Netherlands

This course gives insight into the making of European policies and their consequences for its citizens. The course uses both a bottom-up and a top-down perspective and focuses on the forces that speed up or slow down European integration, the formal and informal procedures by which European policy is made, and the effects of European decision-making for politics, society, and citizens. The course uses theoretical perspectives from public administration and political science. The knowledge gained from these insights is assessed using a written exam. Special attention is paid to: Brexit; the role of the EU in the financial crisis; the role of the EU in the refugee crisis; euroscepsis; enlargement of the EU and its consequences; what are the formal and informal venues for lobbying? What is the most effective strategy to influence decision-making on this issue? theoretical and practical insights will come together in a paper that you write on a case of lobbying in Europe; a case selected by yourself by either a civil society actor or governmental actor. Questions addressed in the paper include: how does EU decision-making work in this issue area and what is a realistic lobby strategy?

This course teaches entrepreneurship both from the theoretical and practical perspectives. Alongside learning about and discussing an academic approach to entrepreneurship, students also go through experiential learning by working on an entrepreneurial project by working in small teams in search of a repeatable and scalable business model on which they report both orally and in written form. The course introduces business model generation tools such as the lean business model canvas, design thinking, and customer validation methods. The results of these methods culminate in a start-up pitch-deck, a Demo Day pitch event, and a concise report.

This course focuses on the social transformations of food systems. More specifically it focuses on a) how less sustainable systems of food provisioning are deliberately transformed into more sustainable ones and b) how this transformation process and its implications can be understood and assessed from a social sciences perspective.  The course provides a social sciences perspective on the dynamics and diversity of sustainable systems of food provisioning and includes the tools to assess their impact on the environment, society, and health. This is achieved by a combination of lectures, group assignments, and workshops.

This course covers the basics of food technology: the chemistry, physics, microbiology, and process engineering of food. The course is designed for students with no or little prior knowledge of chemistry, physics, and biology. It starts with a case study on an existing food product, studying all elements of the food label (ingredients, nutritional value, rules and regulations, etc.) and determining the production process.  Students present their outcomes. Theories on chemical, microbial, physical, and process engineering are explained in lectures. Exercises are used to illustrate the theory. Processes discussed include beer brewing, production of chocolate, dairy, and sugar. Lastly, the course reviews the quality of foods as a function of the treatments and conditions such as shipment, pasteurization/sterilization, and storage.

This course dives into the history and genre of the short story by reading and analyzing several stories as well as telling short stories ourselves. Aspects and concepts such as genre, plot, beginning and endings, character, setting, point of view, narration, texture and pace, style, and reflection on the relationship between the author, the text, and the reader are examined. Academic analysis and hands-on creative writing are combined facilitating a deeper understanding of how narratives work and how they produce meanings. Peer and tutor feedback are key aspects of this course. The collection of short stories varies every year but covers a diverse range of stories and authors such as Virginia Woolf, Zadie Smith, Margaret Atwood, Kazuo Ishiguro, Chinua Achebe, Bernadine Evaristo, and Sally Rooney.

The course starts with an introduction to the basic mathematical tools needed: tensors (in particular the metric tensor), index notation, and coordinate transformations. Special relativity is introduced, and a basic overview of general relativity is given. The linearized Einstein equations are discussed, and their physical degrees of freedom are identified; it is shown how this leads to a wave equation and hence gravitational waves. The basic properties of gravitational waves are studied: what polarizations they have, how they interact with matter, and the energy they carry. Next quadrupole formula, which describes how gravitational waves are generated by the motion of masses, is reviewed. An important example is the gravitational radiation emitted by two compact objects (neutron stars and/or black holes) that orbit each other, and spiral towards each other until they merge together. The course discusses how these, and other gravitational wave signals are detected with interferometers such as LIGO and Virgo, including the basics of gravitational wave data analysis: how to identify and study weak signals in noisy detector data. Finally, lectures make a connection with discoveries made by LIGO and Virgo in the past few years, and their impact on fundamental physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The course ends with a discussion of future gravitational wave observatories such as the underground Einstein Telescope and the space-based LISA, together with the scientific output that can be expected from these.

The Ecology course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of ecology and builds on material learned in secondary school courses in biology.  The course covers the most important theories and principles of general ecology based on interesting examples from scientific research and the practice of nature management, agriculture and fisheries, land development, and environmental policy. Ecological insights are essential for solving major problems concerning biodiversity, food production, global climate change, and many other areas.

This course examines how images of the “Old World” were constructed in the United States to define the nation in contrast with the political and cultural traditions of Europe. The tension between the American ideal of exceptionalism and adherence to an essential “Europeanism” continues to affect transatlantic relations. Students examine how these contrasting collective images were transformed during the twentieth century as the United States became a global power that influenced Europe. The course considers the following: which images of Europe have dominated American public discourse; how the geopolitical, political, and economic changes during the American Century affected the way Americans re-positioned themselves towards the Old World. After studying the literature, students explore one case study in a small research project.

Marketing Management focuses on the development of a better understanding of core marketing issues through the analysis of real-life marketing problems and marketing decision-making in an international context. The course adopts two formats: case study analysis and a marketing research project. In the case study format, emphasis is put on contemporary and international issues within a diverse scale of industries that focus on strategic as well as tactical marketing problems. Although conceptual material is provided and used as an instrument for analysis, emphasis is put on a critical and problem-solving approach of real-life cases. Through a marketing research project, students are challenged to delve into a real managerial issue and utilize skills that are developed within the course. To understand how to address this problem, students are tasked to design and implement full-scale marketing research and provide a report with proposed solutions back to the company. The sessions build upon PBL-guided case study sessions, while in-class exercises and assignments help build students’ marketing research skills. Lectures support the elaboration of the research project. International marketing and research cases are discussed in tutorial group meetings. The necessary knowledge for these discussions can be found in a basic textbook on marketing management, as well as a book on how to conduct marketing research. The latter is also necessary for successfully conducting a real-life marketing research project. Additional information on how to conduct marketing research comes from lectures. Basic managerial, marketing, and statistical knowledge is a prerequisite for attending this course.

This course examines various contemporary aspects of corporate governance, including issues relating to responsibility, accountability, sustainability, oversight, risk, ethics, and incentives. The course is multi-disciplinary, integrating concepts from the disciplines of accounting, finance, law, economics, and business ethics. A comprehensive overview of a myriad of issues, both theoretical and practical, arising out of the current international debate on creating effective corporate governance is provided. Next to acquiring a comprehensive overview of corporate governance, key learning objectives are to: (1) Develop a deep understanding of the key elements of corporate governance, (2) Acquire general knowledge of institutional differences in corporate governance as well as a general appreciation of many different codes of best practice worldwide; (3) Learn how to apply knowledge and understanding of corporate governance to real-world problems, and provide well-informed advice and judgments based on relevant academic research; and (4) Learn how to effectively communicate knowledge, advice and judgments on various corporate governance issues.