Aarhus University

This course provides a basic introduction to human nutrition with emphasis on the underlying molecular mechanisms and aspects. Topics include: an introduction to the anatomy and physiology of the gastrointestinal system, including an introduction to the natural bacterial microbiota in the digestive system and its influence on human nutrition and health; the study types used in human nutrition studies; energy balance and macro nutrients in human nutrition; a detailed mapping of the structure and mechanisms of action of vitamins, and their influence on human health; an overview of minerals and trace elements in food and the importance on health conditions; "functional foods" and selected additives and their mechanism of action and impact on health; the relation between diet and the development of lifestyle diseases. The course involves laboratory exercises of glucose tolerance test after intake of different food components and DEXA body scanning.

This course enables students to work strategically with sustainability and environmental communication in organizations. It introduces key theoretical approaches of special relevance to the topics of environment and sustainability and applies these in order to critically analyze and assess how organizations use communication both to develop a sense of self in relation to the topic of sustainability and to engage in the public space. Students learn to understand, explain, and use discourses as a strategic and tactical resource in order to establish and put credible messages into perspective which may affect the views and opinions of various target groups in relation to the important themes related to sustainability and the environment. The course addresses current practical issues by focusing on the approaches to sustainability and environmental communication that companies, NGOs, mass media, and political organizations use when they enter into dialogue with different stakeholders, including customers, government agencies and institutions, and the general public.

This course provides the basic qualifications needed to use and describe the principles of modern geospatial science and geographic information systems. It provides a conceptual and practical introduction to geographic information systems with emphasis on practical data handling and data analysis. Teaching consists of lectures and practical computer exercises and two minor reports are produced during the course. The course identifies suitable methods to perform spatial analyses common in biological research and monitoring. Analyses is performed in the geographic information system software and documented in a professional scientific report.

This course introduces the extent of the global agriculture and food production and its geographic location. Through a combination of lectures and exercises, the first part of the course identifies the factors that influence and adjust the global need for and production of food, as well as of the global trade with food. It then looks at the impact of different climatic and soil conditions on plant and livestock production in specific regions. In the project work, students go into detail in an individual area.

This course provides an introduction to basic elements of animal behavior and application of ethology (i.e. the study of animal behavior) in relation to livestock farming and keeping of domestic animals. Furthermore, it provides an understanding of how different types of behavior are affected by management and the external environment to enable assessment of these factors on animal welfare. Topics include: domestication; behavior and physiology; motivation; factors controlling behavior; learning and cognition; normal and abnormal behavior in selected farm animal species; human-animal relations; and behavioral variables as welfare indicators.

The course is for students who wish to improve their oral presentation skills and gain insight into the basics of research communication. It introduces students to the key characteristics of oral communication, academic argumentation and knowledge criteria, and rhetorical strategies for successful oral presentations such as the classic means of persuasion, disposition, information strategies, and nonverbal delivery.

This course considers what and how the humanities can contribute to key debates about environmental crisis, climate change, overconsumption, biodiversity loss, and sustainability. This course provides a general introduction to the emerging field of the environmental humanities, as well as to other forms of transdisciplinary and collaborative environmental scholarship in which humanities thinking plays a key role. The first part of this course introduces a selection of key humanities ideas about human relationships with place, technology, and the more-than-human world, drawing insights from across multiple disciplines and cultures. It also provides a concise overview of selected conversations and debates in the environmental humanities, presenting theories, issues, concrete examples, and case studies. The second part of the course explores collaborations between the humanities and other fields, including relation to natural sciences, as well as the relationship between scholarship, action, and intervention in relation to environmental humanities research. This part of the course includes an outdoor fieldtrip in addition to in-class activities. The course includes a number of guest lecturers by Aarhus University staff members affiliated with the Aarhus University Center for the Environmental Humanities as well as the Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene (AURA) group in order to bring a diversity of perspectives and examples of current research to the course.