University College London

The course begins by discussing the evidence for the origins of the solar system, the emergence of life, and the conditions under which it emerged, and the origin of eukaryotic cells. The theory behind reconstructing trees of evolutionary relatedness is introduced and patterns of relatedness in the living world discussed, ranging from familiar creatures to new and bizarre forms being discovered in the depths of the oceans and under the earth’s surface. All main branches of life are covered with a particular focus on the evolution of plants and their importance to global biodiversity and on the many groups of invertebrates and vertebrates including ourselves. In addition to lectures, students attend practical sessions in the Grant Museum of Zoology. 

The course examines economical and social rights, the legal obligations that governments have to realize these rights, why governments vary in their efforts to realize these rights, and other international and domestic factors that affect the realization of these rights.

The unifying topic of this course is how genes and their interactions, either with other genes or with the environment, make us what we are. The course introduces students to the subject of human genetics, enable them to appreciate the implications of genetic research for society and provide a basis for more advanced studies. Students learn to understand and critically evaluate scientific studies in human genetics, whether reported in scientific journals or in the lay press.

This lecture-based course integrates theories and practices of environment and society as reflected in contemporary governance debates. The course explores the science and politics of environmental governance, examining the historical and contemporary practices by which human uses of natural resources have been governed. It analyses the knowledges, models, and theories that make up scientific understandings of biodiversity conservation, particularly participative and economic concepts and rationales. Through these areas, and drawing upon debates from various literatures, the course critically interrogates the ways in which human uses of natural resources in protected areas are considered as governable.

This course provides students with a framework for understanding modern ideas in the theory of international trade, and to use this framework to analyze the major policy issues of world trade. Students study the key concepts of positive and normative trade theory and leading examples of recent empirical work on the pattern of trade and the effects of protection and preferential trading agreements.

As the planet’s land use and human population become increasingly urban, environmental problems and politics of cities are evermore critical for improving socio-environmental relationships and outcomes. Thus, this course explores the urban political conflicts of environmental issues like climate change, air pollution, water quality/quantity, resource and energy use, waste disposal, and more. Using a range of case studies from around the world and beginning with some of the contested material flows of resources that both transform and comprise cities, the course then moves to address politicized ideas of nature, conservation, and habitats in the city while concluding with discussions of human agency and responses to the uneven social impacts of urban environmental problems.

This course examines how textual evidence may be used by students of different disciplines to study past societies, with a particular focus on archaeological research. It draws on written sources from the Near East and Eastern Mediterranean to explore issues such as the materiality of texts, literacy and orality, the relationship between texts, physical space and visual media, and the social and cultural contexts in which writing was used.