During the Game Development modules, you will build on a Semester 1 game design pitch to create a prototype that deeply explores your game concept. This interactive prototype will showcase a high level of gameplay and provide a solid proof of concept, addressing complex components such as the game loop and the most challenging aspects of the game design.
This module will introduce students to the key elements of the gastrointestinal system from development through to clinical (patho)physiology. The module will focus on the anatomy and physiology of the normal GI system and investigate the common mechanisms of disease and appropriate treatments. Further details will be provided on Blackboard.
The module will introduce perspectives on gender drawn from social theory, and explore contemporary debates about gender and society.
How can we understand the role of gender in political systems? Why is it important to acknowledge the intersections of gender with race, class, sexuality and disability? What can/should be done about male over-representation in legislatures worldwide? Why are women still missing from many of our highest offices? What is the role of masculinity in campaign rhetoric? Can conservative politicians claim to be feminist? This module considers these questions and more. It analyses the link between gender, power and representation in politics. The issues of gender gaps in voting patterns and political participation are explored alongside questions of female representation, women’s paths to executive office, and questions of intersectionality. Students will gain an understanding of how inequalities based on gender, race, class and sexuality influence our politics and learn the tools to undertake gendered critiques and analyses of politics.
This module explores the relationship between gender, sexuality, space and place. We will examine how the spaces we occupy are never empty or neutral, but are imbued with history, identity and meaning. Why are certain bodies understood as ‘naturally’ entitled to certain spaces, whereas others are excluded and positioned as ‘out of place’? Why are certain spaces seen as ‘masculine’ and others ‘feminine’? The module explores how processes of ‘spatial purification’ have sought to maintain rigid ideas about ‘appropriate’ gendered identities and sexualities which have historically resulted in the exclusion of certain groups such as LGBT communities and sex workers. We will also examine other ways in which gender and sexuality are implicated in processes of spatial exclusion through instances of ‘everyday sexism’ and ‘everyday homophobia’. The module also examines how the reclamation of space has been a vital tool in campaigns for gendered and sexual justice— such as ‘take back the night’ marches and the Stonewall riots. The module stresses the importance of intersectionality when thinking about the relation between identity, embodiment and place, highlighting the complex interplay of sexism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, classism and ableism. Throughout the module we will explore a number of key questions, such as: how has domestic space traditionally been designed for the nuclear family? How do cities shape our sexual lives? What would a non-sexist city look like? How can spaces be designed to be more inclusive of non-binary genders? Through grounded real-world case studies, the module shows that space matters in both historical and contemporary understandings of gender and sexuality.
This module aims to introduce students to a wide range of statistical models grouped by the unifying theory of generalized linear models: linear, logistic, multinomial, cumulative ordinal and Poisson regression, as well as log-linear models are presented, with emphasis on the underpinning theory and practical examples. Students are also exposed to the basic foundations of estimation for GLMs.
In this module you will explore Generative AI, the recent advance in AI system capability that produces text, images, video, audio or software code in response to a user’s prompting. The module explains some of the novel techniques used in this form of AI (e.g. large language models, transformers, attention) and gives you the opportunity to use generative AI to solve specific problems with hands-on experience of deployment through training large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering and fine tuning. Students will develop a responsible AI perspective by examining the problems, limitations , economic and human costs of these technologies in terms of hallucinations, energy consumption, intellectual property violations, the social impact on labour markets and challenges to the cultural sector. The module will also address the claims made by technology leaders concerning the future evolution of Generative AI chat-bots into Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), and the so-called “existential” risks of AI.
This module is only compulsory for the MSc Genomics (Informatics) pathway, and optional for other pathways. This module will allow students to develop skills in analysis of data generated by different omic technologies, particularly giving experience in the analysis of transcriptomic and cancer genomic data using command line tools.
This module explores the state-of-the-art genomics techniques used for DNA sequencing (e.g. targeted approaches, whole exome and whole genome sequencing) and RNA sequencing, together with current technologies routinely used to investigate genomic variation in both clinical and research settings. The module will cover the fundamental principles of informatics and bioinformatics applied to genomics. The students will be taught to find and use major genomic and genetic data resources; use software packages, in silico tools, databases and literature searches. Specifically, students will learn to align sequence data to the reference genome, critically assess, annotate and interpret findings from genetic and genomic analyses. Theoretical sessions will be coupled with practical assignments of analysing and annotating predefined data sets. A comprehensive introduction to the functional interpretation of genomic data will be included. Students will also learn about the strategies employed to evaluate pathogenicity of variants for reporting and acquire the skills to analyse genomic data in a graphical user interface (GUI).
The dissertation module provides a context within which research skills can be developed. It provides the opportunity to apply and demonstrate the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the taught component of the MSc programme. The dissertation is a hypothesis-driven small-scale empirical research project involving quantitative or qualitative research methods and may be laboratory based, data analysis/bioinformatics or a systematic literature review. Students are supported to identify a project and supervisors aligned to their interests. Dissertation projects are undertaken over a period of approximately 4 months (full-time students) or 10 months (part-time students), with submission in late September.
This module puts genomics into practice, with a focus on the interpretation of genomic data in a clinical context. The module covers the synthesis of genomic information, and aligned research skills. The skills developed in this module will support the development of the research project within the dissertation module.
This module will introduce the fundamental chemical processes that operate within the Earth and Ocean system. You will learn about the origin, distribution and abundance of chemical elements in the Earth and Ocean. Via lectures, in-class exercises and practicals, we will introduce fundamental geochemical principles and explain how elements cycle through the Earth and Ocean. Practicals will be delivered within the Centre for Earth Research and Analysis Southampton (CERAS), a world-class facility for the chemical and isotopic analysis of natural and anthropogenic materials. We will introduce different isotope systems (including radiogenic and stable isotopes) and relate these to exciting real-world practical examples. By the end of this module, you will have developed a holistic and quantitative understanding of geochemical cycles in the Earth and Ocean system and how these interact in a diverse range of past, present and future environments.
The module will introduce the concepts and techniques underpinning geographic information systems.
This is a Module not about learning new facts or figures, or necessarily huge swathes of substantive knowledge about food consumption and food production (a dominant theme). Rather it invites you to develop a repertoire of theories and concepts to think critically about your own ideas, practices in relation to environmental citizenship, what you eat, how you relate to the natural world, who we are as humans in what has been named as the ‘anthropocene’ and the era of the ‘post-human’. These different areas of interest are connected by how they position societies relationship to, the naming of and production of what is unproblematically often called ‘nature, Nature or natural’.
The module will explore risk, hazard, exposure, vulnerability, resilience, and sustainability, all in the context of climate change: how these concepts relate to the Earth's physical and ecological systems, and to cultural and socio-economic structures of different societies. Case studies, presented by experts in their fields of human and physical geography, will illustrate how understanding interactions and feedbacks between human and physical systems might help societies mitigate and/or adapt to environmental hazard and risks of this dangerous world.
