Utrecht University

This course introduces a variety of basic principles, techniques, and modern advances in text mining. Topics to be covered include basic natural language processing techniques, text representation, text classification, feature selection, text clustering and topic models, word embedding, deep neural networks and introduction to (large) language models. During the course, students actively learn how to apply text mining methods to data analysis and how to use them together with natural language processing and machine learning techniques on real data problems. The course has a strong practical focus: students gain hands-on experience in Python by applying the methods to real data during the course and interpreting the results. The course provides an understanding of the principles, problems, techniques, and solutions associated with text mining and to enable them to gain knowledge of how recent advances in text mining relate to innovative approaches to organizing, characterizing, finding and exploiting large amounts of textual information in the search for new knowledge. Assumed knowledge includes basic knowledge/motivation in programming and data science.

Nearly all continental surface of the planet shows interactions between geomorphic processes and biota, called biogeomorphic interactions. These interactions are often so strong that patterns and landforms emerge that otherwise would not form (such as on planet Mars). This course covers key concepts from ecology and biogeomorphology that allow analysis of all environments from the mountains to the sea. This is not only useful for geomorphology and ecology, but also for application in societal settings where ‘nature’ can be restored to increase protection against floods, and debris flows, This course provides an overview on biogeomorphic interactions and analyze three typical environments from the mountains to the sea in depth, for example vegetated high mountain slopes, rivers and dunes or tidal flats. All systems are studied to determine the roles of physical boundary conditions and geomorphic processes, different plant species and their interactions with the landscapes, and applications with societal relevance in all these environments. The reading and lecture materials will be applied in practicals, small projects, and excursions. Key concepts to be explored include ecological concepts related to species and their functioning in a landscape (functional traits, trade-offs) and their potential to improve their own environment (ecosystem engineering), and the development of the entire living landscape (succession, geomorphic and ecologic pattern formation).

The course provides students with a clear understanding of how basic economic principles, technical constraints, and sustainability goals shape the design, operation, and outcomes of markets for energy commodities, namely, electricity and natural gas. The course first illustrates how the price of energy is set at the wholesale and retail level and how this price accounts for technical constraints and environmental policies (taxes/cap-and-trade).  Then, the course explores how market agents interact in these markets and, most importantly, the potential consequences of such behavior on society at large (e.g., on the level of prices paid by final users and on investments in renewable technologies, etc.). While students acquire skills for making optimal techno-economic decisions in other courses, this course takes them a step further and they learn that the outcome of their individually optimal choices strongly depends on the decisions made by others (competition and cooperation are both possible). In line with the inherently multidisciplinary approach required for the energy transition, the course offers students from different tracks the opportunity to productively work together and learn from one another. Useful prior knowledge derives from the following courses: Mathematics and Systems Analysis (GEO1-2411), Science of Energy Technologies (GEO1-2203), Policy Evaluation and Design (GEO2-2113), and Principles of Economics (GEO1-2255 or GEO1-2435).

Rarely a day passes without the media reporting on violent uprisings, military coups, international interventions, suicide bombings, drone attacks, and civilian casualties all over the world. In conflict studies, these events are often discussed using a range of concepts such as ‘civil war’, ‘protracted social conflict’, ‘invasions’, and ’terrorism’. Despite this proliferation of terms, clarifying the complexity of violent conflict in the 21st century remains a challenging task. Rather than choosing one of these labels, this course presents a variety of theoretical approaches that aim to understand why and how different actors resort to violence in internationalized intrastate conflict. Each of these theories use different analytical categories to study different aspect of the phenomena under investigation. The course respectively focuses on the non-state, state, paramilitary, and international actor. This course teaches conflict analysis to help understand, and explain to others, the complex array of actors, interests, and dynamics involved in the violent conflicts we see around the world today. Throughout the course, address pressing issues in contemporary warfare like: How are terrorist and insurgency organizations able to mobilize people towards violent action? Why do states deploy starvation and sieges as a weapon of war in response?  Why do states outsource violence to paramilitaries? How and why do international actors forge transnational alliances to intervene in theatres of war? The course focuses on a broad range of contemporary case studies, such as Afghanistan, Israel-Palestine, Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, and Nagorno-Karabakh. Collectively, grappling with these different layers of analysis in isolation and in relation to one another and different case studies sharpen your conceptual and analytical capacities greatly. This course is essential for those who plan to participate in upcoming courses of the Conflict Studies minor. Entrance requirements include at least 45 EC for the category 1 (Bachelor Introductory).

This course focuses on two major aspects of market integration: Free movement of persons (as part of the internal market and the AFSJ) and Competition law (as a complement to the internal market).  Free movement of persons within the framework of EU law has many different dimensions. From an economic perspective, people thus move around the EU to perform or receive services on a temporary basis (e.g. as a tourist, or to receive or perform medical treatment). They may also decide to move permanently to another EU Member State, to work there either as a self-employed person (establishment) or to work for a company or public or private institution (worker). As such, they enjoy many different rights, based not only on the principle of equal treatment but also on the basis of the principle of EU-citizenship and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. So, also people that are not economically active, such as students and pensioners, enjoy certain rights of free movement under EU law. The realization of the free movement of persons within the EU requires a lot of balancing of various interests and rights, e.g. the entitlement to free movement of workers versus protection of local workers in construction and transport and protection of fundamental rights of migrants versus (social) security interests of EU-citizens. The internal market rules are geared primarily towards states/public authorities, so as to make sure that their laws, regulations and other actions will not obstruct the free movement of persons, as well as of goods, services and capital, unless there is an objective justification for this based on the protection of some public interest. The competition law rules as contained in articles 101 and 102 TFEU are to be seen as a complement to the internal market rules, by stipulating specific obligations for companies to refrain from any behavior that may obstruct the internal market. While within this framework economic interests are balanced very often with consumer protection interests, an important question remains what scope there is for the balancing of other public interests such as environmental protection and sustainability. As one of the biggest societal challenges is a fast-growing digitalization, at the end of the course, there is a reflection on developments of EU law and policies in respect to a European approach to digital transformation.  The course is taught in the same form in both period 1 and 3. In learning about these topics, students will make use of legal texts (Treaties, regulations, directives, case law) and an academic textbook. In addition, some academic articles and news issues relating to current events may be used.

The course introduces students to the phenomenon of historical and contemporary diasporic literature and literatures of migration. Topics covered include: the ways in which literary works reflect on the experience of migration; how narratives and poems contribute to the imagination of cultural and political collectives; and how exile and displacement trigger efforts to imagine cultural belonging outside of national confines. In the wake of globalization, the world has become increasingly interconnected, and the course studies how different literary texts respond to this new situation, offering students insights into how literature reflects on cross-cultural encounters and contributes to our understanding of experiences of displacement and diaspora. This is the second course of the specialization Literature Across Borders.