United Kingdom - England

In this course, students use probability theory to model uncertainty; design simple probabilistic models that facilitate prediction; conduct sound scientific analysis of data, and study the mathematical foundations of probabilistic modelling with Markov chains and simulation.

This course focuses on the applications of game theoretical and empirical approaches to the understanding of contemporary political issues. During the lectures, students cover some seminal and some most recent models to think critically about the topics studied. In addition, they go over papers testing or related to the theories we cover. Students learn to assess critically the usefulness and limitations of theories and empirics alike. As such, this course allows students to understand how the tools they acquired in GV225 – Public Choice (or equivalent course) and GV249 – Research Design (or equivalent course) can be combined to study important political questions. Themes covered change every year as a function of current debates in the scholarly community and of pressing problems in the world at large. In recent years, the topics studied in the course have included, among others, populism, media and democracy, autocratic politics, terrorism. Questions covered during the lectures have included the sources of populists’ success, the effect of biased media on political outcomes, the role of violence in securing autocratic regimes, or the evaluation of counter-terrorist policies, among many others.

This course offers a comparative approach to fairy tales that highlights their transnational circulation and their contributions to shaping European values from the late 17C to the present. The course will give students a powerful sense of the hybridity and fluidity of cultures and of the way tales are appropriated to consolidate national, social and gender identities. By studying fairy tale adaptations in different media (including film), students will develop new techniques of interpretation. And by writing a fairy tale for our times, students will stretch their imagination and creativity. This course is well suited to students of Comparative Literatures and Cultures and of Modern Languages, as it will build on and stretch your understanding of how cultures function and interact. More broadly, this course will also be of particular interest to students interested in the cross-fertilization between cultures and nations in the history of Europe.

This course is intended to introduce students having no previous experience of project investment appraisal to the ways in which such investments can be analyzed. Students who wish to enter the business world, either working for companies or for themselves, are required to conduct formal assessments of a proposed project (or business) and present these to decision-makers. The course equips students to conduct such analyses, by describing a case study (chosen by the student), modelling it using formal techniques and indicators, and to present the results in a well-structured document. In the past a variety of projects have been examined, including sports centers, restaurants, new products, renewable energy schemes, an escort agency, theme park, retail businesses, driving school, hotels and hostels, a company take- over, etc. 

This course builds on the knowledge acquired in Macroeconomics I (EC1B5). Students use macroeconomic analysis to explore important contemporary questions and special emphasis is given to how public policy can change economic outcomes. Students learn how to understand economic problems by focusing on the key characteristics, choosing the relevant mechanisms and developing a solid intuition. The use of mathematics is minimal (in particular, with no calculus) and the emphasis of instruction is on graphical analysis and economic intuition. Precise topics and readings are announced and are selected to be of current interest.

The course develops students’ understanding of key marketing terminology and conceptual frameworks; provides students with an understanding of the role marketing plays in businesses and not-for-profit organizations and its importance for individuals within a society; provides students with: a) an understanding of buyer behavior and b) a skill to apply this knowledge for building firms’ competitive advantage; develops students’ understanding of how different organizations develop their marketing mix strategies while also paying attention to quality, ethical behavior, and social responsibility; and develops students’ knowledge of marketing tools and procedures used to analyze a variety of business situations.

This course focuses on mobile robotics, emphasizing practical algorithms for navigation, all based around real hardware and tested in the real world. Key elements are: wheeled locomotion, motor control, and motion calibration; outward-looking sensors for behavioral control loops; probabilistic localization using particle filtering; advanced use of sensors for place recognition, occupancy mapping and planning; and an introduction to Simultaneous Localization and Mapping. The course is intensively practical, and all the key methods students learn are tested on robots they build.