University College London

This course focuses on the engineering problems specific to the regions of the ocean both offshore and near the coastline. It covers practical approaches for designing offshore and coastal structures and underlying physical processes such as waves, tides, erosion, and other coastal and offshore processes. The coursework project relates to topics such as the design of coastal or offshore structures, design of offshore renewable energy facilities, and coastal defense planning.

This course introduces clinical scientific practice. An overview of common methodologies and analysis used in healthcare research provided, and students learn how to undertake a literature search. Concepts such as bias and logical reasoning are discussed, and students read, interpret, and critically evaluate scientific papers. Students also learn how science and technology are used in healthcare, and discuss how clinical tests can help diagnose health conditions and evaluate treatment outcomes.

This course introduces students to the main political economy issues that have driven the process of European integration from the aftermath of WWII to an uncertain present. Students investigate the European economic integration by revealing the interactions between economic efficiency and socio-political interests. To do so, the course first provides a historical and institutional background on the early formation and later evolution of the European Union. It then covers in more details specific EU policies and areas of interest related to both macroeconomics (monetary and fiscal policy, with a focus on crisis times) and microeconomics (trade and competition in the single market, distributive issues, labor market, and welfare policies). Students apply theoretical knowledge from alternative schools of thought (neoclassical economics versus critical political economy) to explore different angles and appreciate the complexity of EU economic policy-making.

This course provides new thinking about public health which integrates the arts and sciences to address current health and social care issues. Topics include, for example, public health systems and structures, behavior change theories, arts in public health communication, public health interventions for non-communicable diseases, creative approaches in public health, arts in mental health promotion, public health inequities, public health in the workplace, participatory global health, co-designing health architecture, and public health and the environment.

This course explores the interdependencies between natural systems and human disease in a time of rapid environmental change. Acknowledging diverse and changing perspectives on health and the environment across history and cultures, students are introduced to emerging concepts and issues in this field, fundamental approaches to assess evidence for causal relationships between environment and disease as well as begin to develop an understanding of the complex socioecological systems within which remedial action can be taken.

The course provide an introduction to concepts and principles of remote sensing. It will include 3 components: 1) radiometric principles underlying remote sensing: electromagnetic radiation; basic laws of electromagnetic radiation; absorption, reflection and emission; atmospheric effects; radiation interactions with the surface, radiative transfer; 2) assumptions and trade-offs for particular applications: orbital mechanics and choices; spatial, spectral, temporal, angular and radiometric resolution; data pre-processing; scanners; and 3) time- resolved remote sensing including: RADAR principles; the RADAR equation; RADAR resolution; phase information and SAR interferometry; and LIDAR remote sensing, the LIDAR equation and applications.

The course introduces engineers and technologists to some of the techniques of foresight and scenario planning, including some of the many reasons why those techniques can fail. It is to give a rounded and nuanced view of the business environment into which technologies are introduced and some of the associated governance issues. This advanced course covers complex topics which are not suited to students with no prior knowledge of subjects related to the field.

 

The course provides an introduction to modern materials chemistry, covering both inorganic materials and organic polymers. Models of bonding and structure in the solid state are developed and linked to functionality of the materials themselves. Synthetic and characterization methods are discussed. Students learn about current challenges in materials chemistry, and how to design materials to overcome them.

This course offers students a broad introduction to political philosophy. Readings are mostly drawn from Contemporary Anglophone political philosophy (so-called “analytic” philosophy): in particular, Rawls and some of his interlocutors (Nozick, Cohen, Moller-Okin, et. al). Yet students may also occasionally read figures from the history of political thought (Plato, Aristotle, Rousseau, Locke, Mill) and some modern European theorists (so-called “continental” philosophers) as well (Habermas, Honneth, Forst). Questions treated in the course are likely to include the following: What is the source of the state’s authority and what could render it legitimate? What is liberty, and what are its limits? Why is property valuable, and how should it be distributed? Is there a trade-off between equality and freedom? Are there any natural rights or are they all conventional? What is justice? Throughout students are concerned with how these questions are treated in different frameworks: liberal, libertarian, socialist, feminist, utilitarian, and anarchist.  

This course is an introduction to the theoretical concepts required for subsequent computer science courses. However, the course also provides a stand-alone introduction for students interested in the theory of computation and its links with logic and language theory. The first part of the course focuses on mathematical logic and the second part addresses the fundamentals of computation, automata, and language theory.