University College London

From climate change to mass extinction, the reach of the human species is inescapable across the natural world. At the same time, ranging from our microbiome to our mental health, the natural world is inescapable in our own lives. Despite tremendous technological advances, nature and humanity are inextricably entangled. This survey course explores the many ways that humans and nature have collided, and the many ways our species has understood other species and non-living things. Ranging widely across space and time, students explore how humans created the idea of “nature” as something apart from themselves and the ramifications of that idea, how we might do history from the standpoint of other species, the effects of pre-modern and modern humans on the natural world, and environmental inequalities around how toxic pollution or other environmental harms are differentially borne according to race, class, and gender.

The course allows students to hear from a broad range of experts in social psychology, social cognition, and social neuroscience at UCL. The course offers interdisciplinary perspectives that are at the cutting edge of social experimental research. It has the following objectives: To provide students with an understanding of social determinants of cognition, judgment and behavior; and the interplay between social processes and individual processes, to familiarize students with basic methods used in social psychology, and to help students critically discuss research in social psychology in an interdisciplinary manner, in order to establish connections between social phenomena and psychological functioning.  

This course situates migration within broader social and economic contexts. To understand human mobility, it conceives migration as an intrinsic part of wider processes of economic and social change, rather than as a “problem to be solved”. Drawing on empirical and theoretical work, it demonstrates the contradictions and continuities in how migration has been understood in social science scholarship and explores how migration affects key areas of the economy and society, including implications from a public health perspective. By examining historical and contemporary examples, the course shows how migration patterns evolve in response to shifting economic demands, political decisions and social transformations.

The course provides an up-to-date survey of the rapidly changing field of stem cell research, from fundamental principles to the practicalities of regenerative medicine. Students learn about the basic biology of stem cells and how it differs in various tissues, how stem cells are involved in disease from genetic disorders to ageing, how stem cells can be harnessed to regenerate tissues, what challenges regenerative medicine faces, and the approaches taken by researchers to overcome them.

Stonehenge is the world's most famous stone circle, dating from the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. An iconic symbol of mystery and counter-culture, it has attracted attention from enthusiasts around the world who have come up with myriad and often bizarre interpretations of who built it, how and why. This course explores Stonehenge and other monumental constructions within their social, cultural, and landscape context, allowing Stonehenge to be understood within the world of prehistoric Britain and Europe from the adoption of farming to the development of copper and bronze metallurgy. The course examines the history of archaeological research on Stonehenge, and the nature of social change from the Neolithic to the Bell Beaker period and the Early Bronze Age. With many recent investigations of Stonehenge and its wider context producing a wealth of new evidence, this course brings students up to date on our knowledge of this fascinating period in prehistory.

This course introduces students to Slovene literature and the culture and history of the Slovenes since 1800. It is focused on one of Europe’s smallest nations, but it asks big questions: How does a national tradition take shape by combining and integrating various cultural and linguistic influences? Does national unity depend on regional diversity? Can language be the sole basis of national identity? The course explores such questions through canonical works of Slovene poetry, prose, drama, visual art, film and architecture and address a number of key themes, including: romanticism and the national awakening; folk culture and Slovenian regions; search for a Slovene modernism; the birth of Yugoslavia; the Second World War and the partisan memory; the end of Yugoslavia and Yugostalgia; gender and feminism; Slovenia and contemporary Europe.

This course introduces students to some of the key doctrines and methods in the study of the private law. Students study key aspects of contract law and of property law within the context of the common law of England and Wales. Contract law centers on exchange, from simple consumer purchases to complex international financial arrangements. Property law governs varying forms of ownership, including in land and in personal property, which give rise to legally protected claims. This course examines both their substance and uses them to illustrate the broader nature of the common law. English private law is extremely important globally: it is commonly selected by parties to international commercial contracts as the governing law, and influential on worldwide legal developments. 

The course explores a range of representational practices, their relationship to power, and their contemporary legacy. It offers an introduction to key debates about the visual aspects of power and how postcolonial theory can illuminate these dynamics. Combining empirical ethnographic case studies with theories from anthropology, postcolonial and subaltern studies, as well as philosophy and visual culture studies, the course extends the discussion beyond colonialism's original geographic boundaries to address hierarchy, desire, agency, and imagination in asymmetrical political contexts. 

This course introduces how creative ideas can drive meaningful change in communities, organizations, and urban environments. With London as a living laboratory, the class uses neighborhoods, green spaces, cultural institutions, and social enterprises as places to observe, analyze, and experiment with new ways of thinking. It engages interactive workshops with practical methods such as design thinking, systems mapping, and co-design. The course teaches how creative and collaborative approaches can reveal insights, spark new perspectives, and support better decision-making. Course work includes collaboration in a small team on a real challenge set by an external partner from the voluntary sector, local government, or a socially-minded business.