Utrecht University

This course offers an introduction to the study of climate and society. The course utilizes a strong multidisciplinary approach and is open to students of several disciplines. The course's structure mirrors the structure used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC). The IPPC recently released a new series of reports on the physics of the climate system, adaption strategies and mitigation strategies, as well as a synthesis report. The course examines these reports and strategies by the IPPC through a wide scope of lecturers. The course discusses topics including physics of the climate system, adaptation, mitigation, economical aspects, legal aspects, political aspects, and anthropology. The course consists of oral lectures, exercises, work groups and discussion sections, and a short examination. There are no prerequisites for this course.

Computer graphics deals with the processing of visual images and spatial data by a computer. Lectures focus on the very basics of modeling and rendering, i.e., the mathematical description of three-dimensional scenes and how to create realistic images of such models. Foundations of computer graphics, such as transformations and projection of 3D models, hidden surface removal, triangle rasterization, shading, texture mapping, shadows, and ray tracing, and advanced topics in physically-based global illumination.  A brief review of the mathematical basics needed for computer graphics, including linear algebra and other areas of higher mathematics that are important far beyond the field of graphics is included.

This course examines the themes surrounding global organizational processes: how state systems work, where the desire for a global political order comes from, which institutions regulate global relations and what their strengths and weaknesses are. Are we on course for a global government, or will the rise of new centers of world power instead lead to greater fragmentation? The emphasis lies on the last hundred years, in particular on institutions such as the League of Nations, the United Nations, and other global governance organizations. Research is conducted into the motivations behind setting up these institutions, how the interests of various individual nations (or groups of nations) were represented, and which obstacles formed an impediment to decisive governance on global issues. Attention is devoted not only to political organizations, but also to economic and cultural institutions (IMF, the World Bank, ADB), to allow students to acquire a thorough understanding of the structure of the international order and the recent developments in an increasingly polycentric world.

This course evaluates social media use and investigates which strategies can be employed to influence communication and the ethical questions they raise. Students investigate the power of words, images, and stories. The course considers the impact of attention in social media and the role of influencers. The course discusses how language technology can help in automatically analyzing communication and get a better insight into people’s behavior and user groups. Techniques such as sentiment analysis, trend analysis, media analytics, and visualization of communication are discussed. The course focuses on how social media can be employed in our society, such as in small and large companies, in non-profit organizations, and within the government. Students learn to critically analyze existing social media strategies and to develop innovative communication strategies in one of these settings. Students also discuss the value of social media data in current algorithmic society and how data is employed to shape social behavior, generate economic value, impact political choices, and consider the privacy and ethical questions they raise.

Course goals

After successful completion of this course, the student has:
 
•          developed a critical understanding of theories and philosophies dealing with visuality and the hierarchy of the senses 
•          developed a critical understanding of theories of visual culture and the relation they has with the visual arts
•          practiced with making critical understanding of visual culture theories and theories, criticism and philosophies dealing with visuality, the senses and the hierarchy of the senses
 

Content

The aim of this course is to make students familiar with and learn them to look critically at theories of visuality and theories that consider the senses, the importance of sight and the anti-ocular impulse. Today sight seems to be the most importance sense in our culture. But has this, from a historical point of view, always been so? Which theories and philosophies have questioned the dominance of sight and why? How has modern and contemporary art dealt with its own historically grown inclinations towards the eye? We will be considering ideas developed by philosophers such as Rene Descartes, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jean Baudrillard, Guy Debord; psychoanalysts such as Jacques Lacan and look at art from amongst others Gustave Courbet, impressionists, Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Donald Judd, Bruce Nauman, Martin Kippenberger…

There are important differences in terms of economic dynamics between cities and regions. The question of why some areas tend to be wealthier than others, and how these differences in wealth change over time, is crucial. This course analyzes the economic success and failure of cities and regions according to the main economic theories of regional growth. Building on theories and concepts from previous courses, students start with agglomeration theories. Then traditional growth theories of convergence and divergence, the basic concepts of evolutionary theory and its application to the spatial dynamics of industries, economic growth, and the spatial dynamics of innovation networks are considered. Special attention is devoted to the spatial-economic and industrial and innovation policy in the Netherlands and the European Union. Students organize a seminar with people from the academic, policy, and business world.