Utrecht University

This course covers cognitive processes (such as observation and processing information, and using and storing it), emotions, and their interrelationship. The focus is on the role of these phenomena in the design and use of Information and Communication Technology. The course is relevant for students interested in human-computer interaction and (serious) games and training applications.  

Complex Systems consist of many interacting constituents and their collective behavior, such as the brain, cities, climate, ecosystems, economy, and traffic. While these systems seem vastly different on first sight they share many features. To familiarize students with all properties of complex systems , this course consists of three pillars: network theory, evolution in spatially extended ecosystems, and collaboration. The course uses computer models to study conflict of interest. This course uses computer programs coded in Python, although working knowledge in Python is not a prerequisite. Each of the three parts concludes with an exam and hand-in exercises. The course concludes with a report written over a small project carried out in a group.

This criminology course focuses on organized crime and its international aspects by familiarizing students with organized crime theory in an international context, with a focus on diverse forms of smuggling, like trafficking in hazardous waste, animals, arms, drugs, human beings, and body parts. The course examines the antecedents of contemporary transnational organized crime, how new opportunities have opened up, and the different means that national and international organizations have employed to match the inventiveness and adaptability of the sophisticated criminal organization. Students participate in practical research and construct a final paper. 

This course teaches literary prose fiction for adults, but writers are also given the chance to opt for non-fiction, drama, or poetry. Neither fiction for children nor genre fiction feature in the course. This course stresses process writing, rewriting and editing as essential to the crafting and sculpting of fine sentences and paragraphs. To this end students read their prose, poetry and drama in writers’ workshops. Students explore issues of lexis, syntax, character, setting, and point of view before embarking on fully-fledged prose excursions. The instructor helps to shape and polish that prose works with students to develop their talents.

The course offers a general introduction to the history, literature, and cultures of China. Emphasis is placed on the modern period from the nineteenth century onwards. Students develop basic knowledge on modern Chinese history, from the last empire to the republic to the current age of the socialist market economy. The course pays special attention to literature as a key expression of culture but also addresses Chinese linguistics as well as other cultural expressions such as film and philosophy. Throughout the course, theoretical and methodological questions are addressed concerning the study of China in a postcolonial and globalizing world.