Ireland

Multilingualism can be investigated from many perspectives such as language acquisition, sociolinguistics, cognitive linguistics and so forth. This course examines multilingualism mainly from the perspective of applied linguistics, focusing on the distinction between societal multilingualism and individual multilingualism (sometimes described as plurilingualism). It looks at some important definitions and distinctions and the idea of language choice, both at the individual level and in society, and how those choices are shaped (e.g. through official policy and planning decisions). The course touches on topics such as code-switching, heritage languages and language attrition, as well as multilingual pedagogies and assessment. This course introduces students to issues and concepts in individual and societal multilingualism and to examine situations where several languages are present in an individual’s language repertoire or speech community. The course takes as its point of departure multilingual individuals and the process of becoming multilingual throughout life. It examines global, critical and interdisciplinary perspectives on the topic of multilingualism, addressing decolonization and multilingualism in the Global South amongst other topics.

This course introduces students to the core challenges and responses associated with climate change, with an emphasis on the interplay between science, policy, politics, and communication. It explores four main dimensions: the scientific and socio-political foundations of climate change; the environmental, social, and economic impacts it creates; strategies for mitigation and adaptation; and the political and institutional contexts in which these responses are developed and contested. Students examine climate governance at multiple levels, from international negotiations under the UNFCCC to national action plans and local government climate strategies, with attention to the political dynamics that shape ambition and implementation. The course also considers the role of communication in influencing public understanding, political debate, and policy effectiveness, including how climate issues are framed, contested, and mobilized across different actors and scales. By combining conceptual perspectives with applied case studies, students gain the knowledge and critical skills to evaluate climate policies, understand the political struggles underpinning them, and reflect on the role of communication in advancing effective and equitable climate action.

What makes a group of people feel like a nation? Who decides who belongs—and who doesn't? Why do national borders, myths, and identities still matter in a globalised world? This course explores how nations are formed, imagined, and contested—from ancient legends to modern passports, from cultural traditions to nationalist movements, and offers tools to understand how nations shape the world we live in.

This course introduces students to key topics, theories and methods in the field of social psychology. Social psychology is the scientific study of how individuals’ thoughts, feelings and behaviors are influenced by the actual or imagined presence of other people. This course covers such topics as attitudes, social influence, groups, prejudice, attraction, gender and altruism. The course critically evaluates seminal and contemporary studies in social psychology and considers the insights they offer into the psychological processes that underlie human relationships, culture and society.
 

This module explores the role of powerbrokers and stakeholders in the shaping of the sexual politics of modern Ireland. It asks questions about how power was mediated and framed in modern Ireland and why ideas of sex and morality were important. It examines the role of key players, such as the state, the law, the churches/voluntary organizations, campaigners and the media. Central questions considered are: How did concepts regarding sex inform ideas of citizenship in Ireland? How did legislation shape people’s sexual relationships and sexual lives? What role did the churches play in the contemporary framing of sexual relationships? How did ideas about sex inform health and welfare policies? How did the law reinforce certain beliefs about sex and sexuality? How and why did a particular narrative about Irish sexual cultural as pathological and harmful emerge? Can we identify key moments of change in the sexual politics of twentieth-century Ireland?

The field of computational psychiatry has taken off over the last decade. Research in this field uses computational modeling to identify the precise component mechanisms underlying deficits and biases in learning, decision-making and other cognitive processes. The first part of this course reviews some of the early classic papers in this new field illustrating how this approach has been used to advance understanding of psychiatric disorders ranging from anxiety and depression to addiction and schizophrenia. Each week, one or two papers are set in advance, presented using a lecture format, and discussed via class participation. These papers are selected to present some of the most widely used theoretical frameworks and experimental tasks. In the second part of the course, students are introduced to current issues in advancing the nosology of psychiatric disorders. This covers why the field has become unhappy with traditional binary diagnostic categories and alternate approaches advanced to address this, including NIMH’s Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework for investigating psychiatric disorders, the Hierarchical Taxonomy Of Psychopathology (HiTOP), and modeling of latent factors to tease apart symptom variance associated with comorbid conditions. Following this, students are introduced to precision and translational psychiatry and issues pertaining to the promise or perils of translating computational psychiatry findings into real-world practice.

This course provides an introduction to the Politics and Government of Ireland. On successful completion of this course, students should be able to: Identify features of Irish political political culture and how they shape the workings of institutional processes in Irish politics; Evaluate the workings of Irish political institutions; Critique the role of political institutions; Propose potential solutions to the problems raised or weaknesses identified; Demonstrate an understanding of the Irish party system; Analyze the role of women in Irish politics and the conditions that shape women's access into political life; and demonstrate the ability to conduct independent research and engage with course materials and recommended readings.

This course sheds light on how markets emerge and the actions needed to create a market. It also explains the role of institutions, networks, and culture in shaping markets. Lastly, Third, it shows the way in which markets are organized and has distributive effects. Understanding that specific actions are needed to create a market and the different ways in which markets can be shaped counters an understanding that takes markets as granted and market competition and the ensuing consequences as something natural. The course covers the various challenges associated with creating a market: challenge of cooperation, challenge of competition and challenge of establishing value, ability to explain how different mechanisms contribute to solving these challenges, and applying the concepts discussed in class to current issues in concrete markets.

This course provides an introduction to the basics of Modern Standard Arabic. Students learn to how to read, write and speak the language.