University of Sydney

This course examines physiological interactions between organisms and their environments. It explores evolutionary processes that allow animals to persist in variable environments. These concepts are essential to understanding biodiversity and ecological function of animal populations, and how these are likely to change under future climate change. The course is suitable for those with an interest in zoology, as well as students with a particular interest in ecology and evolution. There is a strong focus on experimental biology and incorporating theory into practical classes, during which students design their own experiments. The course provides essential skills for conducting and presenting research, and for critical evaluation of published research.

This course examines urban environments from the dual perspectives of citizenship and sustainability. The course has three parts. The first part examines the intersection of urban environmental change with questions of citizenship and justice. Part two considers key urban environmental issues such as energy, transport and food, and how cities and citizens might address stresses and shocks in these systems. Part three studies new models for governing emergent urban environmental challenges. Throughout the semester, a practical project involves a research project with real-world partners to introduce key skills related to working in collaboration with external organizations.

This course addresses how to use business knowledge and skills to address complex social and environmental problems. The course is structured around engaged inquiry-based learning, providing students the opportunity to learn from theory and practice. Topics include the challenges of growing a social enterprise, sourcing funds from a variety of stakeholders, understanding and reporting social impact, and collaboration and leadership.

This coruse examines identity and self in changing social, political and technological conditions, including religious identity, emotions and social life, power relations in forming selves, celebrity identities, the influence of new technology and communication, social identity in friendship and families, and commodified identities in consumer culture.

This course explores the range of institutions created in response to various economic, security, and environmental challenges faced by states and other actors in the global system, and some of the most prominent theories aimed at explaining them. Students analyze a series of case studies of particular issue areas, from international peacekeeping, to the regulation of multinational corporations, and the struggle to slow global warming. More broadly, this course examines whether international organisations are instruments of or rivals to sovereign states, and whether they reflect the hegemony of the West, solutions to international collective problems, or are agents of new transnational communities.

This course examines the major philosophical themes to be found in the works of Plato and Aristotle, with close attention to a few central works. This course emphasises understanding the philosophers' way of thinking rather than learning a body of doctrine.

This course introduces students to some of the central theoretical questions surrounding inequality, investigates the historical development of inequality within and between countries, and examines some of the key mechanisms through which inequality is produced in modern societies. The course concludes by considering possible alternatives and responses.

This course introduce a variety of coastal environments and the major processes which control the morphodynamic evolution of these systems. The course offers a unique opportunity of learning the full spectrum of marine sedimentary environments from siliciclastic, temperate, highly urbanized and impacted estuarine ecosystems to carbonate, tropical, pristine and undeveloped/protected coastal and continental margin environments. The course is divided in three sections: Section A covers the basic morphodynamics and processes impacting carbonate-dominated coastal and continental margin environments. The focus is on carbonate reefal and margin systems and their geologic and biologic responses to past, present and future environmental changes; Section B covers the basic morphodynamics of temperate and tropical coasts, including beach morphodynamics and basic knowledge on waves and currents; Section C consolidates all concepts learnt in the previous sections by applying them to numerical modelling. There is a compulsory weekend field trip to the NSW coast to study beach morphodynamics and fieldwork techniques. Depending on the year, there may be a voluntary field trip to a coral reef environment, for example, The University of Sydney One Tree Island Research Station.