Ireland

Our increased longevity is one of the major achievements of modern humans, however this increase in lifespan does not necessarily mean an increase in health span – healthy, disease-free years. Students will explore some of the key challenges and opportunities associated with the expanding ageing population. They will use a multi-disciplinary approach (biological, clinical, societal) to explore several key questions such as: what happens the body during ageing that leaves us more susceptible to developing diseases such as cardiovascular disease, neurocognitive decline and cancer in later life? Why do some people age faster than others? How do we manage this challenge clinically? Can new models of care and novel technologies facilitate independent living in later life? What is it like for someone to get older in Ireland today? How can we ensure that everyone has the opportunity to age successfully in our society? What are the legal, ethical and economical challenges that we will face?

A sustainable future requires to focus not only on the responsible use of natural resources but also on the social, economic, and cultural challenges we face as a global society. This course explores the role education plays in key global issues such as poverty, migration, conflict, human rights abuses, and climate change to better understand how it can contribute to a sustainable and equitable society.

This course examines the collapse of communist system in East Central Europe and the post-1989 struggle for democracy in the region. The Polish case is examined closely as the example of this process. The course examines the process of transition from communism to democracy in East Central Europe and the global significance of the 1989 revolutions. It provides analysis of the core issues that shaped the region's politics: regime change, creation of civil society, economic reforms, and the changing nature of the post-communist system. 

This course develops appropriate methods and constructs enabling students to examine forces operating within food supply chains. The course covers supply chain analysis, vertical coordination, power and analytical frameworks. 

This course walks the students through the complex set of concepts and projects that form the Big Data stack. Students learn how to set up Big Data environments, how to use efficient data management operations and how to run algorithms - to the scale and speed required by Big Data datasets. At the end of the course, students design and implement their own solutions to address Big Data problems.

The course introduces students to practical elements of Irish-language culture through a 4-day, residential course based in the Waterford Gaeltacht (Irish-speaking area), one hour from UCC. Through classes and field-trips, the students participate in cultural activities relating to famine- and agrarian-history, landscape, music, dance, storytelling etc. in an Irish-speaking environment.

This course introduces students to a range of contemporary Irish writings, spanning non-fiction, the novel, short stories and poetry, closely examining the choice of theme, the significance of form, and the nature of the works' impact. In analyzing the depiction of contemporary Irish urban and rural society in contemporary fiction, students engage with ongoing debates concerning the function and importance of literary representation in the context of social crisis and change. The interrogation of Irishness and identity in the course texts is examined as is writers' preoccupation with the transnational and the global.

This course offers an in-depth study of Irish cinema and television from historical, cultural, social, and economic perspectives. Spanning different cinematic and televisual genres from documentary to political thriller, and from the sitcom to reality television, students learn how Irish people and society both shape and are shaped by screen culture through an analysis of key texts. Eschewing unhelpfully narrow definitions of Irishness, this course examines the Irish experience both at home and abroad, looking at how these films and television programs shape the conception of national identity at a time of increased cultural and migration flows both into and out of Ireland (both North and South).

Students learn how the scientific analysis of fossil bones and stone tools, combined with the study of modern and ancient genetic codes, can be used to unlock the hidden history of our species. In this course, students discover the relative strengths and weaknesses of different kinds of data, and the sorts of questions that a scientific approach can (and cannot) answer. Students learn to be able to explain how an understanding of our past can provide unique insights into topical issues such as diet, human health and disease, migration, "race," language and national identity.