University College London

Food is fundamental to survival and a powerful lens with which to view social realities. Social groups are reproduced by activities such as eating together whilst food practices are constrained by inequitable access to material resources and subject to intense moral scrutiny. This course provides a broad introduction to the study of food and eating in the social sciences, particularly sociology and anthropology, and why they are now high on many countries’ policy agendas. Taking an historical and international approach, students explore innovative social scientific contributions to the study of global challenges including dietary health, food poverty, and sustainability.

This course is an introductory survey of linguistics, focusing on natural language phenomena, and the methods and findings of linguists seeking to understand them. Students address the following subdomains of linguistics during the course: phonetics (physical properties of language forms, e.g. sounds), phonology (the psychological representation of language forms), morphology (how language forms combine to form words), syntax (how words combine to form phrases and sentences), semantics (the meanings of words, phrases, and sentences), pragmatics (how sentences are used in context), language acquisition (how languages are learned by children and adults), sociolinguistics (how language is affected by social context), and language and the brain (how language is processed in the brain and language disorders).

This course gives students an understanding of the power and limitations of the theoretical constructs used to interpret human behavior in economics, as brought to bear on observed consumption behavior; to enable them to critically evaluate policies targeted at individuals, both in terms of their theoretical basis and of their practical importance, and to recognize the importance of measurement in the design and evaluation of policy and the challenges it poses. Students build upon the core material learned in the first two years of the BSc (Econ) Economics degree program to further study problems pertinent to our understanding of individual choices, to their measurement, and to the design and evaluation of policy.

Carriage of goods by sea has been the backbone of international trade since ancient times. This age-old yet sophisticated commercial activity remains to this day of importance to traders selling and purchasing goods across territorial borders for profit. English law enjoys a long-standing predominance in the international shipping market, as it is frequently chosen by the parties to govern their contracts of carriage. A vast amount of goods is carried around the world under contracts of carriage governed by English law. This course covers all facets of CIF and FOB sales, ranging from contract formation to remedies, focusing on the problems when the interlocking contracts are not back-to-back. It also covers the main principles of the law of carriage of good by sea, offering an essential study of the two main forms of contract of carriage, namely charterparties and bills of lading.

This course introduces students to the study of crime and its prevention. It begins by considering the challenges with how we define and measure crime, and the implications these have for interpreting key crime trends. Special attention is devoted to how crime patterns manifest in space and time, and how they can be analyzed. Next, the key sociological, psychological, and ecological theories relating to criminal behavior are critically examined. Lastly, the formal structures and machinery in place to respond to crime and security problems are outlined. This includes the role and functions of the police, courts, and corrections as the chief components of the criminal justice system, as well as the role of government in setting crime policy. Students are encouraged to critically assess the strength of different theoretical approaches throughout the course.

This course provides students of planning and other urban-related undergraduate courses with an introduction to transport studies, including key transport planning concepts, policies and the relationship between transport and urban planning. The course provides insight into ‘doing’ transport planning, to help prepare for further study or work in the planning and/or transport sectors. Students study key transport concepts such as flow and capacity, both practically through fieldwork and calculations, and through the transport policy and planning literature.

This course is for students who wish to develop the skills and techniques to develop and test a new business idea. It covers methods for analyzing, specifying, designing, and launching new ventures along with strategies for the assessment of business opportunities and techniques for effective business planning to secure the necessary resources (including finance). The course introduces frameworks to assess and to mitigate key risks to new ventures including those relating to personnel, markets and technologies. The course draws on case studies that illustrate the challenges of creating high potential enterprises but also explicitly focus on the testing and validation of new venture concepts generate.