New IIS Elective courses

Are you still looking for a fun elective, or are you just wondering what courses the IIS is offering? Then read on!

How does the coronavirus pandemic fit into the big picture?
The COVID-19 crisis shows us that plagues are clearly not ‘something from the past', and that infectious disease outbreaks continue to form a global threat. How did the world react to previous pandemics and which lessons can be learned for the future? The highly interdisciplinary course Pandemic tries to answer these questions by bringing together and connecting insights from a wide range of disciplines, from medicine to mathematics, evolutionary biology, various social and behavioural sciences, and more.

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Are we witnessing a new Cold War?
A phase with renewed currency and the frequent sparring of Russia with Western Europe and the United States has led many observers to conclude this. Yet Russia’s geopolitical performance is much more dynamic and complex. On the world stage, we see Russia turning to its old allies and major players, testing the contours of a new strategic and mutually beneficial geopolitical order outside the conceptual west. The interdisciplinary elective course Russian Geopolitics brings together expert perspectives on how Russia is testing geopolitical waters and is exploring new contours of cooperation and influence around the world. The course is 6 ECTS, will be taught in English and is open to second-year and third-year UvA Bachelor's students.

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Would you like to get a different perspective on what a sustainable society is, and how to get there?
As the last 50 years have not brought us closer to the Brundtland report's ambitions, but ever deeper towards a climate crisis, it is time to rethink our approach and consider systemic changes. The elective course Rethinking Sustainable Societies: New Perspectives takes another approach on sustainable development and looks at theories that take a different perspective on what a sustainable society is, or how to get there. This IIS-elective course is 6 ECTS, will be taught in English and is open to second-year and third-year UvA Bachelor's students.

Read more on their website.