University of Edinburgh

In a globalizing world, contemporary debates around health, illness, and well-being are not only concerned with the individual, but include a consideration of the ways that social and political contexts shape health. This course gives an outline of the global context of health and disease and then addresses a selection of health challenges by focusing on a different contemporary topic each week. These topics change in order to keep up-to-date with changing patterns of disease and global health concerns but example topics for the course include subject areas as diverse as long term conditions in a global world, communicable and non-communicable diseases, organ transplantation, telemedicine, and people trafficking. The complexities and contradictions of contemporary issues of health in a globalized world are explored, and students are encouraged to develop a critical and self-directed approach to each topic. 

To understand the way that ecological and environmental systems function, we often look for associations and seek evidence of causality, or the pattern of interaction between components. We may ultimately seek to establish the nature of these relationships that we can make predictions for other systems or of future change. Reaching robust conclusions requires collection of sound data and proper statistical interpretation. This course equips students with an integrated knowledge of data collection and data analysis, for use in dissertation projects and careers beyond. This course considers the formulation of research questions and four broad themes: survey and sampling; relationships between variables; design, analysis, and interpretation of controlled experiments; and dynamic data and the principles of simulation modelling. 

In this course, students engage critically with key historical, cultural, and conceptual developments in Persian history and civilization. They study the texts (in translation) and aspects of the material culture of Iran in order to analyze the methodologies of specific writers, historians, historiographers, artists, patrons, or audiences who crafted various cultural signifiers. In the process students are encouraged to situate those developments within their specific historical and cultural contexts. In this way, students gain an understanding of how Persia developed, both as a nation and as a concept. This course develop students' analytical skills and their ability to read historical texts and literary texts, together with visual images. The course also brings students an awareness of how Iran influenced, and was influenced by, other societies, and identify the changing role the country has played on the international scene.

The 19th century saw a dramatic reversal of fortunes for Korea. From the longest-ruling dynasty in East Asia (518 years), the demise of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910) precipitated the loss of national sovereignty as Korea was colonized by Japan. Subsequent events - including colonial industrialization, the struggle for independence, and the division of the peninsula into North and South - have only added to the challenge of evaluating the legacies of the Choson dynasty. How did Confucianism influence Korean society? Why did Korea fail to maintain its sovereignty in the nineteenth century? What are the roots of capitalism in Korea? What set North Korea on a different trajectory than the South? This course answers these questions through a survey of the major historical issues that have shaped Korean society and culture from the early modern period through to the present. As well as covering developments in Choson society and Korea's turbulent experience of imperialism, capitalism, nationalism, conflict, and political change, this course also introduces students to the major historical debates that have shaped our knowledge of Korea today.