University College Dublin

This course introduces the principles and methods of life cycle thinking and life-cycle assessment (LCA) with specific reference to agriculture, food, and energy systems using attributional LCA. The course is based around the ISO 14040 methodology and ILCD handbook. It focuses on the four common stages of LCA: definition of the Goal and Scope; Life Cycle Inventory Analysis; Life Cycle Impact Assessment, and Interpretation. Case studies consider LCA studies of agriculture, food, and energy systems. 

The conflict in and about Northern Ireland and the long peace process present a range of ongoing challenges for politics and society. This course examines a range of thematic challenges with respect to conflict, peacemaking, and peacebuilding and democratic governance in Northern Ireland. It looks as the roots of "The Troubles," the nature of the violence, the emergence of a peace process, and how this process has developed over the last thirty years. It speaks to questions such as What caused the conflict in Northern Ireland?, Why did the peace process happen?, Does power sharing work?, and How can we address the legacy of the conflict?

This course targets students specializing in animal science and animal production. The specific components addressed include the dairy enterprise/industry at farm, national, and international level - current position and future trends; sustainable production systems and environmental constraints on production; seasonality of production, product quality, and implications for processing and marketing; principles of dairy production and management practices as they relate to sustainable production systems, especially in relation to nutrition/feeding, breeding, reproduction; principles of disease control in dairy production systems with the main emphasis being on good practice in relation to disinfection, immunology, and animal care and welfare; and costs and returns and factors affecting profitability.

In the 21st century, the world has witnessed the resurgence of several political movements marked by extremism and far-right worldviews. The result is a concerning trend of global democratic backsliding. In this context, political polarization is becoming the norm, dividing opinions in the public sphere. In this course, students analyze the multiple roots of this contemporary phenomenon and its disparate manifestations around the world today. At the theoretical level, students explore a wide range of concepts, such as populism, polarization, far-right ideologies, extremism, fascism, authoritarianism, and conservatism. Students are exposed to different styles of politicians and political movements, including cases in the United States, Europe (e.g., Ireland), Brazil, India, and the Philippines. Students examine forms of government, street protests, and online activism/harassment, giving particular attention to current attacks against women, queer people, immigrants, ethnic minorities, sexual rights, vaccinations, and freedom of speech. Finally, new modes of resistance are discussed.

An understanding of physics is critical to address fundamental questions about our world and to innovate next generation technologies. This course presents an overview of the core physics concepts underlying many modern technologies. No prior physics knowledge is required. Students do not need calculus or advanced math for this course, but they should be comfortable, for example, adding fractions, using scientific notation, and with algebraic manipulation. Topics include energy and thermodynamics, gravity and relativity, waves, light, and optics, and quantum mechanics.
 

This course provides an introduction to the cell, its structure and functioning. Also the basis of genetics and inheritance are explored. Topics include (1) an overview of cell biology; (2) cellular organelles and the cytoskeleton; (3) how cells work- cellular respiration and photosynthesis; (4) the cell cycle and the key roles of cell division; (5) how meiosis and sexual life cycles provide biological variation; (6) an introduction into genes and inheritance from a Mendelian perspective; (6) the link between chromosomes, genes, and inheritance; (7) DNA and the molecular basis of inheritance; (8) how proteins are made from genes; (9) how genomes can inform our understanding of life's diversity; and (10) a brief introduction into basic genetic molecular techniques. 

Digital Business is rapidly evolving and today it should be regarded being a central resource in the pursuit of business objectives and strategies. As a result, the role of Digital Business in organizations needs to be re-evaluated to develop a sophisticated understanding of how it supports today’s organization to gain and sustain competitive advantage in the marketplace. Incorporating a generic Digital Business Framework, this applied course evaluates and discusses components of a comprehensive Digital Business strategy and investigates its impact on different industry sectors.

This course introduces students to the field of Human Geography, which is the study of the dynamic relations between people and places. Students gain an understanding of such complex processes as globalization and development, and the regional disparities in prosperity and inequality that result from these. The discussion evolves around the three main themes of economic, political, and social actions, all of which significantly shape the spatial organization of human activities. The course presents a general overview of the discipline, provides the opportunity to develop independent critical thinking skills, and offers insight into practical skills and tools that can be applied to a wide range of research settings. Overall, the course supplies the foundation for further, more topic specific, courses that focus on the spatial analysis of political and socio-economic phenomena at later stages.

The course provides a thorough introduction to graph and network analysis from a computer science perspective. It covers the basic concepts and key algorithms in network analysis, and discusses their use in the context of many real-world applications across a variety of domains. Students learn to apply network analysis methods in practice through the medium of the Python programming language. Students taking this course must have previously completed the module COMP30760 "Data Science in Python". or an equivalent class at their home university.