University of Copenhagen

Developmental psychology is the scientific study of human development, covering periods from infancy through childhood to adolescence. A fundamental assumption in developmental psychology is that human development occurs within a specific environment and sociocultural context, profoundly influencing the individual child's developmental trajectory. The course provides an overview of the biological, cognitive, emotional, and social changes occurring during this period; introduces key theories and methods in developmental psychology; and presents quantitative and qualitative empirical research reflecting current international research within the field. A central theme explored throughout the course concerns how development is shaped by multiple levels of context – including genotype and neurobiology; social interactions with caregivers and peers; family, daycare and school environments, norms and culture, broader ecological conditions; and our species evolutionary history.

This course provides an overview of what characterizes the field of the sociology of consumption, both in terms of the different main theoretical perspectives (e.g. consumer culture theory and practice theories), in terms of the multiplicity of themes (e.g. political consumption and media-consumption), and in terms of current discussions (e.g. representation of materiality). Students make a theoretical and empirically based analysis of a current consumption phenomenon of their choice.

This course explores the consequences and crisis that biodiversity is facing under global change, with a focus on the effects of climate change on biodiversity and how it affects human societies. In particular, it addresses key questions such as: How do climate and climate change lead to changes in biodiversity on land and oceans at genetic, species and ecosystem levels? Does climate change interact with other global change drivers (e.g., invasive species, habitat alteration) to influence biodiversity? What are the effects of climate changes on species extinctions and interactions between species? Do changes in biodiversity affect human wellbeing and society? In order to address these questions, the course reads and discusses the primary literature, participate in lectures and discussions, and engages in a series of exercises and experiments.

This course introduces the fascinating world of Sensory Science, where humans are the ultimate instruments to experience and evaluate food quality. It covers the senses, how to use them to perform sensory evaluation of foods, how to choose between different sensory methods and panels, and how to analyze sensory data in a meaningful way. The course discusses general principles of sensory measurements (discrimination, ranking and scaling), pitfalls in sensory evaluation (carry-over effects, response biases, etc.) and how to deal with them in experimental settings. Special attention is on performing difference tests, descriptive profiling and consumer acceptance tests, the challenges in the sensory laboratory and working with sensory panels, as well as data analysis (e.g. checking panel performance and product differences). The course also looks at how to relate descriptive data with instrumental analyses of foods and emerging tools for descriptive analysis (e.g. machine learning applications). Finally, it introduces the wider implications of changing sensory quality for food reward and nutrition behavior. Besides lectures. the course includes hands-on sensory exercises where students learn about their own senses, and work in groups on different methods for sensory evaluation. It arranges “dry” exercises to work with course materials and sensory data to get confident in applying your sensory skills.

Drawing on interdisciplinary resources, this course uses philosophy to investigate how money is related to themes like religion, politics, morality, nature, and care. Focusing on key concepts such as debt, gift, trust, power, and commodity, the course discusses classical philosophical texts by Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Spinoza, Locke, Smith, Marx, and Nietzsche, relating them to present-day issues concerning student-debt, care-economy and eco-capitalism.

This course introduces the basics of text-generative AI, including what is a large language model, how chatbots like ChatGPT work, what ethical questions are raised by the new technologies, and what people use AI tools for. It also introduces the field of sociolinguistics, the study of social worlds through language. It considers the central theoretical concepts and methods in this field and how can they be used to study how AI is transforming language, text and social worlds in contemporary society. The course is based on the AI-UNI research project, which explores how generative language technologies are used as part of academic practices. Using this research project as a starting point, the course explores how AI tools are changing the sociolinguistic landscape in various societal domains. The emphasis is on language use in educational settings and research, but it also looks at the role of AI in other contexts – from intercultural communication in healthcare settings to text production in translation companies.

This course provides an overview of and an introduction to ecological modeling. The course emphasizes on computational simulations of two contrasting biological levels: the ecosystem and the microbial community. It models their responses to environmental and climate changes. It also teaches basic concepts in modeling, the structures of two widely used ecological models (i.e., LPJ-GUESS and DEMENT), and how models, together with observational data, can be used to understand ecological systems better. The course applies and tests ecological models to understand process interactions and system responses. Topics include ecosystem biogeochemical cycles; vegetation dynamics; microbial processes: traits and community structure; model-data integration; model sensitivity testing, evaluation and prediction; modeling plant-plant and microbial community competition.

This course provides an in-depth understanding of strategies, and their physiological underpinnings, to improve sports performance in athletes. This involves both acute strategies (i.e., methods immediately before or during competition) and prolonged interventions (e.g., intensified training, tapering and hypoxia) that can enhance performance in already well-trained individuals.

This course explores the empirical validity of sociological theories. Drawing on quantitative research that uses new data, methods, and designs, it puts sociology’s big ideas to the test and learns how to read and evaluate quantitative sociology. The course takes a fresh, critical, and constructive look at sociological theory, and assesses the usefulness of quantitative empirical sociological research – what can it and what can’t it do? The course requires some basic familiarity with sociological theory and quantitative empirical research, however, knowledge of advanced quantitative methods is not a requirement. The purpose of the course is not to dwell on the mathematical foundation of regression models but to focus on how the intuition of different types of data and designs maps onto answering different questions. It discusses when things go well (when do quant methods allow us to tell right from wrong?), and when it does not (when do numbers promise more than they can deliver?).

This course explores and experiments with applying new technologies (such as Blockchain, Augmented Reality and the Internet of Things) to support social interaction and collaboration in new ways. It starts by covering how to study diverse workplaces, drawing on established theories of computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). The goal is to learn how to study users and their practices, and to learn from how technologies are used in "real world" organizations. Students then bring these new insights into the Makerspace and start a design process learning how to develop and apply novel technologies in a user-centered way. The overall goal is to rethink and innovate the future of workplace, and build new collaborative technologies that fit with real users needs. The course has three parts: ethnographic empirical study of a selected workplace drawing on theoretical theories of computer supported cooperative work; design and prototyping collaborative technologies in the Makerspace using user-centred approaches; and re-thinking and innovating the future workplace creating design fictions.