University College London

This course introduces material culture studies including their history, comparative study of technology, theories of artifacts, art and museum practice, and theory.

This course introduces different aspects of material and visual culture, and focuses on the relationship between people and "objects."  Lectures cover the object, the museum, the artwork, and the image, decolonization and object repatriation, art and agency, as well as photography within the digital age. 

The course provides an introduction to the major vertebrate groups (jawless vertebrates, placoderms, cartilaginous fish, ray-finned fish, lobe-finned fish, early tetrapods, modern amphibians, lizards, snakes, turtles, crocodiles, dinosaurs and birds]. The core of the course concerns the anatomy and evolutionary relationships of these groups, which are examined through lectures and practical classes in the Grant Museum of Zoology. The course also uses vertebrates to illustrate two important aspects of palaeontological research: analytical methods and evolutionary processes. The methods introduced by these lectures include phylogenetic analysis, cladistic biogeography, and taxic and phylogenetic diversity estimation. Students also examine evolutionary phenomena such as exaptation and adaptation, extinction, adaptive radiation, and the influence of physical factors on evolutionary history.

This course provides an overview of "classical" and contemporary theorizations of gender, and of the multiple ways in which gender is encountered in every aspect of our lives. The different ways of defining gender issues and shaping gender politics in Western and non-Western societies are considered. Students study the historical and cultural contexts in which the main debates have arisen and analyze themes such as gender, identity, sexuality, motherhood, nationhood, ethnicity, race, and religion. A variety of genres including press, novel, film, and essay are examined with the purpose of considering how gender and sexuality are conceptualized within Western society, focusing on the UK. Students explore how media and popular culture can reinforce or challenge traditional notions of gender that perpetuate inequalities.

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This course offers students the opportunity to engage with art thinking and art practice. It proposes a collective and experimental space based on the individual projects of each student. This course strengthens an analytic and experiential perspective regarding art practice as a method of research and its potential to understand our relation with the world from different disciplines and practices. 

This course provides an introduction to youth studies, with a particular focus on the association between youth and the globalizing world. The course considers a broad body of interdisciplinary scholarships such as history, education, politics, and the environment. Students discuss the increasing use of social media by youth movements in creating changes in society and the notion of young people as the agents of change. This course brings in perspectives from various parts of the world through diverse reading materials. The reading materials provide a fundamental understanding of youth studies (Cieslik and Simpson, 2013), global situation of young people (UN, 2003), and engage critically in the discussion of youth as an agent of change (Sukarieh and Tannock, 2015; Kwon, 2013).

This course introduces students to the key findings and theories concerning how people think, feel, and behave in organizations. It is equally relevant to students wishing to gain an understanding of business psychology at the university level as it is to students keen on developing hands-on skills that can be applied in organizational settings. The course focuses on topics such as motivation, negotiations, group and network dynamics, social status, influence, and individual personality. The course features interactive lectures, research exercises, and experiential activities, including individual negotiations, group problem-solving, and using data analysis to make strategic business decisions.