University of Cambridge, Pembroke College

This course examines the international architecture for peace – its structures, functions, and possibilities, as well as its limitations (in-built or other), focusing on the UN as the primary vehicle through which the international community's aspirations for peace are put in place. The various forms of intervention to break the cycle of war and peace (by the UN and others) are examined in detail, such as conflict prevention and mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, humanitarian aid, development cooperation, human rights advocacy, and international justice. In every case, both the dominant doctrine and practice, as well as their critiques, are interrogated. By so doing, the course sheds light on the international politics of peace. Grounding itself in both academic and practitioner/policy literature, the course also draws heavily from the lecturer's extensive direct experience as a UN staff in various peace operations. Real-world examples of the issues discussed are provided throughout.

The course examines how the state, both national and local, has attempted to meet the challenge of urban growth during the 20th century. In place of a continuous narrative history, the course focuses on key events, projects, or texts to illustrate contemporary responses to the opportunities and problems created by the growth of the city. Using historical material drawn from a number of European and U.S. cities, it offers both an understanding of the forces that have shaped the current forms of cities in these countries and a vantage point from which to consider the problems now faced by cities in the developing world. This course is aimed at students from a variety of backgrounds – history, sociology, economics, geography, architecture – and encourages them to pool their specialist knowledge in order to develop a shared understanding of the play of such different forces that have shaped the 20th-century city.

Metaphysics is the philosophical study of what there is and what it is like. The dominant view today is naturalism of one form or another—the view that the natural sciences give the pre-eminent taxonomy of the world. This raises the question: what is the place of mind in nature? How are we to reconcile our view of ourselves as thinking things with our view of ourselves as natural creatures? Metaphysics is the philosophical study of what there is and what it is like. This course starts by asking how mental activity might causally engage with physical objects. In other words, how do our thoughts, decisions, and feelings make any difference to what our bodies do, and how does the condition of our bodies affect them in turn? This problem is canonically associated with Descartes, and it is generally thought to have undermined his dualistic account of the relation of the human soul to the animal body. The course also examines contemporary variants of this problem, and how it informs naturalistic treatments of the mind. It also focuses on other idiosyncratic features of the mental that are difficult to reconcile with a scientific construal of ourselves. The course thus serves as an exercise both in the philosophy of mind and general metaphysics. Students will address some of the most profound questions in the history of philosophy, as well as take in some of its most remarkable and recent landmarks.

Our brains enable all we do, think, and remember, yet we know little about how this happens and why it sometimes fails. This course gives a thorough, yet approachable, introduction to theoretical neuroscience, highlighting the key areas where it has already made seminal contributions, and introducing students to modern themes. The course begins with an introduction to the biology of nerve cells, and works its way towards compact mathematical descriptions of the behavior of single neurons and neural networks. The course goes through various types of networks, and investigates how they may support specific computations such as perception or decision-making. Lectures are complemented by practical programming exercises, to be run in the browser during the seminars, thus giving students a chance to explore models of neurons and networks in detail.

Within the field of psycholinguistics, bilingualism has been one of the most intriguing and fascinating areas of research in the past few decades. This wide interest has produced a body of evidence from diverse bilingual/multilingual communities around the world, some aspects of which still remain controversial. In this course, students learn about various bilingual contexts and how those contexts shape our mind and cognition. In what way do bilinguals' languages develop? Do bilinguals have better cognitive functions than monolinguals? Is there any harm in speaking two languages? What is the effect of bilingualism on language and cognitive development in clinical populations (autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, specific language impairment)? Can bilingualism delay the onset of dementia? These are just some of the questions addressed in this course. In addition, students learn about methodological approaches used to investigate bilingualism, and consequently design a research study. During the lectures, students are given the background to various topics which are later discussed in a series of seminars.

This course examines the role of political and economic issues in international relations. Specifically, it provides students with a critical introduction to the field of Global Political Economy (GPE) by examining the issues of: trade, production, governance, wealth/poverty/development, (in)security, and climate change. In doing so the course balances an understanding of theoretical debates and global historical trajectories with discussions about various topical issues and case studies.

Social media marketing has become central to the work of contemporary marketing communications, and fundamental to improvement in awareness and attitudes towards brands. Furthermore, the power and reach of celebrities have been magnified by social media. The majority of celebrities are able to reach thousands of their followers with a single message, making this power and influence alluring to brand owners who are willing to pay for these celebrities to endorse their brands via their social media accounts. Social media has also had a strong involvement in the rise of the micro-celebrity. These are the self-created celebrities, whose renown is in a specific area and requires a great deal of fan-management. These micro-celebrities are also sometimes known as social media influencers. They have become the new focus for many brands, both large and small, looking for celebrity endorsement. Among the topics covered in this course are the potential benefits of endorsement from both traditional celebrities on social media as well as from micro-celebrity influencers. Current trends and topics in social media marketing are also studied.

A research project that assigns students to expert professors in their proposed research topic. The course takes the students' research capabilities to a more professional level. This can be most closely compared to what is called a supervised research project in the USA.

 

In this course, students explore challenges underpinning strategic alliances in general. Students critically engage with the issues relating to trust, control, and learning, and how they impact functioning of such arrangements. Alliances demand different leadership and management skills from those individuals who are closely involved in the formation and operationalization of strategic alliances. Understanding socio-cultural, structural, and institutional differences amongst the partners is central to engaging with the alliance phenomenon.