University College Cork

The course covers theoretical and comparative approaches to key topics including electoral and party systems, voter choice and turnout, models of voting behavior, public opinion, and political behavior through a gendered lens. Throughout the course, students identify and describe various types of electoral and party systems, distinguish between the different theoretical models of voting behavior, and relate those models of voting behavior to country case studies. 

This course introduces students to current models within clinical psychology and describe the role of clinical psychology within a range of mental health services. Students are introduced to prevailing models within clinical psychology and examine approaches to the aetiology, assessment, formulation, intervention, and evaluation of psychological presentations across the life span.

This course introduces students to the main narrative features of the novel tradition by concentrating on generic and formal approaches to reading novels. This course looks at novels from the late 18th century onwards and focuses on their generic form. The main objective of the course is to demonstrate the importance of narrative form in critical engagements with novels. Theoretical and historical study of the two dominant narrative forms in the novel tradition - romance and realism - is thus emphasized and students are encouraged to look at their approach to the novel with these theoretical perspectives in mind.

This course outlines the context for the emergence of Irish literature in English and to enable students to explore this literature through the introduction of key concepts and major authors. It focuses on the emergence of Irish literature in English, a literature that had its roots in conquest and colonization, but which proved to be highly dynamic, giving voice to diverse views and developing distinctive forms. The texts included give students an opportunity to explore literary expressions of Anglo-Irish identity, as well as critiques of the colonial process and early examples of hybrid texts that combine Anglo-Irish and Gaelic elements. Authors may include Swift, Edgeworth, Burke, Owenson and Somerville and Ross.

This course examines the social, cultural and economic processes that have shaped and transformed cities over the last several decades. It considers the impacts of these transformations on the people living in urban areas and whether they enhance or hinder the opportunities of different social groups in the city, and what this might mean for our global efforts to meet the UN SDG, especially goals 5 (gender equality), 10 (reducing inequalities) and 11 (sustainable cities and communities). Through the use of case studies, students will explore notions of difference, encounter and inequality in the city. Students actively participate in geographical enquiry through independent research on difference and diversity in the city. This courses utilizes active and action-orientated pedagogies to work with students to build their own knowledge of the city and urban experiences and to develop a range of graduate attributes to enable students to be confident researchers, effective communicators of geographic knowledge and socially responsible global citizens who understand the complex nature of social life and inequalities in cities across the globe.

In this course, students explore the intersection of environmental geography and Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) to address the grand challenges facing our world. This course equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to design, implement, and advocate for NbS that effectively contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). By understanding the intricate relationships between natural systems and human development, students are prepared to create innovative solutions that promote environmental sustainability, economic viability, and social equity – key concepts in environmental geography.

This course provides a social policy perspective on a range of issues which impact upon family life. Topics include definitions and ideologies of family; changing family structures; lone parent families; contraception and abortion; homosexuality; and strategies for policy change. Students learn to identify major theories on the family; engage in an analysis of central developments in family life in Ireland; be conversant with major policy developments relating to family in Ireland; and have an understanding of the diversity of family forms in contemporary society, and the ability to critically discuss them.

This course is an exploration of scholarly and popular perspectives pertaining to rite and ritual, life-cycle, and annual cycle including funerals, wakes, and weddings. This course advances and deepens students' understanding of time, temporality, and periodicity in vernacular culture and everyday life in general. Topics include celebration and festival, rites, and rituals as well as traditions around wakes, patterns, and pilgrimages. The contexts of these traditions in contemporary society is examined throughout the course.

This course assists in the understanding of the history of climate change on the Earth and the factors that cause it.  The course covers the causes of climate change and the history of climate change on Earth, and the contribution of historical climatology to this understanding. Students outline the key causes of climate change and their interrelatedness, discuss the history of climate change on Earth, both natural and anthropogenic, and use the principles of historical climatology to investigate past climate change.