History of Science and Medicine|Philosophy of Science|Politics|Public Policy|Sociology|Sociology of Science and Technology

This module offers an engaging introduction to history, philosophy, and social studies of science, including key concepts in science and technology studies,...

Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science (HPSC0009)

This module offers an engaging introduction to history, philosophy, and social studies of science, including key concepts in science and technology studies, public engagement with science, and science policy. Using contemporary scientific issues as its canvas, the focus of this module is to encourage students to develop their skills as interdisciplinary and publicly engaged scholars, working both in groups and individually. This module is intended as a foundation and sampler for later courses in science and technology studies.

The module focuses on the so-called ‘wicked issues’, social problems that are difficult or impossible to solve due to our limited knowledge,...

Governance in the Era of Global Complexity: Eurasia and Beyond (SESS0094)

The module focuses on the so-called ‘wicked issues’, social problems that are difficult or impossible to solve due to our limited knowledge, interconnected nature of these problems with other problems, and their unpredictable non-linear development trajectories. The module shows how the existing policies fail to address the complex nature of such challenges in Eurasia – that is, why despite substantial development aid, poverty has not been eradicated in the region? Why many Eurasian states failed to democratize in the past three decades? Why security remains the issue of primary concern despite existence of several regional security organisations and international efforts? Why the region is at risk of becoming a battlefield of regional and global actors (US, Russia, China, European Union)? To answer these questions, the module introduces complexity-thinking as an alternative frame to think about the world. The first part of the module includes four theoretical classes focusing on the basics of complexity-thinking, Anthropocene and resilience, and one methodological class discussing innovative research methods. The second part of the module applies the theoretical and methodological insights to the issues of development, security, democratization and cooperation and conflict in Eurasia. Each thematic class assesses the mainstream theories and approaches commonly used to address these wicked problems and try to approach them in a fundamentally different way drawing on the insights from complexity-thinking.