United Kingdom - England

This course discusses a range of advanced topics in normal and abnormal development, in order to illuminate the processes underlying children’s development. Students learn about diverse cognitive, social, and biological determinants of development, and how the contribution of such factors depends on the domain of development. Students learn about recent theoretical approaches to child cognitive and social development and come to appreciate the conceptual link between views of the adult mind (the end state of development) and theories of how we develop towards this end state. The first section considers typical cognitive development, in particular the development of “higher” reasoning skills and the development of memory. The second section explores a variety of topics in typical and atypical socio-emotional development. There is a focus on the role of the care-giving environment, the importance of both nature and nurture, and longitudinal approaches to studying psychological development.

This course provides an overview of science fiction criticism and its history. It considers what form "scientific’" endeavors took on in the Middle Ages and how these might have informed the "fiction" of the time; it will place modern and pre-modern texts in critical conversation in order to rethink the history and future history of the genre and of the book. Most of all, this course develops new insights into a diverse selection of medieval texts and illuminations, and, through these, allows students to explore critical and theoretical topics such as periodization, otherness, space and place, and the possibilities and problems of genre fiction. 

Volcanic eruptions can influence earth systems on a number of scales, from individual landforms to landscape development and global climatic change. Volcanic hazards can have global-scale social impacts and directly threaten the approximately 800 million people that live within 100 km of an active volcano. This course provides students with knowledge about volcanic environments, the hazards they pose on many scales, and potential benefits to societies.

The course explores the economic history of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Many, if not most, of MENA’s contemporary problems cannot be understood without a deep understanding of its history, not only during the postcolonial period, but also during the precolonial and colonial periods. The course first introduces students to the definition of the MENA region, and the broad trends in its history since antiquity. It then examines specific themes that are of great importance for understanding the economic history of the region, such as: how most of MENA’s population became Muslims in the Middle Ages? What do we know about MENA’s economic performance vis-à-vis Europe in the long run? How did “Islamic” institutions emerge? What legal rights did people have over land and labor? Students also discuss state-led development, inequality, education, socioeconomic inequality across ethnoreligious groups, and the demographic transition. Throughout the course, students focus on the view from below, examining the living conditions, preferences, and behavior of local populations, rather than taking a macroeconomic perspective that studies MENA only in comparison to Europe. Students also emphasize the recent developments in MENA economic history based on novel data sources, including MENA local archives, papyrology, medieval chronicles, literary sources, and archeology. In terms of methods, the course will draw upon both qualitative and quantitative approaches to history, employing economic theory, econometric methods, novel data sources, and solid historical evidence.

This course provides a broad overview of the key marketing concepts that underpin marketing practice. The course introduces students to buyer behaviour, marketing research, segmentation, targeting and positioning through marketing mix activities. Along the way, the social consequences of marketing practice are considered.

This course introduces students to the history of a hundred-year period from the Emperor Constantine’s death to the reign of the emperor Theodosius II. This is one of the pivotal centuries of Roman history, characterized varyingly by historians as a time of transformation, rupture, and of continuity. During this century, Christianity moved from being a sporadically persecuted minority religion to a faith promoted and eventually enforced by emperors; political and economic activities were brought under pressure by the movement of peoples within and without the empire’s borders; and the old rhythms of aristocratic cultural and social life had to accommodate both ascetic and episcopal demands and priorities.

This course allows students to explore current and enduring educational questions through a sociological lens and to identify the relationships between education and social inequalities. Special attention is paid to issues of social justice, inclusion/exclusion, and possibilities for social transformation. The course considers various axes of power, identity and institutional organization, including sessions focused on social class, race/ethnicity, religion, gender, sexuality, and learner and teacher identities.  

The main topics covered in this course are financial risk analysis and financial risk. The course provides students with a thorough understanding of market risk from both a practical and technical point of view. A representative list of topics covered includes empirical properties of market prices (fat tails, volatility clusters) and forecasting of conditional volatility; concepts of financial risk (volatility, Value-at-Risk); univariate and multivariate volatility models (ARCH, GARCH); implementation and evaluation of risk forecasts; and endogenous risk. Students apply the models to real financial data using Matlab/Python/R, a programming environment widely used in industry and academia. No prior knowledge of programming is assumed.

This course is broadly equivalent to A1 Basic User, Breakthrough level of the Common European Framework. 

The course introduces the student to the statistical analysis of time series data and simple time series models, and showcases what time series analysis can be useful for. Topics include autocorrelation; stationarity, trend removal and seasonal adjustment; AR, MA, ARMA, ARIMA; estimation; forecasting; unit root test; introduction to financial time series and the ARCH/GARCH models; basic spectral analysis. The use of R for time series analysis is covered.