Utrecht University

The course focuses on agroecological principles to analyze and design sustainable and productive farming systems. Agroecological principles include Recycling and efficiency; Living Soils; Biodiversity; Ecosystem services and multi-functionality; Resilience; Fair Markets; Culture & spirituality; Youth & Women; Adequate Policies & governance; Knowledge co-creation and collaboration. How agroecological farming systems are developed across the world, and how principles can be applied and translated into adaptive farming practices and management are explored There is a strong focus on methods, approaches, and indicators used to assess mechanisms that regulate the ecological functioning of farming systems. Methodologies to involve farmers and promote the dialogue between scientific and practical knowledge for the design of agroecological farming systems are learned.

This course investigates consumer and producer behavior more in-depth and modern microeconomics. Special attention is paid to situations where uncertainty plays a role, to strategic interaction (game theory) and to the consequences of adding psychologically more realistic assumptions about behavior to the mainstream microeconomic model (behavioral economics). The course studies the mechanisms that help us understand that societal and environmental problems are as diverse as nature itself, and that understanding the economics of a more regenerative society requires the study human economic activity in interaction with social, psychological, physical and biological processes. Students are expected to have knowledge of: Microeconomics, Institutions and Welfare (ECB1MI) or Principles of Microeconomics (EC1PME); Mathematics for Economists (ECB1WIS); Statistics (ECB1STAT).

This course reflects on the limits of the field of Conflict Studies to help us understand and explain the international dimensions of violent conflict and how and why advanced militaries wage war. Invigorating a field of War Studies, we will explore various definitions of war and trace how different forms of 21st century warfare impacts our understanding of what war is. Reflecting on several case studies, the course further strengthens conflict analysis skills by studying how these different forms of warfare interact and have an impact on local conflict dynamics and civilian harm.  This course includes inter- and transdisciplinary (guest) lecturers working at the forefront of academic as well as policy debates on these topics. Conflict analysts are trained to translate these academic and policy insights to a broader public through writing a review and making a podcast series. This course equips participants with the knowledge and skills to analyze the changing character of war in the 21st century.

This course offers an introductory study of ancient history, focusing on the Ancient Near East and Greco-Roman antiquity. The course explores the main political, socio-economic, and cultural developments in this epoch between ca. 800 BCE and 500 CE. The course utilizes textbooks, visuals, tutorials, ancient sources, and modern literature in order to offer insight into current scientific debates and to examine specific themes in Greek and Roman history. The course consists of lectures, seminar discussions, assignments, and group work.

The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the various economic fields by investigating these fields in their historical and methodological context and the linkages between these different fields and to other related sciences.

This course is meant for anyone interested in alternative forms of organizing in a constantly changing world. The course takes a political perspective on the phenomenon of organizing in order to make sense of both dominant bureaucratic organizations traditionally based on rationality, control and efficiency, and emerging alternative organizations that emphasize participation, democracy and autonomy. Applying a critical management approach, the course examines the contextual forces (e.g. globalization) and societal challenges (e.g. climate change) facing organizations today; the assumptions underlying current logics of organizing, taking the case of the sharing economy and questioning to what extent it can be considered an alternative are explored. Lastly, the course elaborates on the principles and practices associated with other forms of ‘alternative’ organizations and organizing, from social enterprises to cooperatives and social movements. In the second part of the course, students perform a small-scale field study with a subgroup, engaging with a so called ‘alternative’ organization/grassroots’ community/social movement to better explore their organizational functioning. This is a high intensity level 3 course. Active participation forms the backbone of this course.

This course introduces mathematical and programming skills that are employed by researchers in the Molecular and Biophysical Life Sciences to analyze and integrate data and to understand the physics of living systems. The course is divided into two parts that run in parallel. The mathematics part of the course consists of nine lectures that cover: basic algebra, goniometry, differentiation and integration (including functions of multiple variables), limits, (partial) differential equations (first order and second order), Taylor expansion, basic probability theory and statistics and vectors (including dot product and cross product). Each lecture is followed by a supervised practical session. The programming part consists of six lectures that introduce the basics of programming by discussing the modulare structure of programs (modules, functions, loops), different data types and variables, as well as good practices. For some calculations of the mathematics part of the course it is explained how to perform those calculations using Python. After each lecture, students work individually on a series of practical coding assignments that familiarize them with the basics of programming in Python during supervised tutorials, where regular instruction and feedback is provided.

This course traces the main historical contexts in which democracy has emerged as an idea, practice, and set of institution. Main thinkers on democracy are read and discussed on the basis of primary sources. Their ideas are interpreted in the historical context of transforming practices and institutional change. Historical explanations and philosophical interpretations of democratization and de-democratization are analyzed in their interaction.