Utrecht University

This course discusses literature from different parts of the world from 1789 (the beginning of the French Revolution) to 1914 (the beginning of the First World War). Three different angles are used to study changes and developments in literature and society in this period: (1) a material perspective considers how literature changes as a medium for communication, including developments in the production and distribution of books; (2) a formal perspective which looks at new forms and genres of writing, including the continuing development of the novel as a dominant cultural form; (3) a thematic perspective analyzing how literary expression is influenced by social changes. Examples include industrialization, the relationship between rural and urban environments, and the colonial ambitions of European states and Japan.

This course reviews the benefits of policy development, planning, and management of the environmental compartments of water and soil. The focus is on the interrelationships between human activities and their effects on water and soil, and the subsequent need and options for integrated water and soil management. It describes the analysis of water and soil systems and their mutual relations, as well as the history, concepts, monitoring, and developments in policy and legislation regarding water and soil management. Acquaintance with practice takes place through guest lecturers from the professional field, practicals, excursions, and student work.

This course gives insight into the making of European policies and their consequences for its citizens. The course uses both a bottom-up and a top-down perspective and focuses on the forces that speed up or slow down European integration, the formal and informal procedures by which European policy is made, and the effects of European decision-making for politics, society, and citizens. The course uses theoretical perspectives from public administration and political science. The knowledge gained from these insights is assessed using a written exam. Special attention is paid to: Brexit; the role of the EU in the financial crisis; the role of the EU in the refugee crisis; euroscepsis; enlargement of the EU and its consequences; what are the formal and informal venues for lobbying? What is the most effective strategy to influence decision-making on this issue? theoretical and practical insights will come together in a paper that you write on a case of lobbying in Europe; a case selected by yourself by either a civil society actor or governmental actor. Questions addressed in the paper include: how does EU decision-making work in this issue area and what is a realistic lobby strategy?

This course teaches entrepreneurship both from the theoretical and practical perspectives. Alongside learning about and discussing an academic approach to entrepreneurship, students also go through experiential learning by working on an entrepreneurial project by working in small teams in search of a repeatable and scalable business model on which they report both orally and in written form. The course introduces business model generation tools such as the lean business model canvas, design thinking, and customer validation methods. The results of these methods culminate in a start-up pitch-deck, a Demo Day pitch event, and a concise report.

The course starts with an introduction to the basic mathematical tools needed: tensors (in particular the metric tensor), index notation, and coordinate transformations. Special relativity is introduced, and a basic overview of general relativity is given. The linearized Einstein equations are discussed, and their physical degrees of freedom are identified; it is shown how this leads to a wave equation and hence gravitational waves. The basic properties of gravitational waves are studied: what polarizations they have, how they interact with matter, and the energy they carry. Next quadrupole formula, which describes how gravitational waves are generated by the motion of masses, is reviewed. An important example is the gravitational radiation emitted by two compact objects (neutron stars and/or black holes) that orbit each other, and spiral towards each other until they merge together. The course discusses how these, and other gravitational wave signals are detected with interferometers such as LIGO and Virgo, including the basics of gravitational wave data analysis: how to identify and study weak signals in noisy detector data. Finally, lectures make a connection with discoveries made by LIGO and Virgo in the past few years, and their impact on fundamental physics, astrophysics, and cosmology. The course ends with a discussion of future gravitational wave observatories such as the underground Einstein Telescope and the space-based LISA, together with the scientific output that can be expected from these.

This course examines how images of the “Old World” were constructed in the United States to define the nation in contrast with the political and cultural traditions of Europe. The tension between the American ideal of exceptionalism and adherence to an essential “Europeanism” continues to affect transatlantic relations. Students examine how these contrasting collective images were transformed during the twentieth century as the United States became a global power that influenced Europe. The course considers the following: which images of Europe have dominated American public discourse; how the geopolitical, political, and economic changes during the American Century affected the way Americans re-positioned themselves towards the Old World. After studying the literature, students explore one case study in a small research project.

When exploring the principal rules that govern the flow of water, this course considers the four major types of water: atmospheric, ground, soil, and surface. With human activity and prevailing climate conditions placing more pressure on our supply of water than ever before, there has never been a more important time to develop a sound understanding of the subject. Students are familiarized with the basic terms and major laws that describe steady-state water flow in the subsurface and at the surface. These major laws are the energy equation (Bernoulli's law), the water balance equation (continuity), and the flow equation (Darcy's law or the Darcy-Buckingham equation). Students also gain knowledge of some aspects of atmospheric water, such as the generation of precipitation, measurement of precipitation, and the estimation of evaporation, as well as several methods for estimating surface water discharges in small streams. The ability to calculate volume fluxes and/or volume flux densities for several steady-state water-flow cases determines the successful completion of the course. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of mathematical differentiation and integration. This course is best suited for students in Hydrology, Geography, or Earth Science fields.

This course follows the approach that citizens are ‘predictably irrational’ (Ariely 2008). This model of human behavior has consequences for how governments can and should steer society. A behavioral approach to government steering such as ‘nudging’ is explored in this course. Students explore what it means to take a behavioral approach to public administration, how it differs from traditional policy, and to what extent has a behavioral approach been taken up by governments already, and learn about opportunities and pitfalls of a behavioral approach. Questions about whether a behavioral approach is effective, appropriate, and ethical are discussed. Finally, the course explicitly studies the policy process that leads to ‘behavioral’ policies including the other actors, such as interest groups, and contextual factors, such as institutions, rules, and norms that influence this process.  Theoretical knowledge, practical examples, guest lectures, field trips, discussions, debates, and presentations are used.

Old Irish is the Celtic language of Ireland between ca. 600 and 900 AD. It has an exceptionally rich and varied literature. Celtic is one of the most complicated languages in the world. It is the parent of the Modern Gaelic languages of Ireland and Scotland. This course offers an introduction to Old Irish grammar as well as a first survey of medieval Irish saga literature. Students translate short texts from the Táin Bó Cúailnge, ‘The cattle-raid of Cooley'.  At the end of this course, students can answer questions relating to the basic grammatical structure of Old Irish; translate simple Dutch/English sentences into Old Irish; translate a simple short Old Irish prose text into Dutch/English in a limited amount of time; answer questions regarding the contents and literary themes in some early Irish tales; and list and explain some of the most common theoretical approaches to early Irish literature.