Trinity College Dublin

The field of computational psychiatry has taken off over the last decade. Research in this field uses computational modeling to identify the precise component mechanisms underlying deficits and biases in learning, decision-making and other cognitive processes. The first part of this course reviews some of the early classic papers in this new field illustrating how this approach has been used to advance understanding of psychiatric disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to addiction and schizophrenia. Each week, one or two papers are set in advance, presented using a lecture format, and discussed via class participation. These papers are selected to present some of the most widely used theoretical frameworks and experimental tasks. In the second part of the course, students are introduced to current issues in advancing the nosology of psychiatric disorders. This covers why the field has become unhappy with traditional binary diagnostic categories and alternate approaches advanced to address this, including NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework for investigating psychiatric disorders, the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP), and modeling of latent factors to tease apart symptom variance associated with comorbid conditions. Following this, students are introduced to precision and translational psychiatry and issues pertaining to the promise or perils of translating computational psychiatry findings into real-world practice.

This course sheds light on how markets emerge and the actions needed to create a market. It also explains the role of institutions, networks, and culture in shaping markets. Lastly, Third, it shows the way in which markets are organized and has distributive effects. Understanding that specific actions are needed to create a market and the different ways in which markets can be shaped counters an understanding that takes markets as granted and market competition and the ensuing consequences as something natural. The course covers the various challenges associated with creating a market: challenge of cooperation, challenge of competition and challenge of establishing value, ability to explain how different mechanisms contribute to solving these challenges, and applying the concepts discussed in class to current issues in concrete markets.

This course provides an introduction to the basics of Modern Standard Arabic. Students learn to how to read, write and speak the language.

Short-lived, high magnitude extreme events, from meteorite impacts, to volcanic eruptions, fire, and storms, have shaped the surface of the earth throughout its geological history. Increasing population densities in critical locations on our planet (e.g. cities at the foot of volcanoes, on tectonic fault lines, and at the coast) and human impacts on the environment at the local, regional and global scale, however, have altered the likelihood and magnitude of certain types of natural hazards. This has brought the vulnerability of societies to natural hazards into sharp focus over recent decades. In October 2020, the UN Office on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) reported that, over the past two decades, 1.23 million people had lost their lives in a total of 7,348 ‘disaster events’ that had been recorded globally (with floods (40% of occurrences), storms (28%), earthquakes (8%), and extreme temperatures (6%) as the four most impactful types of hazard). In our efforts to reduce the human and economic impact of such events, an understanding of the reasons for their occurrence, their spatial and temporal variability, the degree to which they are ‘natural’ as opposed to ‘anthropogenic’ as well as past and potential future societal responses to such events is critical. This course addresses the above aspects beginning with an introduction to ‘natural’ hazards and general concepts or risk and vulnerability. The introductory lectures are then followed by lectures, targeted reading and discussion groups. Finally, students explore case studies highlighting past, present, and potential future societal solutions for the mitigation of the impact of natural hazards with guest speakers bringing an applied natural hazard and risk management perspective to this course.

This creative writing course is intended for students with a strong interest in writing poetry and developing their artistic craft. In this course, students begin the work of critically assessing contemporary poetry as practicing poets. It explores some key concerns of contemporary poetry, including race, sexuality and the environment, and covers a range of poets working in both traditional and non-traditional forms. Using sample poems provided in class, alongside critical materials, students develop an informed critical idiom for the discussion and critique of contemporary poetry, and also work towards writing a small portfolio of their own poems. Students must be willing to produce new poems to deadline, and be prepared to have their work discussed in class. It is the responsibility of students to offer constructive and considered feedback to their peers during these weekly sessions. *Students are required to submit an application for this course. 

This course introduces students to the literary genres and theological contours of the Hebrew canon and its transmission, translation and interpretation in antiquity and in contemporary culture. The variety of terms used to designate the ‘Hebrew Bible’ (e.g. Old Testament, Hebrew Scriptures, Tanak) indicate the richness of traditions related to these writings, the various ways that they are viewed, and also their life within different communities at different times. This course orients students to the literary and theological contours of the Hebrew canon, introducing them to the rich variety of genres within. The exploration of the Pentateuch and Chronicler’s History provides a historiographical framework and develops students’ ability to identify literary themes while interrogation of the Prophets, Psalms and Wisdom Literature demonstrate the incredible diversity of literary and theological genres contained within the Hebrew Bible. 

This course offers students an introduction to the role of management accounting within the modern organization. Cost terms and concepts are introduced, as well as the various techniques that aid decision making, such as cost-volume-profit (CVP) analysis, cost behavior, pricing decisions and capital investment appraisals. The discipline of management accounting is an evolving one, and topical issues are considered in this course, including how to view and manage costs in a strategic sense. 

This course examines the region of Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean between 1500 BCE to 100 CE. Topics include an introduction to Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean world, the Neo Assyrians and their Empire – 900 to 600 BCE, the Neo Babylonians and their rule – 600 to 537, and the Achaemenid Persian Empire – 537-333BCE. The Hellenistic Empires, Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires, and the Romans and Parthians are also covered.

This course introduces and engages in contemporary scholarly reflection on critical animal studies, posthumanism, and ecotheology. Students engage with theological perspectives on the definitions of “humanity,” “animality,” and “creatureliness.” They explore a number of theo-ethical topics in this area from animal conservation to food. Recent questions in ecological ethics swirl around “the question of the human” and “the question of the animal.” Theological and ethical concepts that define human beings as unique, with souls created imago dei, in the image of God with dominion over the planet are critiqued as being morally complicit with species decline, animal suffering, and habitat loss. On a planet undergoing the sixth great wave of animal extinction, this critique is no small matter. This course discusses how we understand the human in relation to other nonhuman creatures that occupy the planet. Students consider animal ethics, the blurry lines between wild and domestic, human and nonhuman, living and extinct, veganism and vegetarianism, human and posthuman and ask how these conversations cause us to rethink theological understandings of “creatureliness” and “creation” and “kinship.” The course asks how definitions of what it means to be “human” are already entangled in our theo-ethical and ecological concerns.

This course examines the historical construction of the “tropics” as both an ecological reality and an ideological concept central to Western thought. Adopting a global perspective, the course explores how European and later North American interpretations of tropical environments shaped colonial expansion, economic development, and enduring social, racial, and cultural inequalities. This course explores the multiple dimensions of this history from a global perspective, emphasizing the creation of a unified and coherent bioclimatic zones that amalgamates parts of the Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania. After discussing the concept of ‘tropicality’ – the European gaze on non-European environments – the course covers critical aspects of that amalgamation, including colonialism, resource extractivism, and intertropical species transfer and acclimatization. The last part of the course focuses on two urgent contemporary issues, namely climate change and decolonization, seeking to discuss the future of the ‘tropics’.