University College London

Computational biology and data science have undergone tremendous expansion in recent years, resulting from increased computational power and accessibility of quantitative biological measurements. The course teaches students about the power of mathematical, computational, and statistical analyses, and their roles in biological research. This is achieved through sessions that combine lectures, paper-and-pen calculations, and computer practicals. Topics include data carpentry, handling, modelling, and data analysis using different types of biological measurements from the areas of Genomics, Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity research. Students gain confidence in searching and curating real-life datasets, constructing mathematical models, and combining them to answer biological questions that are inaccessible without the use of computers or mathematics.

This course is about the geography of social change in Africa. It is designed to build on the second year course Development Geography, but there are no prerequisites. The course analyzes the different factors that shape spatial differences in development indicators across Africa. The course allows students to explore the diversity of forms that the geography of social change in Africa takes. As such the course investigates the impacts of history, politics, sociology, and economics on spatial patterns of development. The course uses postcolonial theory as an analytical framework. This entails reflecting on the ongoing legacies of colonialism not only in terms of empirical institutions, practices and norms but also in relation to the production of knowledge and ideas. The course relies heavily on wide independent reading, including reading from disciplines beyond geography.

From a comparative and multidisciplinary perspective, this intermediate-level course takes a gendered perspective to discuss some of the most important political, economic, and social problems of contemporary societies in the Americas. The course is divided into two parts. In the first part, it assesses the quality of democracy from a gendered perspective, focusing on descriptive representation, elections, and voter behavior. In the second part, the course examines the gendered dimensions of public policy, with a focus on specific policy areas (e.g., poverty, healthcare, violence).

This course will provide a quantitative understanding of the hydrologic cycle, will identify the properties of water as a natural resource, will describe the aspects of the integrated water resource management, as well as the engineering related to water purification processes. The module will recognise socio-economic factors that impact effective water solutions, including urban infrastructure projects and managed urban infrastructure. Models for water transport in the subsurface (hydrogeology) will also be discussed, specifically in relation to the resources sector with focus on the pressure on groundwater quality and quantity, relating to appropriate measures to preserve or improve the quality of water. This will cover aspects of water management to combat water shortage in the energy and mining sectors. Management of wastewater and produced water in the oil and gas sector, involving injection to the reservoir and suitable reclamation treatments will also be considered. Of particular importance for the mining sector, effective tailing management, will be discussed.

Through the study of some of the most controversial and celebrated examples of what may be termed as utopian, anti-utopian, and dystopian literature, this course explores some key elements of utopian/dystopian/anti-utopian literature. The course examines themes such as the control and manipulation of language, as well as religion, history, and gender and considers the way in which the contemporary can be explored in an imagined future. Examples of texts studied for this course include Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s HERLAND (1915), set in an isolated society made up entirely of women and engages with issues relating to gender identity in the early part of the 20th century. Zamyatin's WE (1924) presents a totalitarian society, "OneState", and is arguably the archetype of the modern dystopia. BRAVE NEW WORLD (1931) in an imagined future engages with questions of identity, mass production, and homogenization emerging post World War One. 

This course develops students' understanding of contentious politics in international relations and comparative politics by looking at how conflict spreads. A range of advanced topics are covered, with a primary focus on how diffusion and spatial dynamics affect the empirical study of international war, democracy, autocracy, and civil war. This course goes beyond traditional theories of international relations by offering a network perspective on contentious politics. In addition, this course asks students to develop theory and use statistical software to plot networks, predicting dynamics of diffusion, and designing informed policy decisions based on those insights.

This course introduces students to the study of foreign policy. As a sub-field of International Relations, Foreign Policy Analysis (FPA) concentrates on decision making and how international, domestic, and individual pressures shape the actions states take. The course focuses on explaining and understanding the process of foreign policy decision making, the foreign policy instruments available to policy makers, and the differing strategies that states employ in achieving their aims. Students learn about major concepts and theoretical approaches that help explain why and how states and foreign policy makers behave the way that they do.

This course introduces students to the transformative and innovative field of advanced materials and nanomaterials, focusing on their applications in the electronics, energy, and healthcare sectors. Students are introduced to state-of-the-art material characterization techniques, such as advanced microscopy and profilometer, to analyze properties at the nanoscale. The course explores surface and particle nanoengineering, contrasting bottom-up and top-down fabrication methods, including cutting-edge advanced manufacturing techniques like 3D printing and precision machining. Highlighting successful nanotechnology applications, such as flexible electronics and energy storage devices, the module also introduces Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) to evaluate the environmental impacts of materials and manufacturing processes. Through the hands-on mini-projects, students apply knowledge to real-world challenges, gaining practical skills in sustainable material design and advanced manufacturing. This comprehensive course equips students with the expertise to innovate and address complex issues in materials science and manufacturing, sparking their curiosity and excitement for the field.

This course interrogates the history, research potential, ethical considerations, and institutional practices associated with museum collections of world archaeology. The course equips students with the skills to engage critically with and conduct research on archaeology collections, provide a basic understanding of best practice in managing archaeological collections and give an insight into the museum as an institution. This course introduces students to the history, theory, and practice of managing and researching archaeological collections in museums. It provides a critical framework for approaching legacy collections from previous generations of fieldwork, as well as future acquisitions from ongoing fieldwork, practical experience of conducting object-based research in a museum context and direct insight into how museums function. Through case-studies, museum site visits, and hands-on practicals the course seeks to develop students' understanding of museum archaeology as reflexive practice.

Quantitative finance remains one of the fastest growing areas in modern finance. Alternative names are financial engineering, mathematical finance, or financial mathematics. This is an application-based course on the mathematical and computational aspects of derivative pricing. It lies at the heart of mathematics, computing, finance, and economics. Both theory and numerical techniques are presented, with computer simulations performed on MS Excel. If you are interested in technical finance and have wondered what Brownian Motion is, or how Monte Carlo methods are used to price options; then this module is precisely what you are looking for – covering Itô Calculus, Black-Scholes world and Monte Carlo simulations. This is not a theorem-proof based course, but all results are derived.