Non award bearing

The ‘Liberal World Order’, under which we have lived for the past 30 years, has marked a remarkable period of calm in the evolution of international relations. Preceding it was a Machiavellian and Westphalian world in which sovereign states competed ruthlessly for power, and regularly went to war.

The bankruptcy of this system was made appallingly apparent by the linked calamities of the First and Second World Wars. This led directly to efforts – Woodrow Wilson’s 14 Points, The League of Nations, the UN – to introduce an approach to international order based more on rules and institutions and less on force. Those efforts seemed to reach fulfilment with the end of the Cold War. We have since seen the total military dominance of the United States, the spread of democracy, expanded international attention to breaches of human rights, rapid economic globalisation, and fast growing recourse to international law and institutions as the means to manage problems between states – in short the so called ‘Liberal World Order’.

But within the past decade that system has come under increasing strain. Both China and Russia have shown themselves ready to challenge US dominance. The rise of China in particular threatens a resurrection of great power competition in very much its old Cold War form. Meanwhile the rise of Islamism in the Middle East, and the chaos it has brought, have underlined the inability of the US and other powers to maintain global order and standards. Finally, the linchpin of the system, the US itself, is showing growing signs of unwillingness to continue in the role of ‘Global Policeman’ which has held the whole system together.

We look at this history, current trends, and ask whether we may be heading back towards a Machiavellian world.

Learning outcomes

1. An understanding of what the ‘Liberal World Order’ is, and how it evolved;
2. An understanding of the threats it now faces;
3. Some insight into the developments to look out for over the next few years.

This course is a wide-ranging look at evolution and the history of life, using evidence from the fossil record. Fossils may form in a variety of ways and sometimes soft tissues can be preserved in surprising detail. Exciting finds continue to be made, and new methods of investigation, such as the use of medical imaging techniques, can reveal aspects of ancient life previously unavailable. We will see how fossils and the rocks that contain them can be used to reconstruct not only the organisms themselves but the environments they lived in, and how these changed through time.

One of the sessions will cover natural selection, a process crucial to understanding biological evolution and we will discuss how new species originate.

The course will provide you with an overview of major events in the history of life, such as the Cambrian Explosion, when many different groups of animals make their first appearance in the fossil record about 540 million years ago. Another aspect covered will be mass extinctions and their causes. For example, did a meteorite really wipe out the dinosaurs, ammonites and many other groups at the end of the Cretaceous Period, 65 million years ago?

There will be a chance to study some real fossils on display in the teaching room, and questions will be encouraged throughout. We will finish by briefly discussing current threats to biodiversity and how life might evolve in the future.

Learning outcomes

1. To gain an understanding of how fossils are formed, and how evidence from fossils and the rocks containing them can be used to reconstruct ancient organisms and the environments they lived in;
2. To be able to explain some important evolutionary concepts, such as natural selection, speciation and extinction;
3. To give an outline of major events in the history of life, including mass extinctions and evolutionary radiations.

Money as the mechanism for exchanging value from one form to another, is an everyday essential for practically all the world’s citizens, whether you live in a remote part of a large undeveloped country or in the centre of an urban metropolis. Money in this sense has many forms from simple barter through to digital contactless transfers.

Most commentators reflect on the recent, and often disruptive, changes in the form and use of money but most also agree that we are only at the start of the next revolution where the representation of money will have fewer and fewer physical attributes and will be more closely linked to the source of value as it was originally.

This seminar series reviews a few key areas of interest:

1. History – this section starts with the development of money from its early stages and tracks its development up until the common usage we see today. Looking at the history sets money in context and allows us to focus on the driving principles around the use of money.
2. The end of cash – this section looks at the social, technical and cultural impacts that the removal of cash will have on people around the world. What impact will it have on crime, on confidence, on secrecy and ultimately on those on the wrong side of the digital divide?
3. Open banking – This section looks at the rise of technologies like AI and blockchain and how when linked to the opening of regulations around banking they are set to drive a whole new set of products, technologies and challenges. These innovations should enable our needs to be predicted, affordability checked, and savings optimised. What and who will we trust?
4. Currency and international trade – This section looks at the impact of new attitudes and technologies on the nature of international trade and the role of currencies in exchanging value across borders. The rise of Monzo, Revolut and others has removed barriers for many but how will countries cope without managing money at a national level?
5. Identity and value – This section looks at the most controversial issues for the future of money, specifically how do we identify ourselves when trading and how are we linked to our sources of value. When the ancients traded meat for fur the value exchange was clear and tangible. What happens when I use my fingerprint or simply my thoughts to trade?

Learning outcomes

1. Understanding of the principles that underpin any system of value transfer;
2. Developing a view of the potential societal changes that will either occur or will be enforced;
3. How do we determine the value of an individual and link that value to a transaction?

The prefix “nano” originates from the Greek word “νάνος” (nános), which means “dwarf”. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter, or 10-9 m. The physical, chemical and biological properties of matter, such as gases, liquids and solids, are often size dependent. This means that a material at the nanoscale can have different strength, colour, heat or electric conductivity, chemical reactivity, magnetic or optical properties, compared to other forms or sizes of the same material. Most importantly, scientists and engineers can tailor and control matter at the nanometer scale (ie at the level of atoms and molecules) to achieve specific properties.

It is, therefore, not surprising that nanomaterials can already be found in many everyday commercial products, including but not limited to computers, mobile phones, fabrics, cars, airplanes, baseball bats, solar panels, stain removers, food items, and so on. Given that the functional components of living cells are inherently in the nanoscale range, it was inevitable for nanotechnology to be applied to study, control or influence biological processes. In particular, nanomedicine aims to find solutions to address medical problems.

This seminar will give you an overview of a variety of nanosized materials with different chemical compositions (eg transition metals, polymers, lipids, peptides, DNA) and their applications in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of diseases.

In addition, we will review several nanotechnology-based materials used for environmental remediation. The safety and impact of nanoparticles in the environment and possible adverse effects on human health and, particularly, on workers exposed throughout the product life cycle will also be considered and debated.  

Learning outcomes

1. Understanding the concept of “nanomaterial” and how the properties of materials change at the nanometer scale;
2. Recognising the impact of nanomaterials in the medical field, including in the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of life-threatening diseases;
3. Having an overview of the environmental applications of nanobiotechnology;
4. Being aware of the challenges and prospects of nanomedicine and the potential short- and long-term environmental and health implications of nanomaterials.

That we should value our environment can be assumed. But why we value it is less obvious. Is the environment valuable only for what it gives us humans? Or does the environment have a value that transcends (even whilst it includes) human beings? Questions such as these have gained some urgency in recent years, and there is a new impetus to finding out what it is we value about our environment and why, but these questions are not new. 400 years ago Francis Bacon (1561–1626) declared that his “only earthly wish” was “to stretch the deplorably narrow limits of man's dominion over the universe” by putting nature “on the rack”. Whilst Bacon qualified this statement almost immediately, the sentiment he expresses is one that typifies much of the modern era. Certainly, it signifies a break from more classical notions of reflecting, in one’s own life, the order one finds in nature. Similar clashes have happened throughout history—the Europeans who purchased the New World from inhabitants who had no concept of owning land—and some are ongoing—the Amazon rainforest serves as the “lungs of the world” but the region also serves disparate local interests.

During this seminar we will explore both sides—the instrumentalist and the non-instrumentalist—of the environmentalist debate. We will begin with an open question namely, “What are we trying to protect?” This is important because we often hear that someone wants to “save the planet” when, in actual fact, it is society, or the economy that they are seeking to preserve. Even more troublesome is the fact that, in preserving the human race “as we are”, we prevent evolution. This raises a much deeper question: namely whether or not human society is compatible with nature. From here, we will consider to what extent ethical theories support one side of the debate or the other: Can we only think in human terms or can we acknowledge a value beyond what benefits us? We will end by considering two ways in which theory can be put into practice—firstly, by rooting the ethical theory in our ways of acting and, secondly, by foregoing theoretical certainty in favour of action.

Learning outcomes

1. To understand and make use of philosophical techniques;
2. To gain an understanding of different ethical (and aesthetical) theories; and
3. To better appreciate what is at stake in a variety of ethical debates, including inter alia animal rights, environmentalism and intrinsic/artistic value.

This course will introduce you to the multi-disciplinary confluence of materials, engineering, history, biology, and ergonomics to enable creative inter-disciplinary design of more sustainable products. Taking a journey through the interconnected history and evolution of materials with our natural and built environments, we will begin by identifying various classes of ancient and advanced engineering materials, their enabling properties and end-use in products. Through this journey, we will explore how materials have shaped our diverse society as well as how society has shaped materials-based technologies.

Considering the life-cycle of a material, we examine and assess how and how much a product impacts our natural environment, and what design choices we can make to reduce impact. We will also look at how biology generates solutions, and how through philosophies of biomimetics we may learn from Nature. We then delve deeper into our materials world and by focusing on classes of materials, reflect on how advancements in materials and materials-related technologies have led to unique opportunities – think timber for skyscrapers - and presented new challenges – think the ocean plastic problem. On this course we will explore natural materials, plastics, building materials (concrete, earth, brick), metals, ceramics, glasses and composites. It will be taught through a combination of discursive lectures, hands-on activities and design exercises in inter-disciplinary groups, and flipped lectures.

Learning outcomes

1. Awareness of the impact of materials on our environment, and carrying-out an assessment of material (and product) life cycles to inform design choices.
2. Appreciation of the interrelated nature of materials engineering and society (including cultural and historical contexts), and reflection on how technological advancements lead to new solutions and new challenges.
3. Applying critical and creative thinking in solving problems with the multi-/inter-disciplinary confluence of materials, engineering, and design.