Exeter College, Oxford University

This course introduces the key principles of mathematical modelling, which then are explored through several real-world examples in disease modelling, environmental planning, and population dynamics. The techniques of calculus are essential, although core concepts such as differential equations are revisited. Students also touch on the mathematical models used in data science, particularly the techniques of principal component analysis and clustering, both essential tools in machine learning models.  

Climate change exemplifies the sort of planetary challenge facing humankind in the 21st century. In this course, students explore how that kind of challenge can be understood as a scientific, political, social, and moral problem, to better understand our place in the world under conditions of multiple and interlocking crises. The course introduces the Anthropocene, as both a proposed geological phenomenon and a critical tool to rethink the relationship between humans and the planet. Pursuing this question require students to question some established distinctions—between human/animal, nature/culture, biology/society, life/nonlife, and Globe/Earth. Through anthropological materials, historical and contemporary accounts of life in the aftermath of industrial transformation, colonization and anthropogenic change, the course considers the types of knowledge, forms of collaboration, political engagement, and social practice that might help us better apprehend the fragility of the planet and articulate a shared responsibility to its future.  

The course is divided into two main sections. Following a brief historical introduction to the discipline, students explore classical concepts and theories of IR, including power and anarchy (realism), cooperation and human rights (liberalism), norms and identity (constructivism), followed by critical perspectives on global politics such as class and dependencies (Marxism), gender and the patriarchy (feminism), and exploitation and orientalism (postcolonialism). In the second section of the course, students investigate pressing global issues like terrorism, AI, and the climate crisis, which have fundamentally altered the conduct of international politics. Finally, the course concludes with a discussion of future (im)possibilities for global politics. 

The course provides the opportunity to engage with an issue that is of vital importance to the discipline of history as we know it, particularly at a time when regimes and practices of establishing and communicating truth based on evidence and objectivity are contested. Philosophers and anthropologists have argued that archives inherently select and organize their materials in ways that necessarily obscure fundamental elements of historical experience, with special reference to empire, colonialism, race, and slavery. The challenge that this radical critique poses to contemporary historians is carefully discussed. At the same time, special attention is given to the work of a growing number of historians, who have transformed the archive into a subject of historical research. 

This course introduces students to the mathematical theory of fluids via the Navier Stokes Equations. The equations can be used to successfully model almost any fluid on Earth, but our mathematical understanding of them remains limited. So much so, that a $1-million prize exists for anyone that can help to further our understanding of problems involving vortex reconnection, turbulence, and whether or not the equations are "well-posed." We will look at examples in inviscid flow theory which provide insight into physical phenomena such as flight, vortex motion, and water waves. Students also explore the basic fluid dynamics necessary to build mathematical models of the environment in which we live, focusing on problems such as climate change, pollution, or the spread of infectious aerosol droplets within our buildings.

At the heart of the course is a consideration of what is the institution of slavery, how it manifested itself across different contexts and the connections across various slave societies. There is a specific, though not exclusive, focus on the transatlantic slave trade and slavery. The first part of this course considers the origins, development, and core characteristics of slavery from the ancient world to the early modern period. The second part of the course explores the dismantling of the slave system beginning with a consideration of forms of enslaved resistance including a specific focus on the only successful slave revolt in the Atlantic World, the Haitian Revolution. From here, the course examines the rise of the abolitionist movement and the emancipation of slavery. The final part of this course considers the short and long-term legacies of slavery. First, it considers what life looked like for formerly enslaved persons in postemancipation societies. Next, it focuses on the transition to other labor systems. The course concludes with a reflection of some of the present-day legacies of slavery and current efforts to address concerns.

This course introduces students to the theoretical and empirical research in behavioral economics and discusses how the use of methods and evidence in behavioral economics has changed both economics as a discipline and policymaking processes in the past few decades.