Trinity College Dublin

Hugh Kenner described Faulkner as "the last novelist," because in spite of his complex and challenging modernist narratives he maintained a 19th century-rooted belief in fiction’s humanist power and social relevance, and that the writer’s job is "to bring news of the world." This course is an opportunity to read and reflect on Faulkner in a sustained way, where students read and discuss Faulkner’s most significant and influential fiction and consider his iterative stylized representation of the American South. 

The course teaches students about the process of social innovation, and how do develop and work within a temporary innovation system. It explores how processes of social innovation are used to address key societal challenges, focusing on topics such as housing and homelessness or development of nature-based solutions for sustainable cities. Students learn how to engage with key individuals within the fields of social innovation and social change in Ireland and abroad, including academics, practitioners and activists, and record and disseminate their interaction with them.

This course further develops students’ understanding of developmental psychology by exploring the contribution that major theories of developmental psychology have made to our understanding of a number of issues relevant to the lives of children and young people in contemporary society. Three themes cut across all topics - the role of theory in guiding research, the importance of adopting a developmental perspective, and critical analysis of research. The course illustrates how theories and research in developmental psychology are applied to guide and inform practice and policy relating to contemporary issues that affect the lives of children and young people.

The course equips students with a critical understanding of the major issues facing the European economy. The course provides a blend of descriptive information, theory, and empirical analysis. The emphasis is on economic issues but these issues are studied in their political, institutional, and historical context. Theoretical analysis forms an essential part of the course and requires knowledge of intermediate micro- and macroeconomics. Attention is devoted to some policy areas in which EU co-ordination has progressed furthest: internal market, regional policy, factor mobility, agriculture, and competition policy. The course is suitable for any student who has taken Economics and all Visiting Students who have acquired an equivalent level of Economics training.

In this course course, students learn to appreciate the interaction between self-regulation and statutory regulation; get a feel of how Rule of Law is different from specific laws; learn about the legislative process and how government is held accountable; explore how the judiciary shapes law through interpretation, oversight, and review, and discuss pragmatic and political concerns that animate policy-making.

The course is an introduction to the study of comparative politics and provides an overview of some of the key theoretical frameworks, concepts, and analytical methods of this field of study. We study democratic political systems with a view to understanding and explaining their differences and similarities with respect to their political institutions, the behaviour of their key political actors, and their policymaking processes and performance. The course examines the building blocks of the comparative approach. We describe, explain and examine the consequences of different political institutions, with a focus on established democracies, including executive-legislative relations, electoral systems, and strong judiciaries.

This course explores the oceanographic and ecological processes that underpin marine ecosystems and their associated biodiversity and functioning. Topics include characteristic features of different marine ecosystems (e.g. rocky shores, coral reefs, deep seas); application (fisheries and aquaculture), and human impacts on marine ecosystems (disturbances, pollution and climate change).