Netherlands

In this course, students learn about the benefits as well as the challenges of building diverse and inclusive (D&I) organizations. The course is grounded in social and organizational psychology. In addition, students are introduced to a multidisciplinary approach to D&I (e.g., drawing on economics, law, gender studies, media studies, and sociology to name a few) to gain a multilevel understanding of how to promote D&I at the institutional level (e.g., which laws, organizational structures, AI systems promote or limit D&I?), the experiential level (e.g., why do people resist D&I policies? What is it like to not feel included at work?) and the symbolic level (e.g., how is power and status in organizations symbolized? How diverse is an organization’s board and why does that matter?). In work groups, existing D&I initiatives are analyzed and a theoretically sound and evidence-based approach to change these is developed. 

This course focuses on the explanations for revolutions and other forms of political upheaval from a long-term historical perspective. Four different academic theories to explain the causes, developments, and consequences of revolutions, coups, and regime changes are investigated. Particularly there is a focus on social class, the actions of the state elites, ideology, and transitions to democracy. Different explanations to concrete historical and recent instances of political upheaval, from the eighteenth century right up to the Arab Spring in the world of today are applied. Through an individual research project, students apply these various explanations to investigate a concrete revolutionary case in the past or present.

This course focuses on the economic aspects of innovation, diffusion, and protection, and on the effects of innovation at the micro-level of firms, the meso-level of industries, and the macro-level of national economies. Special attention is devoted to the role of green public procurement and innovation in services in the current economy as timely topics. This course includes an Honors component. A background in economics and innovation studies is useful, but not assumed.

This course offers a study of classical sociology. The course reviews work of early theorists such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Sigmund Freud, and Georg Simmel. The course discusses topics including questions driving the formation of classical sociology and their relevance today, the basis of social order and structure, how and why societies change, the causes and consequences of conflict in society, and the place of the individual in society. This course consists of tutorial group meetings and lectures. Students read original materials accompanied by contemporary interpretations of the classics. This course requires that students have completed a course in macro sociology as a prerequisite.

To cope with all these aspects of food production, a food technologist should be able to translate these challenges into mathematical expressions, solve them, quantify the outcomes, and subsequently translate them into practical solutions. This course discusses basic principles of food technology like mass and energy balances, reaction kinetics, and equilibrium. Theory is applied directly to a wide variety of practical problems in food technology during the tutorial. Exercises on various topics such as food preservation, reactor design for enzyme reactions, and sterilization of food are solved.

This course introduces the mathematical foundation and rock mechanics background needed to understand the deformation behavior of the crust and mantle at the macroscopic, mesoscopic, and microscopic scales. The course is primarily designed for students interested in structural geology, geophysics, crust/lithosphere/mantle, and Earth materials studies, or planning to embark on the Master Program in Earth Structure and Dynamics.

The course begins with a review of the scientific background needed to understand the role that chemistry has played in technological progress so far and to answer the question: can chemistry help in achieving sustainability goals, and how?
The course approaches sustainability from a chemistry perspective, starting by introducing the 12 principles of green chemistry and giving examples of their applications in real life. Green chemistry metrics, such as atom economy and environmental factors, to be able to measure and compare aspects of chemical processes in terms of sustainability are reviewed. An overview of the principles of catalysis and different types of catalysts, with an eye on real industrial processes and sustainable chemistry is provided. New processes to help close the carbon cycle and reduce our environmental impact such as hydrogen production, biomass utilization, plastic waste recycling, and reduced use of solvents are discussed. In project groups of 2-3 students, an established industrial chemical process with an emerging, more sustainable route, and deliver a report focused on the green chemical aspects of the process are compared. 

This course explores how chemical and isotopic tracers can be used to determine the composition, mineral content, and evolution of the crust mantle system. Focus is given to radiogenic isotopes and trace elements in magmatic systems. Key issues include: How are the crust and the mantle chemically distinct? What are the differences between continental and oceanic crustal and mantle reservoirs? How have these reservoirs evolved through geological time? How can geochemical data support or disprove plate tectonic models? Which types of magmatic rock give the most useful information about tectonic processes and how do we recognize this?

This course offers an introduction to the history of the Middle Ages. The course focuses on the history of Europe between 400 and 1500, as well as regions in the Byzantine and Islamic world.  Material evidence (written, visual, architectural) of how people of all social standings lived, worked, and interacted is examined. While predominantly focused on European developments, the course also considers other regional trajectories, notably of Byzantium and the Islamic world, exploring the Middle Ages as a period of connectivity, transformation, and innovation.