The University of Manchester

Manchester, United Kingdom

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manchester.ac.uk

Available Courses

“How do young children acquire language so easily? How is human language different from non-human animal communication systems? What are the similarities and differences between signed and spoken languages? Can the language you speak influence how you see colours? This unit addresses these questions and more, exploring the cognitive underpinnings of human language.

Along the way we’ll examine evidence from babies, chimpanzees and other animals, the birth of new languages, perceptual illusions, strokes and other brain injuries, intoxicated speech, swearing, and modern brain imaging techniques. We’ll also take a look at the social and historical contexts in which our ideas about language and cognition have evolved, examining the role of factors such as colonialism and ablelism in shaping the field.”

 

“Why does climate change policy, despite attracting a worldwide interest, remain a disappointment? Is it because the world is not working hard enough to implement existing climate policies, or because the issue is so difficult that no amount of good work will be sufficient to control the rising greenhouse emissions?

You will explore why climate change became the environmental and socio-economic problem of the century; why it took so long after the discovery of the greenhouse effect for politicians to become aware of its cataclysmic potential; and who brought the issue to the policy arena.
The unit sets recent – and future – developments in the context of the historic background in which ‘climate change’ affected the material life of both traditional and high-output societies. It explores the role of science, the function of politics, and the promise of industry to bring the problem under control and to the fore of public policy.
The unit further explores how climate change features in the public sphere and whether the media works to be transparent in conveying scientific knowledge.
The unit suits students of all academic backgrounds, including humanities students, who are keen to use creative approaches to think about today’s environmental issues.”

“With the recent experiences of the Coronavirus outbreak, students will learn how historically infectious diseases have spread across the world, how people, health systems and governments have reacted to these and what lessons can be learnt from global pandemics in the past

This unit covers the global history of epidemics, starting from the global pandemic of Cholera in the nineteenth century across Asia, Africa, Europe and America to the contemporary experiences of COVID-19 and Ebola. It brings together insights from history, medicine, public health, bacteriology, and quarantine.

You will investigate why, in the contemporary world, some countries and communities are relatively free from epidemics while others continue to suffer from them. You will identify the larger structural factors, such as the economy, trade, labour movements, gender and class that lead to epidemics and see that disease is often caused by global inequality and poverty.”

In this unit you will investigate the growing literature on the legal application of medical and scientific expertise. The unit will contextualise contemporary understandings of and interest in forensics and its popular representations and consider the history of forensics as a practical example of the dynamics of public understanding of science. Topics include; “Determining Sanity”, “Poison and the Victorians” and “DNA Fingerprints, Proof and Persuasion”.

“Do scientists play God? Is it possible to understand an alien? Will machines rise up and enslave us? Does the rapid pace of scientific and technological change point towards a future paradise – or a hell on Earth? Or just to a different world that seems equally “normal”?

These are questions which authors and film-makers have long explored through fiction, for a wide variety of reasons: to make money by providing popular entertainment; to explore philosophical questions about the nature of humanity, technology or civilisation; to promote possible future projects in real life, or to warn of emerging dangers; to comment on the politics, social issues and cultural assumptions of their own times.

This course uses science fiction literature and film from the nineteenth century to the present day to explore the changing place of science in the cultural imagination. We ask how science fiction has revealed – and sometimes changed – public dreams and anxieties around technology, the power of science, the future of our earth, and what it means to be human.”

“1) Define management and explain how management differs according to level and whether a manager is a line manager or an enabling role.
2) Briefly describe and contrast four models of management; rational goal, scientific, human relations, open systems.
3) Describe and attain some elementary level of skills in the main management processes: planning, organizing, staffing, deciding, controlling and budgeting.
4) Outline the notion of a management function and be able to name, briefly describe and appreciate the role of the four main management functions: marketing, production (including quality and other technical services), finance and personnel.
5) Discuss and identify the implications of wider management issues such as managing technology, managing diversity, globalization and ethics.”

“This course is about the problem of crime. It aims to introduce some of the central issues, themes and concepts involved in thinking critically about crime. We will be concerned with exploring how perspectives drawn from across the social sciences can inform our understanding of this significant contemporary social issue

Indicative weekly topics: (1) Defining and measuring crime; (2) The politics of crime; (3) Media representations of crime; (4) Approaches to understanding crime; (5) Gender and crime; (6) Race and crime; (7) Age and crime; (8) Crime, power & inequalities; (9) Bringing it all together; (10) Course overview & exam preparation. “

“Have you ever wondered why some people become entrepreneurs? Thought about what it takes to become a successful entrepreneur, or questioned if you could become one yourself?

Becoming an enterprising individual and developing a new business venture can be both physically and emotionally demanding. Successful entrepreneurs have to become focused on creating and establishing a successful business, which is a risky and time consuming process that entrepreneurs try to navigate as best they can, whilst juggling a wide range of demands and commitments.

This unit explores who and what entrepreneurs are and how they use motivation and self-development/reflection to improve on their decision-making skills to enhance both their personal and venture’s performance.

The unit addresses key questions such as: What makes a successful entrepreneur? Can any person be entrepreneurial? What skill sets do I need to become an entrepreneur? You will explore these questions through the application of theory and analysis of a variety of prominent entrepreneurs who have become successful. Ultimately, you will look to develop your own Personal Developmental Roadmap for future entrepreneurial success.”

“1. Introduction to People, Management & Change,

2. Scientific Management & Fordism,

3. Bureaucracy and Modernity,

4. Hawthorne Studies and Human Relations Management,

5. Socio-technical Systems and Team-working,

6. Organization and Environment,

7. Culture and Culture Management,

8. Organizational Paradigms and Perspectives,

9. Researching Organizations,

10. Recap and Revision”

“””A picture is worth a thousand words,”” but only if you know how to read it. Digital technology has made charts, maps, and data visualisation easier to create and share than ever. Whether we are dealing with climate change graphs, invasion maps, or visualisations of artificial intelligence, well-designed charts and maps can be empowering, but they can also be ambiguous or misleading. Indeed, we are often ill-equipped to approach visual information critically.

In this course, you will learn to engage with information visually. You will learn to recognise and critique oversimplifying, biased, or misleading forms of visual representation, and to create your own visualisations to explore and communicate data that matters to you. Using examples from a wide range of academic disciplines – from economics, to literature, meteorology, history, urban design, or computer science – you will discover key principles of visual thinking and communication and learn how to create your own charts and maps.

Historically, data visualisation has often been used to discriminate, control, and police. In this course, you will also explore interventions by critical data scientists, scholars, and activists who visualise data to expose injustice, challenge unfair classification systems, and speak truth to power.

The course allows you to formulate your own questions and answer them using a suite of digital tools that allow you to develop and present your argument through visualisation and narrative.

Note that this course does not involve any coding and does not require any previous technical knowledge.”

“””Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”” – Arthur C. Clarke

The question of whether we are alone in the universe is one of the most fundamental that humankind can ask. If we are truly alone, does this mean that we are in some way special? If there are other civilisations out there, do they look and think like us? Would we be able to recognise their signatures from space and communicate with them?

This unit introduces the astrophysical, biological and social factors that influence the probability of the emergence of long-lived, intelligent, technical civilisations. It explores the biological and technological signatures that might reveal advanced civilisations and the new instruments currently under development that will enable future searches.

If we are not alone, we consider dissemination strategies, legal issues associated with first ‘contact’, the construction of interstellar messages, and the implications for society and culture in terms of global politics, the world economy, theology, art, literature and science. The unit provides a comprehensive overview of the most recent developments on the search for life and intelligent civilisations, elsewhere in the Universe. It also discusses issues such as the sustainability of humankind and our own possible futures. Are the challenges we face the same that all long-lived technical civilisations must also face and overcome?

Note that this an online unit. Online units can help students to resolve timetable clashes between synchronous units.”

This course unit will examine some hard moral questions: Is it ever right to abort a foetus? Are we ever morally responsible for anything we do? Is it ever right to torture the innocent? Is morality relative to culture? By examining moral conundrums raised in applied ethics, normative ethics and metaethics, this course unit will provide an introduction to some central themes in moral philosophy.

The course aims to:

– introduce philosophical thinking about moral phenomena;
– present and clarify the basic terminology employed in exploring questions of morality;
– discuss some of the difficult issues raised in applied ethics.

“The course covers 4 key aspects to understanding global politics:

International Relations Theory
The course introduces students to key theoretical issues and debates that dominate International Relations (IR) such as ideas about the national interest, progress, international co-operation and cultural difference. Students engage with theory through case studies that integrate the other key aspects of IR. This provides a practical, discussion-based tutorial environment in which the complexities of global politics can be studied.


International History
This aspect of the course provides students with an historical context within which to locate current issues in global politics. Specifically focusing on international history since 1945, students will be required to think about how changing historical circumstances have both altered the agenda of the academic study of IR and affect current interpretations of events.

Security Studies
Security issues remain central to the study of global politics, especially in the context of the post-9/11 world. This aspect of the course introduces students to the study of security issues in IR. Engaging with this aspect, students are asked to consider how, and in what ways, security issues have changed since the end of the cold war.

International Political Economy
It is increasingly recognised that the study of international politics is about more than just the study of war and peace. International Political Economy (IPE) considers the linkages between politics and economics (or the state and the market) at the global level. As the course examines the economic aspects of global politics, students are introduced to the study of IPE focussing on the way in which an IPE perspective helps us to make sense of the debates surrounding ‘globalisation’.”

“This course explores philosophical issues about the nature of mind and mentality. Are mental states physical states of the brain, or are they states of an immaterial mind or soul, or are they something else altogether?

We will examine the chief metaphysical theories of the nature of mind: dualism, behaviourism, the identity theory, functionalism, and materialism or physicalism generally. Many, perhaps all, mental states are about or represent things in the world, such as our beliefs about Cleopatra. How do they do this? Is there some kind of mechanism that connects our beliefs about Cleopatra to that ancient Egyptian queen? More generally, can we explain mental representation physically or scientifically?

Many mental states are also conscious. But what is consciousness? Is consciousness physical? Can it be explained scientifically? What about thinking? Many of our thought processes are rational. Can we explain the rationality of thought?

We will explore the computational theory of mind, which purports to explain the rationality of thought physically by assuming the mind is a kind of computer, a computer that could in principle be realised synthetically as an artificial intelligence. We will also try to understand exactly what it means to say that the mind is physical or that mental states depend on physical states, such as brain states, and will try to determine whether the existence of physical-to-mental and mental-to-physical causation favours a physicalist view of mind.”

“This course introduces students to the institutions that form the criminal justice system (CJS) and explores key features and debates relating to each of them in historical, social and policy context.

Indicative content: (1) Introduction to the CJS ; (2) The police (3) Suspects’ rights; (4) Crown Prosecution Service; (5) The court system; (6) Sentencing; (7) Victims; (8) Prisons; (9) Probation; (10) Course summary and assessment support.

This course unit aims to (1) familiarise students with the history and structure of the core agencies of the criminal justice system (CJS) in England and Wales; (2) introduce students to different sources of information on relevant criminal justice issues; (3) give students a critical appreciation of how the CJS operates; (4) develop students’ autonomy and independence as learners.”