University of Bologna

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course aims to provide an advanced understanding of the types, the causes, and the dynamics of political and criminal violence. At the end of the course, students are familiar with classical and contemporary theories on the origins of political violence, with studies on the different forms of organized violence, and with current research on how violence is exercised. Students are also familiar with the major methodological debates in the study of violence.

The course examines different types of collective violence, including violence occurring in civil wars, instances of state repression, mafia, and gang violence. It explores the different “types” of violence, defining their main features and uncovering their rationale through a plurality of approaches. Ultimately, the class provides the theoretical and empirical tools to study violence in its relations with political order(s). The course is divided in two sections. The first section – conducted through frontal lectures – explores classic types of “political violence” (such as civil wars, revolutions and terrorism) looking at their origins and dynamics, then looks second section deals with violence perpetrated by states (such as repressions and genocides) and violence that occurs within states that does not challenge their existence or regime (such as that perpetrated by organized crime and gangs). The second section – run as a seminar in which students present and discuss the assigned material – looks at the organizations that “produce” violence, and namely at insurgent and mafia groups, analyzing their emergence, their internal functioning, and their relations with violence.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the nature and peculiar aspects of law, in particular its relationship with history; the traditional areas of private law, as well as the system, the founding categories and the historical evolution of Roman private law (VIII century BC - VI century AD). Students will be capable to understand the main issues and effects concerning the interpretation of ancient legal sources. The course is divided into two parts. The first part takes into consideration the principle stages of Roman legal history from the Law of the Twelve Tablets to the epoch of Justinian. The second part takes into consideration the fundamental institutions of Roman private law.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The aim of the course is to develop semiotic skills for understanding the perceptual, affective, and cognitive dimensions of psychopathologies, as well as the discourses built to describe and understand them. The course provides a dual focus: first, it offers an overview of psychopathological literature from a philosophical perspective, reinterpreted through semiotic theories. Second, it equips students with tools to analyze the relationship between patients' expressive forms (including narratives, poetry, speech, and artistic productions), their lived experiences, and the surrounding sociocultural context. 

The course of this year (Fall 2025) begins with a general overview of the role of semiotics in understanding psychopathology, emphasizing how psychiatric and psychological knowledge is embedded within a broader cultural network. This network selects and organizes notions such as normality and abnormality, reason and madness, sense and nonsense, through biopolitical mechanisms and discursive practices. Special attention is devoted to the cultural dimension in the construction of concepts related to mental illness and in the emergence of specific psychopathological conditions. The theoretical frameworks introduced in the first part of the course are applied to a range of diagnostic constructs, including Borderline Personality Disorder, depression, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, psychopathy, Dissociative Identity Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder. These cases serve to test the analytical potential of semiotic theory and its relevance for contemporary mental health discourse.

In the second part of the course, the focus shifts to schizophrenia, one of the most enigmatic and debated psychiatric conditions. This topic is explored through a range of interdisciplinary perspectives that contribute to a richer understanding of psychopathology. Cognitive and phenomenological approaches are examined for their capacity to illuminate the lived experience of mental illness, and are critically integrated with semiotic analysis, as well as with insights from anthropology and the philosophy of mind. The aim is to develop comprehensive and context-sensitive frameworks for interpreting the symbolic, narrative, and experiential dimensions of schizophrenia.

Key topics in this section include:

a) the cultural dimension of schizophrenia and its representations across different media;
b) the historical process of constructing and categorizing the disorder;
c) communicative and linguistic features associated with the condition;
d) narrative structures shaping patients’ experiences and the role of psychotherapy;
e) the disruption of experiential meaning and a semiotic account of delusion formation.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. The course provides students with a fundamental understanding of the objectives, theory, and application of statistical methods for the production of health indicators. The learning process includes an updated overview of the aims and definitions adopted internationally to monitor population health and health care, particularly at EU level. The course provides detailed explanations on the statistical methods applied for the continuous improvement of health and social policies, with practical examples showing how to produce indicators from large databases using R software.

This course supports the student toward a fundamental understanding of the societal value of health information and the methods and tools used to report, evaluate, and continuously improve policies. In particular, the course presents solutions to current challenges involving the use of large scale routine databases available at the national and international level. Practical cases of data analysis are presented using relevant statistical software. Issues in the correct communication of health statistics are also discussed. At the end of the course, the student is able:

• to calculate and interpret health indicators used in regional, national and international reports (in particular, the EU European Core Health Indicators, European Sustainable Development Indicators and State of Health in the EU): from life expectancy to quality of care, access and efficiency measures.
• to apply advanced techniques for health systems performance evaluation: from risk adjustment and standardization through the use of multivariate models (generalized linear models, generalized estimating equations and multilevel models), to modern approaches using person-centered statistical models (risk prediction and stratification for population health management).
• to apply principles of study design (experimental vs observational) and analytical techniques (e.g. propensity scores, difference-in-difference) to plan and evaluate treatments and policies.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course explores market design, auctions, negotiation strategies, and behavioral economics with a focus on real-world applications and practical experiments. Students gain insights into how markets function, learn negotiation techniques, and analyze human behavior in economic decision-making through hands-on experiments and class discussions. At the course completion, they are able to confront real-world business challenges with confidence and insight, armed with a robust skill set that combines theory, practice, and the science of human behavior.

Students learn about different auction types, their theoretical foundations, and practical implementations. Negotiations, another crucial component of market interactions, involve discussions to reach mutually acceptable agreements. The course covers various negotiation techniques and strategies to improve outcomes. Understanding market design, auctions, and negotiations is crucial for ensuring efficient and fair resource allocation, making strategic business decisions, and developing effective negotiation skills. Behavioral economics provides insights into human decision-making, helping to predict and influence behavior in market settings. This knowledge is vital for professionals in business and economics, policymakers, and individuals aiming to improve their negotiation skills and influence market dynamics. By the end of the course, students possess a robust skill set combining theory, practical applications, and behavioral insights, enabling them to confidently tackle real-world business challenges.

Topics covered in the lessons include: market design, auction theory, applications of auction theory, negotiation and bargaining, behavioral economics, cognitive biases and heuristics, behavioral economics in market design, real world applications and case studies. Prerequisite Knowledge: To successfully complete this course, students should have a foundational understanding of microeconomics, including concepts such as supply and demand, market equilibrium, and basic game theory. Prior coursework in introductory economics or business studies will help in grasping the more advanced topics covered in market design, auctions, and negotiation strategies. Additionally, an interest in behavioral economics and a willingness to engage in hands-on experiments and class discussions will enhance the learning experience.

This course provides students with an overall view on the state of the earth's ecosystems, their health and biodiversity, as well as the problems resulting from anthropogenic impacts. Furthermore, the student acquires notions about the conservation methods of ecosystem health. The course contents focuses on the following aspects:

• Brief history of the conservation of ecosystem diversity.
• Distribution and diversity of global ecosystems. Spatial and temporal gradients of ecosystems. Importance of biodiversity for the functioning of ecosystems, ecosystem functions, processes, and global health.
• Threats to Earth’s ecosystem diversity, mass extinctions, and global changes.
• Processes of overexploitation, degradation, and contamination of ecosystems.
• Conservation methods of ecosystems. Social, economic, and political elements for ecosystem conservation.
• National and international strategies and case studies, protected areas, ecological corridors, rewilding, and other approaches to conserve ecosystem health.
• Outline of modern technologies in support of ecosystem conservation.
• Examples of success practices in ecosystem conservation.

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. At the end of the course the student is able to choose and use recent methods for web and social mining. In particular the student is able to extract knowledge from the web and social media by applying machine learning techniques to analyze associations and carry out clickstream, sentiment, text mining, and network analysis. The student is able to: use methods for extracting knowledge from the web; use recent data mining software for solving practical problems of web mining; and has the experience to carry out independent study and research. Lectures and laboratory exercises using R software.

The course is divided into 4 parts: Aims and steps of web mining; Data extraction; Text mining; Analysis of Social Networks

This course is part of the Laurea Magistrale degree program and is intended for advanced level students. Enrollment is by permission of the instructor. This course focuses on the following topics:

1. Market failures in health insurance: a) Adverse selection b) Moral hazard c) Other inefficiencies
2. Economic rationales for government intervention and redistribution
3. Insurance design and payment systems
4. Regulatory intervention and the public/private mix in health insurance
5. Comparative social insurance markets

At the end of the module, students: have knowledge of law and economics theories applied to insurance and social insurance markets and have insights on national, international, and comparative case studies; know how to utilize quantitative and qualitative information to analyze the impact of regulatory instruments on the efficiency of insurance and social insurance markets design, and critically develop proposals for optimal policy design.

The course provides students with the fundamental coordinates of modern political conceptuality (individual, the State, conflict, freedom, people, representation, etc.). The lessons focus on a series of classic authors of the history of political thought, addressed in their specific characters and supported by the reading and commentary of texts in the classroom. The course follows a monographic red thread - the birth and (presumed) end of modern political conceptuality - and does not claim to cover the entire history of political thought. Fundamental authors live in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, just as essential foundations are laid by ancient and medieval thought. The purpose of this monographic choice is to investigate those passages that best allow the questioning and exposition of the implicit assumptions of our contemporary political life. In particular, two key moments are analyzed: the birth of modern political conceptuality (16th-17th centuries), and the point of greatest tension of this conceptual apparatus in the XXth century. In outlining its fundamental passages, we constantly wonder about the persistence or the crisis of this conceptual apparatus in our contemporaneity: how modern is the implicit assumptions of our political action? What contemporary transformations have instead radically changed the scenario? How have the relationships between society, the State and market changed historically? Are there constants of human action and is it possible to study them?

At the end of the course, students: know the fundamental features of the modern and contemporary History of Political Thought; know the main forms of political communication and understand the complex relationships between ideas and facts; know the most important political doctrines and are able to critically analyze them in connection with the relevant cultural, institutional, historical and social context; are able to understand the most important political and institutional changes in Western history.