The University of Western Australia

Perth, Australia

Available Courses

This unit provides students with a unique opportunity to investigate the attributes of effective leadership through experiential learning. Students examine their own potential for leadership through an assisted process, and are exposed to leadership theories and research to enable critical engagement with the concept of leadership. The unit also explores leadership within teams and students explore how leadership is related to interpersonal behaviour, communication, and the capacity to motivate others and to self-manage. A variety of practical opportunities in sport and recreational pursuits such as fitness training, modified team sports, sailing, mountain biking, kayaking and trekking, allow students to practise their leadership skills.

This unit’s central theme is the rapid social, political and economic transformations that characterise the Asian region. The unit introduces processes and phenomena such as colonialism and postcolonialism, resistance, modernity and globalisation, and explores their relevance and significance in contemporary Asia. Topics covered include refugees, popular culture, human rights, feminism, the environment, media and communications, urbanisation, tourism and labour migration. The academic objectives of the unit are to provide an introduction to the study of Asia which is of benefit to students undertaking any degree program and those students doing Asian language studies and higher level Asian Studies units/major. It achieves these objectives by having students critically evaluate and research the various themes mentioned above. Students are introduced to various theories and ideas used extensively in the study of Asia such as those relating to colonialism/postcolonialism, nationalism, modernisation, urbanisation, cultural studies and gender. Students who take this as a broadening unit are equipped with a higher level of cultural competence and global awareness. It enables them to describe and evaluate the rapid social, political and economic transformations that have swept Asia and the world from the nineteenth century to the present. Issues of globalisation, cultural diversity and the interconnected nature of the world in which we live are central to all the themes of the unit.

This unit examines Aboriginal memory, culture and language from the south of Western Australia with a focus on Noongar heritage and cultural continuity. Students visit sites of significance and engage with a variety of guest speakers. Through this engagement, students are encouraged to explore a variety of modes to communicate knowledge. There is an emphasis on developing a deeper understanding of the complexities of Aboriginal historical and cultural relationships to specific localities.

*Incidental fees: possible field trip (estimated cost – up to $60 per day)

Whilst the phenomenon of crime is not new, without a knowledge of where, why, and how it occurs, any government or societal approach to its control cannot possibly be successful. Crime and Society provides students with a theoretical and practical understanding of criminal behaviour. Social, psychological, biological, and opportunity-based approaches to understanding crime are used to provide a structural framework around which students can better understand individual and collective criminality in all its forms. This unit provides students with the skills to interpret criminal statistics and media reporting, providing the foundation upon which further criminological research can be launched.

This unit focuses on physical disasters including earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, epidemics, and those related to climate change including fires, droughts and floods. It provides a comprehensive understanding of the environmental, physical and geological and social triggers of these events from an environmental science viewpoint and the social vulnerabilities and failures that, together, result in slowly unfolding disasters or rapid-onset catastrophic events. The unit uses a variety of domestic and international case studies to examine how, in each case, physical vulnerabilities, environmental hazards and risk management intersect to produce disasters that threaten lives, livelihoods and ecosystems across a range of biophysical and socioeconomic contexts and scales.

The objective of this unit is to develop an understanding of fundamental geological concepts and processes. The unit focuses on geological processes that result in the formation of important Earth materials and resources, and learning key concepts and skills that are applied to understanding how Earth’s geosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and oceans have evolved through time to present day environments, and which will continue to evolve in the future.

Lectures are grouped around individual drugs of historical significance. We look critically at how these drugs have shaped human societies through their positive and negative effects. The eTutorials examine the drug discovery process.

This unit introduces students to global health and its related concepts. It examines the historical and ongoing changes to the political, social, and economic contexts of populations and their impact on health. Topics covered include global patterns of health and disease; the trends and causes of infectious, chronic and environmental disease; demographic, social, economic and political change; poverty; global partnerships; and financing of health and economic improvement. The unit highlights how major health issues transcend local, national and international boundaries. The academic objectives of the unit are to provide students with the knowledge to discuss major global events and changes taking place and their consequence on health; and skills to participate effectively in initiatives aimed at health improvement as well as efforts to minimise global health risks.

Literature today exists in a global framework. Contemporary literature has responded to the challenge of globalisation with an extraordinary diversity of imaginative texts. This unit is designed to expose students to a range of literature from across the world and provide the intellectual equipment for dealing with the complexities that arise in reading literature in a transcultural context. As well as coming from different parts of the world, the texts are chosen for the way they represent the implications of a globalised world. Issues that feature in the unit include the movement of people across borders, the forces of global capitalism, the threat to local cultures, the influence of mass and new media, and the history of colonialism. The aim of the unit is for students to develop a sense of the globalised world as it appears in literature. At the same time, students are encouraged to apprehend the determining effect that globalisation is having on literature. The unit also serves as an introduction, more generally, to the discipline of literary studies and its key techniques of reading closely as well as contextually.

Activists appeal to human rights in arguing for the liberation of the oppressed. Governments appeal to human rights in justifying and criticising their own and others’ policy decisions. Wars have been fought in the name of human rights, and a complex set of international institutions has evolved devoted to their protection and promotion. But what are human rights? And when, if ever, are we justified in invoking them? This unit introduces students to the core ideas and central controversies in the study of human rights. Topics covered include the fundamental nature of human rights, debates over which particular human rights individuals ought to be afforded, scepticism as to the very existence of human rights, and real-world human rights controversies and challenges (e.g. war, poverty, immigration, climate change).

Determinants of our health include the social, economic and physical environments in which we live, and our individual characteristics and behaviours, especially our sex and gender. Whilst life expectancy is higher for women than men globally, many biological and social factors combine to create a lower quality of life for women. This unit explores determinants of women’s health across the lifespan: from conception, through childhood, into the reproductive years and beyond to healthy ageing and death. Students will consider how these factors inform health decision making by the individual, their health practitioner and the healthcare system. Students will identify barriers and enablers to good health decision making and consider how to utilise/address these as part of health promotion strategies at a local, national, and international level. In this unit, students will begin to develop their research reading, writing, and science communication skills through both written and video assessments. They will also begin to learn how to carry out effective peer review and to successfully work as a team.

This unit highlights the importance of financial literacy in personal financial decision making. It reflects the increased financial responsibility that students face in areas including debt accumulation, financial product selection and retirement savings decisions. Students explore a range of topics including the impact of behavioural biases that are a natural part of decision making, with a view to exploring the impact these biases can have on financial decisions. Students are introduced to time value of money, with examples of the dramatic impact of compounding on both debt and equity. This introduction includes analysis of the cost of credit card debt, loans and mobile phone contracts. Students critique the concept of human capital, with a view to identifying their own human capital and understanding the part that education plays in creating this capital. They explore the interaction between consumption smoothing, debt and investing, along with planning for retirement within the present Australian superannuation system. Students create their own personal balance sheet and a simple plan for their financial future and write a reflective journal concerning this task as part of the unit.

This unit explores diversity of form and function of animals, plants and fungi, in marine, freshwater and terrestrial habitats. It considers their origins, taxonomic relationships, structural, physiological and behavioural adaptations, their lifestyles, reproductive modes and life history strategies. There is an emphasis on how these characteristics allow living organisms to exploit a wide range of environmental conditions, and on the impact of changes in those conditions, through either natural occurrences or anthropogenic effects. It provides the basic knowledge required for field-based biology such as ecology, eco-physiology or environmental management. The unit provides a comprehensive introduction to organismal biology and demonstrates the process of biological enquiry via engaging students in a project.

This unit introduces students to the branch of musicology known as popular music studies. It aims to promote an understanding of popular music genres, forms, and performative traditions from a global perspective through the analysis of musical texts, technologies and audiences. Case studies, Western and non-Western (which may include, for example, swing, reggae, rock, disco, hip hop, electronica, K-pop), and art music are used to exemplify the discussions.



This unit is open to students enrolled in other majors and degree pathways who have an interest in music. No prior musical experience is necessary for the unit.

This unit focuses on enhancing communication and interpersonal skills in Australian academic and professional contexts. Students explore areas of cultural and intercultural knowledge, whilst applying critical and creative thinking to analyse evidence and construct persuasive academic essays. Students also learn to work collaboratively, acquiring the skills to communicate complex ideas through clear and cohesive writing, group discussion, and oral presentations.

This unit enables students to understand the nature of international politics. It looks at the structure of the international system, its evolution, current international political configuration, the role of developing states, and the emergence of various non-state actors in international politics. The ideas of order and justice, and the role of the United Nations, are explored with reference to a range of issues which may include alliances, regionalism, international law, environmental problems, human trafficking, nuclear proliferation, human rights, religion, ethnicity and terrorism. The unit aims to make students familiar with various approaches to the study of international relations and also to give students an appreciation of the complexity of decision making in the current world order. Overall, the unit provides the conceptual and methodological foundations that allows students to begin thinking like an international relations analyst.