University College Dublin

What makes a group of people feel like a nation? Who decides who belongs—and who doesn't? Why do national borders, myths, and identities still matter in a globalised world? This course explores how nations are formed, imagined, and contested—from ancient legends to modern passports, from cultural traditions to nationalist movements, and offers tools to understand how nations shape the world we live in.

This course introduces students to key topics, theories and methods in the field of social psychology. Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of other people. This course covers such topics as attitudes, social influence, groups, prejudice, attraction, gender and altruism. The course critically evaluates seminal and contemporary studies in social psychology and considers the insights they offer into the psychological processes that underlie human relationships, culture and society.
 

The course provides an overview over some of the most important aspects of Nazi Germany – covering political, cultural, social and military history. The course provides insights into one of the darkest, most disturbing and most formative periods of modern European history. The course aims to pay particular attention to different and conflicting interpretations of how the Third Reich came into being and why Hitler’s dictatorship proved to be one of the most murderous in history. Particular attention is paid to racial thinking, the Holocaust and the question of European collaboration with the Nazis. The course aims to improve the students’ capacity to engage with historical interpretations and different methodological approaches.
 

This course offers an overview of sociological approaches to law as social relationships and social institution. It gives an overview of theoretical, methodological, and empirical issues discussed in the Sociology of Law as a sub-discipline. The themes of the course include questions of justice, law enforcement, legal professionalism, everyday 'life' of law, social norms, and social change. These topics are scrutinised through both socio-legal and sociological methods. Drawing on theoretical approaches in legal studies, the course offers a variety of definitions of law that are then critically assessed with sociological tools. Hence, the broader question of the course is: What is law? What forms does the law take in our societies? How does law constitute the societies and do societies constitute the law? In other words, during the classes, we look at social, political, and historical aspects of the formation of justice as we know it.

The course covers literature in the Sociology of Law from classic authors (Marx, Durkheim, and Weber) to contemporary debates (feminist jurisprudence, queer criminology, etc.).

This course develops core competencies for effective learning, wellbeing, personal growth and coping with stress, so that students can equip themselves with lifelong skills for learning, working and being well. Students develop themselves to thrive in university life and beyond - including leadership skills for future employment. This course covers concepts of managing stress, motivation, time management, critical and creative thinking, happiness, personality, positive self-identity, and most importantly fostering physical, cognitive, emotional and social skills that support  learning and wellbeing. Assignments provide students with the opportunity to focus on the self working towards personal goals that students identify as part of the module and track their own personal data and progress in areas of their choice (e.g. emotional wellbeing, study habits, time management, exercise). Students reflect on how their values and goals map onto the way they are currently living and students are facilitated in exploring how they wish to reach their potential. 

This course examines how life arose and evolved into the myriad of forms it takes today. The course introduces the principles of evolution and explores the tree of life, highlighting the major evolutionary advances that have enabled organisms to exploit every habitat on Earth. The major living groups of microbes, plants and animals are presented and the key features of their biology are discussed and illustrated. A wide range of examples are given, spanning microbial parasites, plants, fungi, jellyfish and corals, worms, insects, crustaceans, fish, birds, mammals. The course examines how they feed, survive and reproduce, and, importantly, how they impact our daily lives.

This course involves studying the works of a number of poets, whose work reflects the variety of techniques used in modern and postmodern poetry. Students are asked to focus on, for example, the imagery, structure, prosody and diction used in these poems, and to experiment with these elements in their own poetry writing. Students undertake a series of writing exercises that allow them to explore these techniques and concerns.

This course introduces various ways in which psychology can contribute to understanding and improving facets of everyday life. The course critically reviews theory and research and their applications to a variety of life domains. Students are encouraged to develop critical thinking skills in considering the relevance of evidence-based psychology for specific areas of everyday life. Lectures are delivered by staff and guest speakers, who present material from their own areas of expertise. The specific topics covered vary by year, but examples of previous topics include: psychological wellbeing; child & adolescent mental health; disability & society; group relations; humanitarian emergencies; media & entertainment; law & crime.