University of Edinburgh

This course considers the ways that science and technology shape the relationship between humans and the environment. Students examine a number of topical historical and contemporary cases and in the process reflect on the role played by science and technology in how societies understand nature and environment. Themes to be dealt with include science and cultural uses of natural resources; sociology of climate science; science, technology, and international development; science and public understandings of environmental debates; science, knowledge, and power; and environmentalism. Students approach these themes by studying various environmental topics, often reflecting current events.

This course introduces critical approaches in human geography to understanding the relationships between landscapes, power, and society. The critical approaches applied in this course stem from ideas within cultural, political, and social geographies which centralize the role of power in socio-spatial dynamics, and how power produces complex relations between society and the landscapes we inhabit. Critical approaches in human geography provide a framework to understand society and landscapes as carrying multiple meanings. Students examine society as composed of knowledge, institutions, community dynamics, representations, discourses, inclusions/exclusions, material aspects, and more. Similarly, landscapes are explored in terms of nature, bodies, the imagination, digital realms, technology, everyday experiences, and other dimensions. These various perspectives demonstrate how power imbues landscapes and society with various meanings, and how ideas in human geography can critically analyze the co-production and experiences of landscapes, power, and society.

The course examines different types of foreign market entry strategy; the world trade regime and the various elements that comprise this environment e.g. EU/ NAFTA; and issues in international finance, management, production, and labor. The course is devoted to an analysis of the global business environment, concentrating on the world trading system including the important role played by the international financial institutions. The course, focusing more on macro-economic business patterns, processes and institutions, provides the basis for the International Business and the Multinational Enterprise course which looks more at the micro-level and the individual firm in a global business environment.

This course provides students with an in-depth understanding of electronic device operation as well as the fabrication techniques used in their manufacture, and it introduces students to the design and manufacture of electronic products and the importance of quality control and design for manufacture. It covers the basics of semiconductor physics, the important building blocks of the p-n junction and MOS capacitor, and the operation and fabrication of MOS and bipolar transistors. Students are also introduced to electronics industry relevant materials relating to product design and manufacture as well as the important developments that are driving future technologies.

This course considers the shifting nature of Gaelic identities in Scotland from the Middle Ages to the present and assesses the ideological and discursive presentation of these identities. The course also addresses the current sociolinguistic dynamics of the language, particularly in relation to the effect of English-Gaelic bilingualism and the impact of recent revitalization initiatives.

This course examines the politics and practices of global health. The course introduces students to the key interdisciplinary concepts used to understand global health policy. Exploring a variety of case study examples drawn from across the world, the course then examines global health policy and governance structures, health systems, and issues of inequality and justice in global health. Through perspectives drawn from the social and political sciences, this course provides students with the skills to analyze current and emergent global health policy challenges.

The course provides an understanding of core aspects of advanced dynamic analysis, dealing with system modelling, dynamic response and vibration analysis, structural dynamics both in the linear and non-linear regimes, wave propagation, and the dynamics of continuous and multi-degree of freedom systems. The main objective is to obtain an understanding and appreciation of the potential and limitations of analytical approaches and solutions, and the value of these in underpinning modern computer methods for simulating dynamic structural response.

Sustainable development and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are broad, context dependent, and interdisciplinary. This is at the heart of this course. Through short, pre-recorded lecturers from experts in different disciplines, to critical discussions of the Universities' own policies, this course breaks down this complex area into core principles, academic skills, and authentic case studies. The SDGs guide activity around the world, and this too is at the center of this course - critically exploring these goals from different epistemic, political, and cultural perspectives and giving students room to bring their experiences to debates and discussions.

 

The course introduces students to 20th century Persian-language literary texts available in translation as a means of understanding the efforts of an ever-expanding Iranian intellectual class to address issues surrounding the rise of the modern nation-state in the Middle East generally and Iran in particular over this period via use of both the short story and the novel. The course can intersect with other departmental courses on modern Middle Eastern Studies, allowing students to explore their particular interests generally. But, it also intersects in particular with a course in modern Persian history which considers the political and socio-economic history of Iran since the 16th century.
 

In this course, the issues of water quality and water and wastewater treatment systems are examined. Advanced physical and chemical technologies, as well as bioengineering processes for water and wastewater treatment are introduced and studied. Emphasis is on state of the art solutions to tackle global challenges regarding water and wastewater treatment systems operation and effectiveness.