University of Bristol

The course is concerned with the nature of mind and its relation to the natural physical world. It divides into roughly two parts, the first dealing with metaphysical and epistemological issues associated with the mind and mental states, the second dealing with specific issues that arise regarding explanations of consciousness and qualia. The course addresses traditional approaches to the metaphysics of mind, such as Dualism, Physicalism and Functionalism, as well as more contemporary positions, such as Illusionism and Panpsychism.

Religious traditions represent significant expressions of cultural values: understanding the past and present states of the world is not possible without some knowledge of these traditions. This course introduces the history, ideas and practices of the three religious traditions whose history is connected, and which together have informed the religious understanding of Europe and the West, namely Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. With reference to matters of ethics, thought, politics and law, the course considers how the diverse ways these religions answer questions about the world and the place of human beings within it have shaped and continue to inform the way people, both individually and collectively, live their lives and seek to find meaning and purpose.

The course is an introduction to image processing and computational vision: the theory, principles, techniques, algorithms, and applications. Image processing allows the analysis and enhancement of images/videos, while computer vision facilitates the understanding of the content of images/videos. Application areas are far-reaching and wide, from data compression to measuring the quality of performing actions by humans. The techniques in image processing and computer vision may be used in autonomous driving, medical imaging, CGI, remote sensing, pedestrian behavior analysis, facial recognition and regeneration, traffic analysis, biometrics, product quality assurance, and much more.

Why do some countries grow rich while others remain poor? This course provides an introduction to theoretical and empirical research on economic growth and aggregate development. It introduces students to theoretical and empirical examination of income differences between countries and their growth processes. The first part of the course focuses on the impact of factor accumulation (physical capital, population growth, and human capital) on income and growth rates among countries. The second part of the course, demonstrates the importance of variation in productivity in explaining cross country differences in income and growth.

This course is a comprehensive introduction to the discipline and methods of comparative literature. It introduces some of the key concepts and practical issues via literary works of major significance from the classical age to the present day, using one or more such works (in a variety of genres) as practical examples in each teaching session. In its modern understanding comparative literature is a wide-ranging discipline that explores the ways in which literature (both canonical and popular) interacts with its contexts, literary, historical, philosophical, intermedial, and others.

In this course, students develop their analytical and research skills, learning to work with physical and digital archives, objects, and performance ephemera and how to examine less tangible impacts of performance on history. Students develop more critical awareness of both the material and cultural traces of performance and their significance in both social and theatrical terms. In addition to the core learning objectives, this course develops historical awareness through case studies spanning three centuries of British theatre history; advance research skills by introducing students to a range of primary texts, material objects and secondary sources; and develop collaborative working skills.

This course introduces students to the history of Europe in the early modern period. It also explores the history of early modern Europe from global perspectives, looking at connections with non-European peoples and polities, and examining what happened when very different cultures came into contact with each other. It compares changes and continuities in different parts of Europe, in a period marked by the disintegration of Western Christendom and the emergence of nation states. Chronologically, the main focus is on the 15th to 17th centuries, a period which saw changes of profound significance for the long-term development of Europe and the wider world, changes which continue to shape the landscape, institutions, and culture of our world today. Assuming no prior knowledge, this course provides an overview of the key political, social, economic, environmental, religious and intellectual developments of the early modern period. 

The course explores corporate power and how it influences law-making and law- enforcement. Students study the key drivers of corporate crime/harm, along with their social impacts. Students also examine the basis of corporations’ structural and agency power, and corporate influence on the production and dissemination of science. The examination of the causes of corporate crime/harm will focus on organizational and structural factors, while investigation of the social impacts of corporate crime/harm focuses on the negative effects on human health, wellbeing, and the environment. Finally, students examine the social responses to corporate harm, including public shaming and corporate sentencing.

This course provides a detailed analysis of some of the key themes and issues in the UK's political system. It provides an overview of the relationship between the different aspects of the political system and shows how these have evolved in the last twenty years. It focuses on both the formal institutions of Parliament and the non-elected actors who influence the UK's political process.

This course offers students the tools to come to an informed view about different models of development, whether there are better or worse ways of intervening in poorer countries, or whether it may be better to do nothing at all. The course considers a series of issues including economic takeoff in Pacific-Asia, ideas of dependency, neo-liberal theories of development, including the rise of the governance agenda, post-development, and the politics of international aid. Students learn to link theory and practice and to show the relevance of past debates to contemporary issues.