University of Galway

This course explores some of the politics that happens at sea. In particular the course focuses on the politics of fishing and marine renewable energy, and to a lesser extent on conflicts over marine natural resources, disputes on marine boundaries, and the role of the state as regards all matters of the sea. The course explores various theoretical perspectives, in particular an emerging literature which stresses the "social construction" of the sea, and the concept of "resilience." Students also examine methodological questions, or how we should study politics of the seas. Here the focus is on exploring to what extent qualitative ethnographic methods can help shed understanding and context on complex marine-based activities.

The course focuses on performance in acting while using historical techniques from prominent directors and actors. Three readings and one theatrical viewing are on each week's schedule. There is one mid-term and one final project, both independent plays to be presented in front of an audience.

Students are introduced to a range of systems and approaches to the rehearsal process. The rehearsal techniques and specific strategies developed by key theater practitioners on text-based and devised work are explored in practical workshops. Students reflect on their learning in these sessions and in a final presentation of a short scene.

This course provides an introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and examines its applications to rehabilitation, education, and developmental disorders. ABA is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors. The effectiveness of ABA has been shown in a wide range of areas including education, special education, organizational management, parent training, occupational safety, sports psychology, and clinical psychology. While ABA can be used with a wide range of human behaviors, it is often recommended as the best-practice approach for working with people with intellectual disabilities or pervasive developmental disorders (e.g., autism).

This course introduces evidence from the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods of Western Asia and Europe, to create a context for the understanding of the early prehistory of Ireland. Students look at the possible reasons why communities who lived by foraging and hunting adopted agriculture and what implications those changes had. The course begins with an overview, followed by an examination of various aspects of Mesolithic society. The origin of farming in Western Asia is next, followed by the Neolithic of the central and north European plain and the introduction of agriculture to Western Europe, particularly to Britain and Ireland. The development of ritual and burial monuments is explored towards the end of the course.

This course explores the theory and practice of engineering hydrology and how these are applied to water resource engineering. Students learn to recognize where and why engineering hydrology techniques are needed in civil engineering; specify measurement systems for rainfall, streamflow, and evaporation and calculate evaporation rates using the Penman method; estimate single site flood frequencies and flood risks; analyze and interpret low flow data for the purposes of deciding the suitability of a water body as a source for water extraction or as a receiving water for an effluent; perform back routing and forward routing of flow hydrographs through lakes and reservoirs in order to solve either flooding or water resources problems; calculate flood hydrographs from given design rainfalls; and calculate drawdowns caused by specified pumping rates in an idealized aquifer and infer aquifer storativity and transmissivity values from pumping test data. Students also learn the application of hydrological principles to water.

The course is organized around the themes of how we sociologically understand and interpret the phenomenon of religion. Emphasis is placed on the analysis of texts that are supplemented with empirical studies to encourage students to think sociologically about religion. The course addresses the classical concepts of religion as well as contemporary theories, and discusses the social, political, and cultural processes that affect transformation of religion and its institutions. Students examine relationships between religion and other spheres of social life such as politics, gender, sexuality, and health.