A key skill of a social scientist is to be able to assess the quality of evidence presented based on strong methodological foundations. We need to understand what constitutes evidence, including how it can be produced, agreed, disputed, disseminated and misrepresented. In the era of sharing ‘facts’ on social media and ‘fake news’ it is vital that an appreciation of how evidence and expert opinion is developed. Everybody can seem like an expert on social media, but the ability to examine and evaluate the statements made is a skill that can be developed. Expertise is learnt through a grounding in evidence and understanding which evidence is sound and which is not. All social science researchers need the ability to judge the quality of research, both for academic research and in the wider world. The module will follow on from the Semester 1 module ‘Understanding the Social World’ and explore issues around the generation and presentation of evidence. This will include assessing the quality of social science data, as well as further exploration of both qualitative and quantitative methods to obtain and analyse data. This module forms the basis to move to more detailed methodological training in future years of study.
This module provides a practical introduction to the theories and techniques of simulation. The approach taken is very broad and covers different forms of simulation, including discrete event simulation, system dynamics and agent-based modelling. The module focuses on practical applications of simulations in a variety of contexts, and students will gain expertise in simulation software.
This module introduces some advanced programming, simulation and design modelling frameworks and tools. Teaching activities are a combination of taught sessions, expanded self-study supported by the Professional Skills Hub and practical hands-on sessions in computer laboratories. The tools and techniques studied in this module are also used in the companion design module in practical hands on applications.
This module builds on the student’s core understanding of the structure of atoms and molecules to predict their behaviour using state-of-the art computational chemistry methods. This will involve learning how quantum chemistry methods can be used to study atoms and molecules and how classical mechanics methods can be used to simulate molecules and biomolecules. These two methodologies are related and we will explore their respective and mutual applications. Emphasis will be placed upon learning how to use these methods for real-life applications.
Simulation modelling plays an increasingly significant role across modern science and engineering, with the development of computational models becoming established practice in industry, consulting, and policy formulation. Computer scientists are often employed as modellers or software engineers to help in the model development & maintenance cycle. Therefore this is a current and future need for computer science graduates to have a grounding in both the philosophy of modelling in science and various modelling techniques. This module will familiarise students with general knowledge about the role of modelling in science (with a particular emphasis on computational modelling), will discuss the process of model development and best practice in various stages in the model development cycle. A second (and larger) part of the module will provide a broad survey of the central modelling paradigms. Throughout the module we will demonstrate how computer science techniques are used to develop models in the following domains: - Information networks - Design and management of infrastructure - Epidemics - Natural resource management - Computational economics - Collective robotics - Online trading systems - Climate and Earth system processes
This module will ensure that all students on the MSc Mobile Communications and Smart Networking programme have the skills and fundamental knowledge that is prerequisite to all the other modules in the programme. The focus will be on using Matlab as a simulation tool for implementing and characterising various wireless communication schemes.
In present-day Europe most of us consider religion a matter of personal choice and private conscience to the point that many are hardly religious at all and our society is increasingly secular. This module will explore how the opposite was largely true in the medieval West: orthodox religion was compulsory and affected all aspects of public and private life. The module will focus on sin, wrongdoing that violated religious norms, and how it was defined and disciplined. The module is wide-ranging and will cover such topics as sexual behaviour, violence (including warfare and murder) and heresy (religious dissent), and explore both the Church’s teachings on such issues and how these shaped social attitudes and behaviour. The module will draw on a rich variety of sources, including Dante’s Inferno and religious art.
Students will gain an understanding of the components and optical pathways used in core biological imaging systems which will enable them to efficiently operate advanced microscopes and to understand the theoretical concepts, capabilities and limitations of core biological imaging modalities and their associated techniques and applications. Lectures will be accompanied by practicals, some of which involve the use of animal tissue, with alternatives in place if required to meet minimum learning outcomes.
Skills in the molecular biosciences are rapidly developing. This course will prepare students for several common techniques, giving them a grounding in experimental design so that they can use these new skills in their current and future research career.
Student will acquire a foundation in the theory underpinning a range of biophysical techniques used to study structure and function of biomolecules. The students will have the opportunity to learn at a practical level how these techniques are employed, learning how to prepare relevant samples, conduct basic experiments, and the basics of the data analysis. The students will be expected to interpret the results in the context of the structural/biological significance.
This module explores themes and questions related to the many complex histories of slavery, abolitionism and emancipation. Slavery was once at the heart of the British colonial experience. By 1770, sugar-producing plantations worked by enslaved labourers from Africa had transformed the Caribbean, revolutionised British habits of consumption and lay at the centre Britain's lucrative colonial enterprise.
This module examines the slave systems of the British Empire and the processes by which these were dismantled. Enslaved people had always resisted slavery, but from the late eighteenth century, the system also came under attack from some within British society. By the 1830s, following mass campaigns, the system was discredited and in the process of being dismantled. For the remainder of the nineteenth century, anti-slavery was one of the mainstays of the British colonizing mission. This, however, was not the end of the slavery story: former slaves struggled to make freedom meaningful in the years after emancipation, and their descendants still endure racist barbs originally mobilised to oppress their ancestors.
The aim is to provide you with an overview and a broad understanding of methods of small area estimation, their motivation and applications.
This unit aims to offer students the opportunity to conduct a practically relevant, real-world small scale research project. Through small group supervision meetings trainees design a research project, and gain approval for their project from the University of Southampton Ethics and Research Governance Office and any Local Authority ethics committee as required. Following ethical approval, trainees then gain valuable experience conducting research, collecting and analysing data, and writing up the findings in an academic style at doctoral level. Trainees are encouraged to develop a research question and implement a project that generates new knowledge in a specific area in the field of educational psychology and serves to extend the discipline. Publication in academic or practice journals is encouraged and well supported by research staff (See PSYC8039 Dissemination and User Engagement Module). There is a focus in this module, where possible, on research with underrepresented groups and active engagement of service users.
Humans are adapted to be highly social. We interact with a number of other people everyday, and successful social interactions depend on the ability to infer other's mental and emotional state from limited cues. Social and affective neuroscience applies the methods traditionally used in neuroscience (e.g., neuroimaging, brain-stimulation methods such as fMRI, EEG, TMS) to better understand neural and psychological mechanisms underlying human social behaviours. This module will address from a cognitive neuroscience perspective a range of research questions relating to human social and emotional behaviour including social reward and punishment processing, prejudice & stereotype, and the abilities to experience empathy and to understand other people's intentions.
Social neuroscience supposes that all human behaviour is in some way biological based and proposes that the best way to understand complex social behaviour is through the integration of social and biological approaches. Accordingly, this module will focus on how biological approaches aid in our understanding of complex social processes (e.g., theory of mind, emotion, stereotype & prejudice, aggression). Research discussed in this course will typically utilize the following biological approaches: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), Electroencephalography (EEG), Event-related potentials (ERPs), Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).
This module is designed to enable and encourage students to apply social psychological and related methods and theories to various aspects of sexual health, including both psychological and physical aspects.
This module will help you to develop graduate attributes, including: - academic attributes – ability to critically appraise knowledge claims based on qualitative and quantitative methods; and - communication skills – ability to communicate research designs and findings, using evidence to illustrate and develop an argument. This module will help you develop the following employability skills: - team working - respecting others, co-operating, negotiating, contributing to discussions, and awareness of interdependence with others; - communication and literacy – application of literacy, ability to produce clear, structured written work and oral literacy – including listening and questioning; - problem solving– analysing facts, opinions, values and situations and applying creative thinking to develop appropriate solutions; and - application of information technology – basic IT skills, including familiarity with word processing, presentation programmes, file management and use of internet search engines.
