This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

This innovative unit, sponsored by the British Academy, Economic and Social Research Council and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, offers an introduction to quantitative social science, looking at how numbers are used (and abused) to create “stories” in the media, public policy, and in social and scientific debate. The aim of the unit is to prepare students for the sorts of methods and techniques they will encounter in their own discipline by discussing and debating the ideas and concepts that are used to create evidence in an uncertain world, and upon which decisions are made. The unit will encourage students to engage critically with research and debate in their own subject areas, placing them in a better position to learn quantitative skills. This is not a standard “textbook” class on statistics but a class about how and why numbers are used in society, encouraging students to consider how data may be used in their own research and studies. Students who have little or no interest in quantitative methods, who are anxious about mathematics or who simply want to get a head start in their studies are especially welcome on the unit.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

The aim of this module is to provide students with an understanding of the use of data analysis tools and techniques and data sources used to solve problems in a business and management environment. The module focuses on how to use Excel to perform data analysis and how to interpret the resulting analyses involving uncertainty and variability; how to model and analyse the relationships within business data; and how to make correct inferences from the data (and recognise incorrect inferences). The module utilises advanced computer modelling tools available in Microsoft Excel to analyse and present quantitative data. It therefore develops practical skills in statistical and mathematical techniques commonly used in business and management decision-making. It draws on fundamental quantitative analysis and business statistics theories with contemporary computational skills to critically evaluate complex business problems and to cross-examine them through computer technologies. The module will also prepare students for the reading, comprehension and interpretation of original business and management research articles that are based on quantitative data and statistical analysis.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

The aim of the unit is to provide students with the opportunity to develop the academic skills they need to succeed on management programmes. It will also encourage them to develop a multi-dimensional perspective of their field by requiring them to engage with a contemporary challenge facing those working in the field.

Students will learn how to evaluate the relative value of sources of information and actively distinguish between objectivity and subjectivity and the sources of bias. They will then explore the range of ways in which information might be presented, both written and verbal, and recognise the conventions and requirement for attribution associated with each.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

Through the study of a minimum of eight cinematic texts, this unit aims to introduce students to European cinema in its national context and to teach them how to approach film in an informed critical manner. Lectures on individual films will be complemented by generic lectures on theoretical and cultural aspects of film production and criticism. Students will gain an understanding of European cinema in its historical dimension, learn to appreciate aspects of how films are made, and develop their ability to analyse and interpret visual texts.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

This unit introduces the student to the analysis of arguments. It provides students with the tools to discern and analyze the structure of an argument, to distinguish good arguments from bad ones, to understand commonly encountered forms of reasoning, and to diagnose common ways in which arguments and reasoning may be flawed or misleading. Students will also be introduced to the tools of Formal Logic and taught how to use these to make arguments more precise and to evaluate their correctness in precise and rigorous ways. Topics covered will typically include the analysis of the sort of informal arguments occurring in everyday life (including statistical reasoning), as well as the exploration of common fallacies in reasoning, the effects of various biases (including implicit bias), and the way certain forms of propaganda work.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

This unit provides an introduction to social and developmental psychology. It focuses on behaviour in the context of social interaction and on key stages of perceptual, cognitive and social development, taking a biological perspective where appropriate and placing emphasis on experimental findings. The aims of this unit are to cover the ways in which social and developmental psychologists think, the major theoretical perspectives they might take, how they carry out research, and what the results of this research mean.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

Since its inception, film production and spectatorship have been transnational phenomena and the film industry has been characterised by its exchange of labour, technological expertise, and screen products across national boundaries. That said, the study of film has often focussed on the nation as that which is most securely expressed on screen and in relation to structures of production. This unit will introduce students to the history of national/transnational film production, and to contemporary debates about their interrelatedness. Through the detailed study of a range of cross-national films and through focussing on key issues such as stardom, adaptation, finance and production, and national identity, this unit aims to provide students with an understanding of the complexities of film culture in a global context.

This course was delivered in Autumn 2023/24.

This unit gives you the opportunity to develop your skills and confidence in writing, reading, and thinking, in order to help you successfully engage with words and ideas from across the arts and humanities.

You will analyse texts produced by a diverse range of writers, from Ancient orators to twentieth-century essayists and twenty-first century social media stars.

Over the course of the unit, you will learn the skills needed to write well, to help evaluate others’ writing and your own, and to understand the links between writing and the social context of communication.

This course was delivered in Spring 2023/24.

This unit aims to introduce students to a variety of theoretical perspectives on representation in the arts and humanities. In addition to the theoretical questions that are introduced, students will have an opportunity to consider practical questions arising from the unit, and particularly issues about representation within arts/culture in society and about the perspectives that are normally heard or which may go unrepresented in the academy.

This course was delivered in Spring 2023/24.

Students will gain an overview of the history and philosophy behind the idea of Sustainable Development, the particular challenges that are captured in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, and critical perspectives on these. They will gain a more in-depth understanding of key challenge areas within Sustainable Development.

These challenges will in turn be used as examples to show how different disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches can be used to provide insight and ways forward. These approaches will be presented under five broad headings: Science; Economics and Legal Institutions; Politics and Justice; Individual and Organisational Behaviour Change; Engineering and Innovation.