Utrecht University

This course teaches the function and organization of the animal cell and its components. From the molecular level up to and including the functioning of cells in the tissues of living organisms. In the first part of this course, the central dogma of molecular biology is discussed. DNA replication, transcription, translation, and its regulation. Using bioinformatics, the complex genome and the regulation of gene expression is reviewed. In the second part cell function is discussed, such as protein sorting, membrane transport, signaling pathways, the cell cycle, and the cooperation of cells in tissues. For example, apoptosis, cell-cell contacts, and tissue renewal by stem cells are covered. Attention is paid to situations in which these processes no longer function properly, such as in cancer. Participants are required to independently reads the book chapter by chapter. After each chapter, a sequence of e-assessments, lectures, assignments, and response lectures is followed. Starting after a short e-assessment the teacher, a specialist in his field, discusses the information of the chapter in a seminar. To get a deeper understanding of the content in the chapter, students make assignments in small groups of 4-5 students. Hereafter the teacher is available to discuss the answers to the assignments and to clarify any misconceptions in a response lecture. The current use of the knowledge from the textbook is exemplified during a journal club, where groups of students present a Cell paper. The topic of the papers is current literature on cancer research. Attendance during the tutorials and journal clubs is mandatory. In addition, the individual self-assessments are also part of the effort requirements. Entry requirements include successful completion of MBLS-101 (Cell Biology) or an equivalent level 1 course in Molecular Cell Biology. Recommended: MBLS-202 (Molecular Biology & Biochemical Techniques)

This course is about an omnipresent yet curiously ill-understood phenomenon in politics and government: leadership. What does it mean when people say they want better leadership? What place can leadership have in a democracy? How is its exercise being facilitated and constrained by the institutions of democracy and the rule of law? How do people who occupy senior public offices exercise leadership and how can leadership be exercised by those who don’t? Through discussing the literature, watching and analyzing episodes of political drama series and documentaries, case studies, meetings with practitioners, and a simulation the course explores how to systematically understand and evaluate various forms of public leadership. Among the key questions the course addresses are: What are the distinctive and functions of leadership in politics and government? Is ‘democratic leadership’ an oxymoron? How does leadership in democracies and autocracies differ? Why do people follow leaders – even really bad ones? How do we know successful political, administrative and civic leadership when we see it? What role do personality, context and skills play in leadership processes? How can we understand, distinguish and evaluate leadership styles? How do leaders cope with the special challenges and opportunities presented by major disruptions and crises? How can we organize effective leadership succession in politics and public administration? During the course, several guest speakers share their knowledge and experience and participants experience acting as a political leader during a simulation. It is vital that reading and coursework are completed before class, so that literature can be (critically) discussed during the meetings and be present during meetings. Please note that for non-USG bachelor students the course 'Introduction public administration and organizational science (USG5520/USG5020)' or another introduction course covering the subject of public administration/political science is required.

The course consists of an integrated historical and a philosophical part. In the historical part, the period ca. 1900 until the present and concentrate on the development of biology as a separate scientific discipline, characterized by research programs that took shape over time is covered. In this section the following topics are reviewed Kant’s Critic of Judgment and the emergence of the teleological understanding of living beings; The Cuvier-Geoffroy debate and its influence in the development of Darwin’s theory of evolution; Darwin's theory of evolution; The rise of experimentalism in the nineteenth-century biology; The eclipse of Darwinism and discussion of neo-Lamarckism in early twentieth century; The emergence of the synthetic theory of evolution; The foundations of genetics and molecular biology; and The postgenomic turn in 21th century. The historical part ties in with several of the themes covered in the philosophical part. Some of the philosophical debates discussed in the class are Philosophy of biology and its relation to biology; The central concepts of Darwin’s theory of evolution; Adaptationist debate; Species, genes, race, classification, and taxonomies; Causality and explanation in biology; and Experimental biology and epistemic objects. The course includes lectures and tutorials. Participants are expected to have carefully read the required material and have completed the weekly assignment in advance of the meeting. The weekly assignment is a reading report or a critical question depending on the week. Entrance requirements included enrollment in a degree programme of the Faculty of Science.

This course focuses on the fundamental financial theories and applications that explain how investors, managers, corporations and other market participants interact and behave in the financial markets and what affects and drives their decisions, as well as the implication of those decisions and interactions. It also considers how corporate financial managers make financing decisions and manage financial risks. The course covers several major aspects of financial analysis and decision making that are important to modern corporations, including the valuation of projects and securities, capital structure choice, working capital management, and the management of international risks. While many of the theories and tools in financial management assume well-functioning capital markets with rational economic agents, the course also covers alternative perspectives based on key insights from the field of Behavioral Finance.

This course deepens knowledge of organic chemistry and organic synthesis in relation to drug molecules. Medicinal chemistry deals with the discovery, design, identification, and synthesis of drug molecules, and with the study of the relationships between the structure of a drug molecule and its behavior in the body. By looking at five major diseases, the organic synthesis and pharmacology of several drug molecules for treating these diseases are explored. A full year of Organic Chemistry is required for admission.

Growth and Development builds on concepts and theories presented in some first and second year courses, such as Multidisciplinary Economics and Intermediate Macroeconomics. The course takes a multidisciplinary approach to explore the relationship between growth, poverty, and development. The course starts by reviewing theories of modern economic growth including the Solow and Lewis models. We complement and build on the Intermediate Macroeconomics course, which covers short-run business cycles, by examining long run processes of economic growth and explaining persistent differences in income levels around the world. The primary focus is on developing countries.  Second, the course reviews the measurement of poverty and inequality and their relationship with economic growth. Third, the course discusses the role of trade and institutions in shaping development trajectories. Fourth, problems of human development facing developing countries today, including issues related to demographic transitions, health, and education are analyzed. Fifth, green growth and the necessity of environmental sustainability are analyzed. And lastly, the course concludes with a discussion of the aid effectiveness debate.

This course investigates contemporary globalization and its linkage with some crucial social and cultural processes. Catalysts of globalization and sociocultural complexity are critically assessed, especially the 'new' media. Furthermore, the effects of global interconnectedness are explored by dissecting phenomena like migration, the upsurge of religious movements, and the rise of transnationalism. Interrelated issues addressed in the series of lectures involve community formation, identity construction, cultural innovation versus cultural survival, and the shifting relationship between agency and structure. As such, 'Globalization and sociocultural complexity' should be regarded an introduction to current anthropology that logically follows 'Culturele Antropologie 2' in its aim to deepen students' understanding of theoretical approaches to, and the ethnography of, present-day's highly intricate social realities.

This course discusses the functioning of both the EU and the UN as normative power intergovernmental organizations. Do they really deserve to be labelled as such? And if so, what extent have they been successful as keepers of international peace? The EU’s Commission and Council and the UN’s Security Council, General Assembly and Human Rights at the hand of both historical and actual cases are assessed. Do not expect a clear “yes” or “no”,  but come to learn what the limits and opportunities of the EU and the UN as prominent IGO’s in the field of international politics are and even more important: come to learn how to start your own research on both normative powers by using both secondary and primary sources, including the necessary theoretical toolkit on how to interpret them. 

This course focuses on the relationships between language and society with special focus on those areas where Dutch is spoken. Questions about language variation are central to the course. How and why does variation emerge? What social, individual, and linguistic factors are important? Concepts addressed include standard language, accent and dialect, youth language, ethnolect, gender differences in language and gendered language as well as the differences between language variation and language change, linguistic style differences, racist and sexist language and the social meaning and function of language differences. Other topics include language planning, multilingualism, codeswitching, the status of minority languages and their role in education, language loss and language shift among migrants.