University of St Andrews

In this course students explore the rich heterogeneity of the Victorian novel through close examination of works by a range of canonical and non-canonical authors. Students examine the changing shape of the novel throughout the 19th century (from the sprawling "monstrosity" of the triple-decker to the compact neatness of the proto-modernist aesthetic of the 1890s), as well as the range of novelistic genres that proliferated at this time (including realism, sensation, the industrial novel, Victorian gothic, horror, adventure, and science fiction), and consider the ways in which the cultural, social, and political values of Victorian Britain are both encoded and contested in the novels of the age.

Machine learning tools are widely used across various aspects of contemporary society. A solid understanding of the foundations that support these tools is essential for developing new methods and assessing existing ones. This course introduces the mathematical and statistical theory behind modern machine learning methods. The course explores the why and how of machine learning methods from a theoretical perspective considering generalization, regularization, and optimization. Key techniques including kernel-based methods, tree-based methods, and neural networks are discussed, along with recent developments.

This course deals with the application of statistical methods to test hypotheses and draw inferences from data, using maximum likelihood methods. The course starts by developing general-purpose maximum likelihood methods, with interval estimation by means of the information matrix and the bootstrap. It goes on to develop generalized linear models, linear models and analysis of variance models as special cases of maximum likelihood methods. It covers diagnostic methods, including methods for selecting between models, checking assumptions and testing goodness-of-fit. It has an applied focus, with extensive use of R to give students practice in doing inference with real datasets, from problem formulation through to final conclusions.

This course examines some of the fundamental issues in the philosophy of creativity. Topics may include the definition of "creativity"; the relation of creativity to imagination; the nature of the creative process; the relation of creativity to knowledge and skill; computational theories of creativity; Darwinian theories of creativity; the relation of creativity to tradition; whether creativity is a kind of virtue and its relation to moral and intellectual virtues; and, whether creativity differs fundamentally between the arts and the sciences.

This course explores how environmental factors such as pollution, waste management, climate change, and urban planning affect and shape the health of individuals in our societies. It touches on the environment-health nexus within the sustainable development goals and global agendas, and it explores the theoretical approaches to understanding the environmental determinants of health. It also explores case studies and empirical research conducted in both developed and developing countries and dives into the social inequalities in environmental exposures and health. Methodologically, this course provides analytical skills such as collection, analysis, and interpretation of quantitative (statistical literacy) and qualitative (e.g., Photovoice) data and generic research skills including reading and critically summarizing and presenting research papers.

This course enables students to write better creative prose and poetry. For prose, students develop an awareness of how fiction and creative non-fiction is constructed with emphasis on the short story and the literary essay. The focus is on a deeper understanding of the creative process through language, imagery, ideas, methods of characterization, narrative movement, and dramatic tension. For poetry, students develop an awareness of the creative process, and understand some of the techniques poets use to shape material into finished works. Issues of texture in language and content are raised and a variety of techniques are discussed, using examples drawn mainly from recent and contemporary works. 

The course represents the second half of the intensive language courses for beginners and those with intermediate qualifications. Completion of this course and GM1003 can provide a one-year foundation for those seeking an ancillary language skill, or lead to entry into the Second Level German class and subsequently to an Honours degree in German. The course builds on the work done in Module GM1003. Students complete the second half of a one-year course in modern German and continue to develop their linguistic skills, both written and oral. The course is not for native or heritage speakers of German.

This Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) develops sophisticated integrated software systems which would allow mathematicians to combine the latest algorithms to solve their problems without needing to understand the details of their implementation. The project includes the following pieces of work: graphs and digraphs (for example, is a graph planar, connected, biconnected, what is its chromatic polynomial), groups and semigroups (for instance, what is the size of a semigroup or group generated by a set of elements, how to compute a presentation of one of these objects), other mathematical algorithms relating to other modules undertaken at St Andrews, and how to represent problems to a computer so they are easy to use and the implementations are as efficient as possible.

This course provides an introduction to the economics of money, banking, and financial markets. It presents a general overview of key monetary and financial market phenomena, of how key financial and money market institutions operate and the basic workings of financial and money markets. The course is designed to provide students with a general understanding of how financial markets work and the impact of financial markets on the domestic and international economic system.

This course supplements existing teaching on Romantic-period literature, allowing students the opportunity to study works by and about women written between 1789 and 1820. It complements two other courses at St Andrews: EN3162 and EN3163, but students are not required to take these classes. The focus of this course is the richly varied and often exciting fiction, poetry and non-fictional prose emanating from the "revolution in female manners" which sprang out of the momentous changes of post-1789 European society. Students explore how arguments about women’s education, marriage, inheritance, and status in society connect with the more general political and ideological ferment of the 1790s and beyond.