Utrecht University

This course explores the edge of fundamental gene research as well as the contemporary practices in a clinical setting. The aim is to ascertain what remains unknown and what information is currently missing, allowing us to form a plan for the future of genetic testing and genome screening. Attention is paid to the ethical choices that arise with these new developments. These are personal choices such as “Do I want to know it if they find something unexpected?” but also societal choices such as “Should we offer everyone genetic screening as a preventive measure, also when there are no medical indications to do so?” The course discusses the possibilities and the desirability of genetic testing and screening from a fundamental scientific point of view, taking into account that the nature of genetic information can be complex and uncertain. The course requires students to have knowledge of complex relations between genetic information and the (dys)functioning of the body, and molecular processes surrounding gene expression and gene regulation, as a prerequisite.

This course covers the basic principles of corporate finance and accounting. The course covers the study of key financial concepts, like the time value of money and arbitrage, the valuation of major securities like bonds and stocks, the financial risk and portfolio theory and the CAPM, as well as the accounting principles and reporting and the financial statements, their nature, content, use, and analysis. The nature of the course is technical and quantitative and employs tutorials and the use of exercises and applications to practice the introduced topics. To make the course more hands-on, we stress the importance of using Excel in solving financial problems, which reflects its wide use in business life. Assumed previous knowledge: for students without an economics background this is an intensive and challenging course. To the extent students lack knowledge of Mathematics and Excel, students are expected to compensate for this on their own.

This interdisciplinary course practices a critical way of examining contemporary cultural practices. In these practices of production, dissemination, and reception, masculinity and femininity are permanently (re)constructed, just as are concepts of class, race, ethnicity, and geopolitical location. Students study cultural practices manifest through popular culture as well as examine the cultural logic underlying art practice and visual ethnographic research. In all, old and new identities are contested and reconstructed; the interaction between text and image is the main focus.

This is an overview course of the history of Western art and architecture from the late Middle Ages to the present. Special attention goes to the art of the Dutch and Italians. Gain familiarity with some of the major periods of Western artistic production, including the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Dutch Golden Age, Impressionism, and Modern Art. The course provides the fundamental knowledge of art history, with a particular focus on Western Europe. In case of interest, a global perspective in the history of art is offered in the course Global Visions, taught in Block 2 (English course and not part of the minor.) A museum excursion is planned as part of this course, for which the students need to support their individual costs of travel and admission.