University of Edinburgh

This course develops an integrated understanding of modern approaches to some of the core areas of psychology (the remaining core areas to be covered in Psychology 1B). Students are also presented with a broader historical, conceptual, and methodological framework of scientific and psychological research. Besides this, students are taught and can practice a range of general research skills.

This course examines a selection of writings from a variety of national contexts, and analyses a range of texts across the corpus (broadly understood) of the "Coming of Age" narrative. The course explores how writers have responded to the challenge of depicting the complex processes informing how we become who we are, and what we understand to be the rites of passage from childhood through adolescence to adulthood. How do we find "our voice"? What gets in the way of personal growth, or of us feeling wholly ourselves? What is the impact of nature, nurture, education, language, family, geography, and ideology, for example?

This course guides students through the principles, practice, and business strategies behind the world of graphic design agencies and their structures. Through practical projects and collaboration with peers in both junior and senior years, students form a personal vision for their place within the creative sector. Students learn to articulate their ideas and make clear intentions and persuasive arguments about their practice, context, and career path.

 

This course is about randomness as a resource in algorithms and computation. The course introduces basic mathematical models and techniques and applies them to the design and analysis of various randomized algorithms. Students also cover a variety of applications of probabilistic ideas and randomization in several areas of computer science.

The course focuses on Gaelic song and its role in society. The approach is thematic, and the areas to be addressed include song and sense of place, religion, the emigrant experience, the role of the township bard, and community and labor. The aim is to show how song interacts with the community. Performance is emphasized, and the course draws on recordings housed in the School of Scottish Studies Archives at the University of Edinburgh as well as on live sung examples.

The course consists of the following lecture courses under the theme of characterization of molecules, matter, and reactions: molecular symmetry and electronic structure; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; structure and bonding. Available to visiting students only. 

This team-taught course on gender and culture offers a series of different forms of analysis through which one can "read" gender. It is particularly suited to students who wish to develop their critical and analytical skills by learning more about specific gender-related issues and developing gender-specific approaches to engaging with a variety of cultural works across disciplines, genres and literary periods. All texts will be in English or in English translation.

The course looks at how plants work and how this knowledge is being used in crop improvement and biotechnology. The course is also about developing students' skills, from designing and analyzing experiments to finding, evaluating, and presenting information.
The course particularly explores aspects of plants that make them unique. It is centered on the processes underlying growth, development, and how plants interact with their environment and with the pathogens and symbionts that they share it with.
Students learn how plants use their genetic information and how this knowledge can be harnessed via the latest synthetic biology, gene editing, and high-throughput sequencing technologies available to improve crops and tackle climate change.

This course introduces the Earth System as a basis for characterizing and understanding natural hazards, their causes and consequences. The major types of natural hazard are described, analyzed, and assessed in terms of their underlying causes as well as their socio-economic and environmental impacts. This course capitalizes on natural synergies between subsurface, surface, and human dimensions of the Earth System. Hazards for consideration include earthquakes and tsunamis, volcanic hazards (local, regional and global scale), meteorological hazards (hurricanes, tornadoes, dust storms, El-Nino, flooding and coastal erosion), topographic hazards such as collapse of unstable slopes, and hazards arising from climate change. The evidence for past natural catastrophes and hazards, recorded in natural archives, are described along with remote sensing methods for documenting current hazards and hazard risk. The principles and application of risk assessment and analysis are considered with respect to case studies. The course concludes with an overview of human settlement, planning, and policy in relation to natural hazards in the light of their socio-economic impacts. The course comprises lectures supplemented by a series of laboratory classes, together with a directed program of reading.