomena. Its scope consists in an examination and analysis of the successive stages of development of market capitalism and its variants. After a discussion of the terms used to describe an economic “system,” the enquiry proceeds by examining “primitive” or incomplete prototypes of capitalist enterprise as well as the mercantilist “system” in the preindustrial era. The emergence of industrial capitalism, the first wave of globalization, the emergence of financial capitalism and the attendant slumps as well as the regulations introduced by political authorities provide matter for discussion in the following chapters. All along this journey the connection between the diffusion of market mechanisms and political dynamics is underscored.

Based on the study of selected marine ecosystems, this course analyzes the environmental forcing variables and constraints that shape them, in order to explain the different factors structuring biological communities and to situate biology within the broader field of oceanography. A field course at a marine station illustrates several of these concepts, such as adaptations to aquatic life and the relationship between spatial heterogeneity and biodiversity. The field component includes embarkation aboard Planula 4, an INSU–CNRS research vessel (FOF).

This course explores the major areas of molecular neurobiology, from genes to the functions of cells of the nervous system. Material provides an essential theoretical framework in molecular neurobiology as well as practical approaches on cell culture and regulation of gene expression. It focuses on major concepts and recent advances in experimental molecular neuroscience.

This course introduces the influence of digital technologies on society, with a particular focus on the interplay between technology, disinformation, and society during political campaigns. As digital technologies continue to shape the political landscape, the spread of disinformation poses significant challenges to democracies worldwide. The course explores the mechanisms and impacts of false information dissemination on social media platforms, examining the sophisticated techniques employed to create and spread disinformation. A key focus is on disinformation related to elections, analyzing recent political campaigns to understand the strategies behind these efforts. The course also investigates the dual role of artificial intelligence in both generating and combating multimodal disinformation, including text, image, video, and audio. It discusses the ethical, fairness, and transparency concerns that arise from the use of Al in this context and explores strategies for identifying and neutralizing false information at scale. By engaging with these topics, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the societal, political, and economic implications of disinformation in the digital age, equipping them with the critical skills necessary to navigate an increasingly complex digital era.

This course offers a description of a system to make a link between the microscopic properties of the particles in the system and its macroscopic behavior at equilibrium. It is based on the idea that the macroscopic state of the system is realized as the average over a large number of independent microscopic states. This demonstrates the basis of these statistical principles and their applications to various problems in physics, chemistry, and material science as statistical thermodynamics bridges many disciplines as it makes the link between the physical description of a given particle and the behavior of a statistical ensemble of those particles. 

This course introduces the main perspectives offered by sociology on collective action, or action by several people, with the related concepts of social movements, social conflicts, social groups, and social classes. The course divides sociological literature on collective action according to the authors and major trends in this field. Classical thinkers, both well-known (Marx and Weber) and lesser-known (Simmel, Michels, and Tarde), are first presented and then explored in greater depth. Next, a series of contemporary trends and authors are examined. Two recent French cases are also discussed: the competition between two types of divisions in the representation of French society in a process of extreme right-wing shift beginning in the 1980s, and the “yellow vest” movement (2018-2019). The conclusion opens up two contemporary debates: the question of intersectionality, and the differences between the sociology of collective action and conspiracy theories.

This course provides a solid foundation in essential mathematical concepts for students in economics and management. It ensures a consistent level of mathematical proficiency to prepare for further study of advanced quantitative techniques. The course covers linear functions, absolute values, square roots and inverses, second-degree polynomials, and derivatives.