Decolonise the Future!

How should we, as global citizens, face the long-lasting legacies of empire and colonialism in the present day? How can we deconstruct the ways such pasts have long been remembered, framed and justified through colonial lenses and within structures of power, institutions and hierarchies?

In short: how can we decolonise our societies and work towards a better, more equal future?

In this unit you will:

• Learn about the history, theory and practice of decolonisation through specialised study of examples and case studies
• Consider key themes which may include decolonising history, heritage, public history and museums, decolonising universities, curricula and education, decolonising environmental activism, art and art history, literature and public spaces
• Develop a proposal to decolonise a topic or example of your choice

 

Science of Happiness

Learn about the science behind what makes people happy in a unique course that combines weekly lectures with weekly small group meetings mentored by senior students. The Science of Happiness course forms a key component of the University of Bristol’s integrated whole-institution approach to supporting student wellbeing. No background in science is required as the lectures are easily accessible, but students will be expected to fully engage with the unit in order to earn the 20 credit points, as there is no final examination other than a final piece of coursework.

You will:

• Learn what happiness is and what scientific evidence there is that it can be changed for the better
• Understand how the brain distorts information that contributes to unhappiness
• Discover what activities you can engage in that contribute to increasing happiness and mental well-being 

 

Creative Futures: tools for changing the world

In order to innovate in any field, from healthcare to engineering, education to the arts, we work, consciously or not, towards ideas of better futures. But better for whom? Whose ideas are those? Where do visions of the future come from? Futures are not homogeneous, equal, or universal.

In this unit you will;

• Explore the current field of futures from radically different perspectives
• Use your creativity (no previous training needed!) to respond to the discussions, experimenting with different creative tools each week
• Explore how creative methods can drive innovation that considers the planet, communities and people
• Learn techniques, skills and tools that you will be able to apply to any degree program

The course is delivered by The Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship with access to prototyping workshops and relevant resources.

 

City Futures: migration, citizenship and planetary change 

Participate in exploring cities as sites of changing trends in how communities live and organise themselves, especially in contemporary moments of rapid geo-political and climate change. 

Looking at both specific instances of regional migrations to cities and at global trends in migration to urban spaces over the last two hundred years, the course will explore: 

• How urban spaces shape our ideas of citizenship and belonging 
• How a rapidly changing planet is shifting our conceptions of what constitutes a city 
• How we construct cities, who lives in them, how we define their boundaries, as well how we imagine cities and our relationship as a species to them 

 

Sustainable Development 

Gain an insight into the concepts behind the challenges of Sustainable Development and learn how different disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches can be used to provide insight and ways forward.  

The challenges covered are presented under five broad headings: Science; Economics and Legal Institutions; Politics and Justice; Individual and Organisational Behaviour Change; Engineering and Innovation. 

You will: 

• Develop a broad understanding of the challenges of sustainable development 
• Gain a more in-depth insight of the challenges captured in the UN Sustainable Development Goals  
• Learn how to work in an interdisciplinary team to analyse and critically evaluate challenges and potential ways forward  

 

Understanding Global Problems using data: inequality, climate change and the economy

This course will help students to understand, analyse, present and communicate data related to the following broad themes:

• Sustainability and climate change and the problem of global cooperation 
• Inequality, institutions and policy 
• The causes and effects of innovation, such as growth and instability 

The course is based around practical work using global economic data and it introduces you to some basic economic ideas with an emphasis on models that are applied and policy-oriented. The course has been created specifically for students who are not economics specialists and it does not require any previous knowledge of data methods or economics.

Participating in this course will:

• Help you to understand data and basic statistics so that you can make sense of current arguments related to economic and social policy
• Develop confidence in the formulation of well-evidenced and articulate contributions to debates on the policy responses to the major challenges of inequality, innovation and sustainability 
• Develop basic theoretical frameworks and tools that are used in modern economics to understand the economy, including game theory, asymmetric information and incomplete contracts