University College Dublin

In this course, students are presented with a case study dealing with surface water that is suspected of being polluted. They are instructed in the composition of various environmental media, the nature of potential pollutants and guided through the selection of the media that need to be analyzed to identify the contaminants, sampling locations and the appropriate chemical analyses to address the problem posed. They then organize the collection of the relevant media (soil, water, etc.) and are trained in their chemical analyses in the Environmental Chemistry Laboratory, School of Biology & Environmental Science. The results generated are analyzed with respect to available thresholds/regulations for the various contaminants and students write a report on the full investigation process.

This course explores the geological record of key groups of plant and animals, and what this reveals about their evolutionary biology. The course also discusses how this date informs on the macroevolution of these groups and the different applications in earth and environmental science, including relative dating of rocks, reconstructing paleoenvironments including how ecosystems respond to environmental change at local to global scales.

This course explores the main theoretical strands in the contemporary study of international relations. Students are introduced to several key approaches in the study of international relations, including realism, neorealism, Marxism, liberalism, and interdependence theory and democratic peace theory, and to the central empirical questions these seek to address: Are states the only significant actors in world politics? Is the international system constituted in a way that makes war sometimes inevitable? Is the international conduct of many states guided more by economic objectives than by the quest for military security? Are democracies set never to go to war against one another? Is war partially rooted in human psychology? What are the political consequences of growing social and economic interaction between states and societies?