Victoria University of Wellington

In this course, students explore some of the most difficult questions about life and subject them to careful philosophical examination, including What is the meaning of life? Does anything really matter? Can I know anything with 100% certainty? Would it be good to live forever? What is happiness? Does God exist? Is time travel possible?

This course examines the study of the ‘blue’ spaces of our planet—oceans, rivers, reefs, and inland bodies of water—through case studies in the arts and literature. Using the vantage point in Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, “The Great Connector”, it considers environments and peoples whose lives are explicitly connected with and determined by the ocean. It considers kinship, sovereignty, and belonging through aesthetic, historical, religious, political, social, and material manifestations. Situated around issues of ocean acidification, pollution, and sea-level rise, it critically reflects on ways the humanities can improve our knowledge of cultures, histories, publics and practices of the blue planet.

This course will cover practical and conceptual approaches to the study of plant and animal ecology covering population dynamics, community structure and ecosystem ecology.

This course examines the principles of ecology and environmental science, including a required week long field trip in the mid-trimester break. It focuses on physical and biological processes in terrestrial environments and ecosystem functioning. The field trip will introduce techniques relevant to field-based enquiry in ecological and environmental science.

This course examines how Indigenous knowledge and ‘Western’ science work against, with or independent of each other and look at examples of how science contributes to Indigenous development. This international approach fosters cross-cultural communication skills, sharing of theory and practice, and comparative analysis of the situations of Indigenous peoples in global contexts.

This course covers advanced topics in areas such as sensation, perception, attention, consciousness, memory, language, and decision making. It focuses on behavioral and neuroscience methods and findings, and critically examines theories that account for key empirical results.

This course introduces the basic principles of game design, animation, and motion design. It covers fundamental game design concepts such as mechanics and loops, enabling participants to conceptualize and develop playable games. In addition to game design, the course introduces core motion principles, visual design for motion, storyboarding, sequential imagery, and graphic animation.

This course focuses on political parties and major policy debates in New Zealand. Topics include the ideologies and action principles of major parties, shifts in inequality and the welfare state, state funding of political parties, relations between central and local government, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and environmental policy.