Norway

This course examines how glaciers respond to climate changes. It provides a global perspective with emphasis on examples from polar regions. The course focuses on understanding the processes and impacts of the climate on glacier behavior.

This course gives an introduction to the Nordic social and welfare state models focusing on work, family, immigration, labor relations, economic policies, pensions, schooling, and gender equality. Theoretically, the course is informed by comparative welfare state research and political economy. It focuses on contemporary debates on the sustainability of Nordic welfare state models in the context of challenges such as the ongoing pandemic, ageing, flows of immigrants and asylum seekers, financial internationalization, climate crisis, and relations to the EU single market. The course covers the historical roots of the Nordic states and the development of their political and welfare systems in the twentieth century. Also discussed are the social conflict lines, alliances, and compromises that created the post-war context of highly organized civil societies (centralized labor unions and employers associations, strong organizations of farmers and fishermen), and how they are linked to the state in patterns of democratic corporatism. Other topics covered are: the reconciliation of work and family life in the setting of the Nordic welfare state; the policy reforms that have been agreed on in order to respond to present challenges; and the sustainability of the ambitions of gender equality and universalist welfare provisions. Reflecting on both the history and the contemporary challenges of the region, the course critically assesses various idealized accounts of Nordic peculiarities and discusses the similarities and differences between the Nordic countries with that of other European countries.

This course is an introduction to some of the central themes in environmental anthropology as well as an exploration of some recent anthropological analyses of environmental change. Drawing on a range of ethnographic studies, the course provides perspectives on topics such as: how peoples’ understanding of the environment can be related to their sense of self, identity, and moral obligation; how nature—animals, plants and landscapes—can become sites of contestation and conflict; how environments can elicit different forms of knowledge; how global inequality and colonial dispossession are connected to climate change and biodiversity loss; and how both slow and sudden environmental crises affect how we think about the future and what it means to be human.

This course offers various perspectives on how to implement inclusive education in pre-school, school, and other relevant settings. Topics include: resource-based communication and mediation; strategies for early intervention; inclusion in pre-school and school; development of individual education plans; and structuring flexible curricula. The course develops skills in educational differentiation and in planning, implementing, assessing, and revising individual learning processes in group and class relations. 

The course covers the central metabolic reaction pathways as well as (hormonal) regulation of these reaction pathways. It illustrates how organisms generate energy for essential energy-consuming processes. The metabolic reaction pathways and the regulation of these are seen in physiological connection.

This course deals with advanced sedimentology from a temporal and spatial perspective. Development of sedimentary basins, and their sedimentary infill is treated with emphasis on depositional processes/environments and resultant stratigraphic architecture.

This course focuses on mastering the concepts of creativity, learning, and innovation and how they are related. It introduces perspectives in different research traditions on learning and creative processes in individuals, groups, schools, organizations, and cultures. The course also covers design-based research methods used in studies of creativity, learning, and innovation in education, culture, and business sectors. There is a focus on practical group activities such as planning, leading, and evaluating creative processes.

This course introduces the microsociology of small groups and subcultures and reviews the sociological theories and research methods used to understand them. It examines how small groups and subcultures structure social life, as well as how they form and change over time. The course discusses key social aspects of group and subcultures such as norms, social structures, leadership, conformity, power, inequality, conflict, and cooperation. It identifies the different social roles that exist in small groups and subcultures and considers how small groups and subcultures affect identity, deviance, emotions, and creativity. The course highlights the significance of small groups and subcultures for social life and individual biographies, and provides an understanding of the complex interplay between micro and macro forms of social interaction.

This course provides an introduction to the literature of the English Renaissance, studied in a variety of historical contexts—poetic, intellectual, religious, and political. It offers a broad understanding of the most important literary trends in Renaissance England, analyzes the trends as connected with the ideas and socio-political development of the period, and develops critical reading and writing skills in English.

The course gives an overview of physiological functions in humans and other mammals. It provides an understanding of how the human body functions, and forms the foundation of our understanding of biomedical disciplines.