Utrecht University

This course develops skills needed to address pressing environmental issues. First, review how to make a thorough analysis of environmental policies: a systematic assessment of what a policy looks like and how it works. Second, learn how to evaluate policies, that is, giving a motivated judgement of how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ a policy is according to certain criteria. Third, learn how the lessons from an analysis and evaluation can be used to design policies, that is, to propose improvements. Read sources that introduce various methods for policy analysis, evaluation, and design. Three writing assignments are required: one for policy analysis, one for evaluation, and one with a major focus on design. The topics of these assignments include the landing obligation in EU fisheries policy, the EU Birds and Habitats Directive (Natura 2000), and flood risk governance in Poland. Sources to be used in the writing assignments include literature, as well as films and video interviews in which practitioners and policy-makers give their views on policies. All sources are made available through Blackboard. Lectures are meant to explain and illustrate the methods to be used in the assignments. Tutorials help you understand the literature and help you in writing the assignments. This course includes an Honors component. Basic knowledge on (environmental) policy and research methods is required.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the history of U.S. foreign relations, tracing the nation’s trajectory from its emergence as an imperial power in the late 19th century to its contemporary role on the global stage. Beginning with the concept of the "end of the Frontier" and the ideology of American Exceptionalism, the course examines the evolving role of the United States in the world, analyzing how it has shaped—and been shaped by—key political, geopolitical, cultural and economic transformations of the 20th and 21st centuries. Key themes include the increasing projection of American hard and soft power, the interplay between domestic politics and foreign policy, and the ideological and discursive practices underpinning U.S. global engagement. Special attention is given to how internal political changes, from evolving partisan dynamics to shifting public opinion and economic priorities, have influenced America’s global strategies. The course critically investigates pivotal moments such as the two World Wars, the Cold War, and the post-9/11 "War on Terror," providing a nuanced understanding of how a former colony transitioned from a regional actor to a superpower—and, for some, a global hegemon. Through lectures, discussions, and primary source analysis, students gain a comprehensive understanding of the forces that have shaped U.S. foreign relations and their implications for the broader international order.

This course covers the basic tools for polymer synthesis and characterization as well as applications of polymers in various fields. Topics include: Introduction to polymers; Step growth polymerization: linear and non-linear; Chain growth polymerization: (controlled/free) radical and ionic;  Polymer solutions/mixing/separation; Physical properties/characterization (GPC, NMR, MALDI-TOF MS, thermal and mechanical properties); Applications of polymers in drug delivery and regenerative medicine; Recycling of polymers and designing polymers for recycling; Practical work on polymer synthesis and characterization.  There are 5 pillars of this course are: 1) polymer synthesis; 2) polymer characterization; 3) polymer behavior; 4) applications; 5) recycling and end-of life management of polymers. These pillars provide the tools to understand and design polymers for specific applications, taking into account the desired properties and the end-of-life management of the materials. The course is supplemented by a practical experiment to expose the students to real-case examples. Students are divided into groups, and each group is tasked to polymerize a specific monomer using a specific technique. The second part of the experiment is focused on characterization of the synthesized polymer. The aim of the practical is to further learn through experiment the kinetics of polymerization reactions and the characterization methods. Knowledge on elementary organic chemistry, elementary thermodynamics, elementary physics, elementary reaction kinetics is recommended. 

This course familiarizes students with aspects of mathematics which are of importance for Physics and Research Skills. Students learn how certain mathematical techniques can be applied. After completion of the course, the student is able to: solve simple differential equations; use several basis mathematical techniques, particularly: exponential- and square root functions, algebra, solving equations, functions, goniometry, linear algebra, differentiating and integrating; use numerical integration techniques to solve differential equations; use the basics of system analysis as a tool to solve environmental problems; formulate mathematical models for simple real-world applications; operationalize and analyze mathematical models by doing computer simulations; and qualitatively analyze and construct a model independently.

Literature is a cultural and aesthetic phenomenon that takes on many different forms in different periods, regions, and languages. In all of these forms, literature reflects in one way or another the society from which it emerges. This course focuses on the complex relations between literature and society and to write and speak about them in an academic way. The course considers the characteristics of narrative, interpretation, poetics, and textuality, and place literary texts and analyses in specific historical and cultural contexts. In this course students consider key literary debates via the analysis of different texts from a number of different perspectives in literary studies. Students learn to see literature as a cultural phenomenon and are able to reflect academically on ethical and aesthetic aspects of literature; become familiar with different theoretical and critical movements; know a number of case studies, in which literary texts have influenced ethical debates; are able to write and speak about these kinds of issues in an academic way; acquire a supra-lingual perspective on literature.

This course offers a range of approaches to contemporary conversations around embodiment and ideas of normativity. In particular, it familiarizes students with representations of physical and mental difference in film, social media, and literature within and beyond European and North American contexts. Featured themes include disability and identity, health and constructions of the self, mental difference, and the quest for political recognition.

The course focuses on the molecular and pharmacological foundations of psychiatric diseases. Based on understanding of the normal brain processes involved in the functioning of the brain (and focusing on regulatory, behavioral, and cognitive aspects of neuroscience), pathological processes in anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and psychotic disorders are covered. Current treatments and new treatment options are part of an endeavor to initiate students in the exciting story of the (dys)functioning brain and its behavioral consequences. Each week expert lectures illustrate relevant topics in each domain studied. Several psychiatric disorders are explained from a clinical perspective by a psychiatrist and from a neurobiological perspective by a researcher in that particular area. The process of conducting an experiment to presenting the scientific data is reviewed. Students work individually or in small groups on each (CNS disease) topic and produce weekly products (presentations). Participants write a publication and get a walkthrough of the scientific review process. All this is performed in the framework of the development of new innovative therapeutics for CNS disorders. 

Plants are continuously challenged by sometimes life-threatening changes in their environment. These can severely impact their development and even kill plants. Interestingly, plants can flexibly adjust their development to deal with these environmental changes. They can for example adjust root anatomy to resist drought, overall root architecture to forage for nutrients, and shoot architecture to escape from shade or submergence. In order to ascertain optimal development, plants have evolved a broad variety of mechanisms of developmental plasticity. This course discusses how plants control their development, how plants sense the environmental cues flooding and salinity, and how environmental signaling controls plant development through a combination of molecular genetics, physiology, and functional genomics.  This course combines lectures with hands-on practice in wet lab practicals and data labs. This includes practicing how to define research questions and hypotheses, how to design and perform experiments, how to collect and analyze data, and how to interpret results in the biological context. In the wet labs, learn how to carry out experiments with plants, such as treating plants with different light and water regimes, measuring phenotypic traits, and assessing molecular level changes to protein and mRNA. In the data labs, learn how to analyze large gene expression datasets using online databases to gain biological insight on how roots and shoot respond to changes in their environment. Assumed previous knowledge is plants and micro-organisms, and Plant Physiology and Development are required. Molecular Genetic Research Techniques (B-B2MGOT14) and Plants in Context (B-B2PICO21) are recommended.

This course considers how artists, filmmakers, and photographers have reacted against and dealt with the presence of the audience, focusing on post 1960s art, photography, and art film up to our present days. Video and performances of Bruce Nauman, happenings of Allan Kaprow, participatory art of Marina Abramovic, video work by Rineke Dijkstra, photography of Thomas Struth, and relational aesthetics are examined. Theories and ideas that deal with the presence of (mass) audiences, reception aesthetics, and the educational turn are reviewed. The course consists out of lectures, excursions, guest lectures, student experiments on the reception of art and so on. This course includes excursions. This could possibly involve costs (travel expenses and museum admission). Art history students are advised to purchase a museum year card or an ICOM pass (https://icom.nl/nl/lidmaatschap/individueel-lidmaatschap). The latter pass allows you to visit museums at home and abroad free of charge. Other students should take into account that extra costs are possible. 

This course teaches the function and organization of the animal cell and its components. From the molecular level up to and including the functioning of cells in the tissues of living organisms. In the first part of this course, the central dogma of molecular biology is discussed. DNA replication, transcription, translation, and its regulation. Using bioinformatics, the complex genome and the regulation of gene expression is reviewed. In the second part cell function is discussed, such as protein sorting, membrane transport, signaling pathways, the cell cycle, and the cooperation of cells in tissues. For example, apoptosis, cell-cell contacts, and tissue renewal by stem cells are covered. Attention is paid to situations in which these processes no longer function properly, such as in cancer. Participants are required to independently reads the book chapter by chapter. After each chapter, a sequence of e-assessments, lectures, assignments, and response lectures is followed. Starting after a short e-assessment the teacher, a specialist in his field, discusses the information of the chapter in a seminar. To get a deeper understanding of the content in the chapter, students make assignments in small groups of 4-5 students. Hereafter the teacher is available to discuss the answers to the assignments and to clarify any misconceptions in a response lecture. The current use of the knowledge from the textbook is exemplified during a journal club, where groups of students present a Cell paper. The topic of the papers is current literature on cancer research. Attendance during the tutorials and journal clubs is mandatory. In addition, the individual self-assessments are also part of the effort requirements. Entry requirements include successful completion of MBLS-101 (Cell Biology) or an equivalent level 1 course in Molecular Cell Biology. Recommended: MBLS-202 (Molecular Biology & Biochemical Techniques)