University College London

This is an intermediate-level course designed to introduce students to the burgeoning field of Applied Epistemology. Students use philosophical theories about knowledge, justification and belief-formation to explore pressing societal issues. Topics vary from year to year, but may include: When other well-informed people disagree with us, should this make us less confident in our beliefs? What can epistemology tell us about online ‘echo chambers’? What, if anything, makes conspiracy theories epistemically worse than official theories? How should feminism affect the way we think about knowledge and belief?

This course reviews the turbulent development of London from the Roman period (c AD 47) to the rebuilding of the City after the Great Fire of 1666, integrating archaeological, architectural, and documentary sources. It considers the non-linear trajectory its development, noting the serious setbacks such (rebellions, foreign invasions, conflagrations, major plague) and the impacts these had on its ultimately successful commercial expansion.

Objects can be viewed from many different perspectives to reveal multiple, and sometimes contested, meanings. Students may start with object-focused questions such as: What is it made of? How was it made? Where is it from? When was it made? How was it used? Answers to these questions open up further research areas about how objects connect people and express knowledge and cultural values. Using UCL’s unique collections, which include the Grant Museum of Zoology, the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology, and Art Collections, students build their own virtual exhibition. By using objects as the primary focus, the course draws on interdisciplinary approaches to their study from fields as diverse as zoology, art history, anthropology, and medical science. 

This course provides students with a thorough understanding of core concepts and methods of macroeconomics, as a foundation for subsequent study of macroeconomic topics within the degree program, and as one of the key elements in the professional training of an economist.

This course introduces the basic principles underlying modern human genetics research through a combination of lectures presenting theoretical principles, practical exercises allowing students to apply these principles, and more research-focused lectures providing illustrative case-studies. Students are introduced to the approaches currently used to identify genetic factors in health and disease. They become familiar with concepts and methods such as complex traits, population studies, Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and high through-put genome analysis. Case studies include the genetic basis of cancer, selected cardiovascular and psychiatric disorders, as well as genetic predisposition/resistance to infectious diseases.

This course provides an introduction to the political, economic, social, and cultural history of Britain between 1850 and 1997.

This course is a challenging introductory course and is specifically for non-History of Art students. It examines early modern European art from the 13th to the 16th century, focusing on objects in London's galleries and museums and taught predominantly in front of works in these collections. The specific content of this course changes each year but the aim is to introduce students to key issues in Italian Renaissance and northern European art, focusing on paintings, sculpture, and the decorative arts in London institutions such as the National Gallery and the Victoria & Albert Museum.

This course deals with the empirical reality, theory, and current governance problems of development, poverty, and inequality. Specifically, throughout the course students investigate the influence of colonialism, state capacity, regime type, war and conflict, accountability, social structures, and corruption on development. This course engages with both economic theory regarding development and political science research that highlights the challenges to implementing the policies that would lead to economic development. Students take these theories and use to them to then think about and develop research-informed policies that promote development.