T2G: Sciences

Biotechnology - or the set of tools we use to examine biological mechanisms at a molecular scale - underpins much of modern research regardless of organism. Once you've frozen a sample and extracted the DNA, the handling procedures are pretty much all the same! A good understanding of biotechnological processes will therefore equip you to work in a huge range of fields, and you can specialise into the peculiarities of working with individual organisms as you go. 
 
On this course, you'll learn about the range of biotechnologies that have helped us reach our current scientific capability. Some have been superseded by cheaper, faster, more effective equivalents, while some are so efficient that they're still in use today. Each will have its good points and bad points, often incorporating an element of ethical thinking. 

Elective tutor: Dr Scott Ramsay 

Scott is Deputy Head of SLD, managing the team of Effective Learning Advisers and PhD Tutors who work with students in the Colleges of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, Science & Engineering, and who provide Maths and Stats support to all UG and PGT students at the University of Glasgow. Scott's PhD is in the molecular biology of heat tolerance, so he has broad experience working with various techniques in the modern lab. Scott has taught for many years in subjects across medical and biological sciences, and also worked on secondment as the University’s Good Practice Adviser for several years. 

Scott has co-authored two scientific textbooks: Writing for Science Students, and Writing a Science PhD (both with Dr Jennifer Boyle).

Introduction to R Studio will introduce students to one of the most widely used open-source statistical environments.  We will learn how to create various objects in this environment such as vectors, matrices, data frames, and statistical models.  We will also cover the various graphing capabilities offered by various packages.  I trust students will be impressed when they see how much information can be drawn from a bit of data.

Elective tutor: Dr George Vazanellis

George is the Statistics Adviser for SLD with degrees in physics, mathematics, and statistics.

Prime numbers are the building blocks of our number system and have fascinated mathematicians since the time of the Ancient Greeks. For centuries they were considered simply a curiosity, until the arrival of computers made them fundamental to our online security. 

This course will use prime numbers to introduce students to some of the many interesting facets of mathematics which often aren’t covered in the school curriculum. These include proof writing, clock arithmetic and its applications, the blurred line between pure and applied mathematics and a discussion of some mathematical mysteries still yet to be solved. 

Elective tutor: Dr Jenny August

Jenny is the Maths Adviser working in SLD, which involves providing maths support to all UG and PGT students at the University of Glasgow. She has a PhD in mathematics centred on the relationship between algebra and geometry and until recently, was working abroad in Denmark and Germany as a mathematical researcher.  

Have you ever had an imaginary argument with your Nemesis in the shower or come up with the perfect response to a point after the debate has finished? This elective will teach you some of the ways in which we build up effective, powerful arguments. We’ll do this by looking at Classical and modern models of rhetoric, and then applying these models to various important texts through time.  

You’ll get the opportunity to learn about topics ranging from the American Declaration of Independence and the Indians of All Tribes Proclamation at Alcatraz in San Francisco to one of the most important books on gender/sex relations and how modern politicians frame arguments to win/lose points (think: Donald Trump and Boris Johnson). 

Argumentation is all around us and is an art form. This elective will allow you to learn from the best – and go on to debate and argue with the best!  

Elective tutor: Dr Mona O'Brien

Mona O’Brien is one of the Effective Learning Advisers for International Students, working in SLD. She works with students in all four colleges, supporting them in transitioning to study at the University of Glasgow, understanding the academic context and expectations, and building key skills for academic success. Mona has a PhD in History, and her research investigates the relationships between the medical, social, and legal responses to illness and disease in Germany from the late Middle Ages until the eve of the Enlightenment.

This course is an introduction to abstract algebra, which will focus on a very simple type of mathematical object called a 'magma'. Students will develop their understanding of sets, functions, and operations, and apply this to a variety of examples.

Elective tutor: Dr James Rowe

James is the Effective Learning Adviser for the College of Science and Engineering, working within Student Learning Development (SLD). He has a PhD from the University of Glasgow, specialising in Category Theory and Algebraic Geometry.

The world is increasingly facing various environmental challenges: plastic pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, among others. How do we make sense of such challenges? In turn, how are various solutions constructed and for whose benefit?

At the centre of such challenges are cities or the development of urban areas. In this elective course, you will be introduced to the geographies of urban environments. After taking this course, you will begin to critically approach urban environmental challenges and suggested solutions and be aware of power, space and time dynamics influencing environmental management. 

Elective tutor: Josephine Zimba

Josephine is a PhD researcher in urban environmental geography. Her PhD research unravels the governance of urban resilience and flood risk management in Malawi’s cities bringing to the fore how various actors advance specific strategies to managing flood risks for their benefit. However, overall, her research interests are mainly around climate change science and its politics, environmental and natural resources justice and sustainability. 

In order to survive, animals need air, food, water, and shelter; they also need to avoid becoming another animal’s food. The selective pressure of predation has resulted in the evolution of an incredibly diverse range of antipredator adaptations across the animal kingdom. The phenomenon of predation and the portfolio of defences prey species utilise to evade it are of great ecological and evolutionary significance. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of behavioural ecology, the predation sequence framework, and a range of fascinating antipredator behaviours observable in prey species. By focussing on behavioural defences specifically, the course will explore how use of defences can be context-sensitive, varying depending on factors relating to the predator, the prey, and/or the environmental conditions.

Through focused exploration of antipredator behaviours, and the trade-offs involved in their use, you will be provided with the opportunity to exercise your intellectual curiosity and develop essential scientific skills such as: defining key terms, literature research, critical engagement, and group discussion.

Elective tutor: Dr Rosalind McKenna

Rosalind is the Effective Learning Adviser for the College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences (MVLS). Rosalind’s PhD investigated predator-prey behavioural interactions on plants, with a focus on aphid dropping defence and ladybird search strategies. She has published review and original research papers on a variety of behavioural ecology topics. Rosalind has also co-authored the book Presenting Scientific Data in R, aimed primarily at undergraduate bioscience students.

How does the language we use hold the power to change the way we see the world? Does talking about cancer as a ‘battle’ impact our experience of the disease? How can a scientific article manifest as click-bait in the media? What has Ancient Greece got to do with how world leaders respond to the pandemic? Does it matter if a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit? These are just some of the important questions we will be tackling during this course. We will be considering the power of language across five key areas – Science, Health, Politics, News Media, and Law – and in each class we will consider a different aspect of English Language & Linguistics in these spheres, for example, examining the impact of metaphors on discussions of ‘Health’. After taking this course, you will begin to think twice about the language you encounter daily and become more aware of the influence that even a single word can have. While it can be difficult to resist the pervasive pull of language, this course will enable you to encounter language from a deeper perspective and interrogate how, why, and where we use the power of language.  

Course tutor: Amber Hinde

Amber is one of the Effective Learning Advisers for International Students within SLD, and a PhD researcher in English Language & Linguistics, exploring the rhetoric of health and wellness in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain. Amber spend lots of her time in archives getting excited about old bread advertisements and menus for vegetarian restaurants. When she's not busy researching and teaching, she's usually lost in a good book or on a long walk with her Japanese Shiba Inu puppy, who is aptly named Meeko after the cheeky raccoon in Pocahontas!

Science is often thought of as an objective search for the measurable truths of our world, but do we all agree on how those truths should (or could) be measured?

This course looks briefly at a variety of the beliefs that underpin the modern scientific method. We'll discover what rationalism and empiricism are, the difference between induction and deduction, and why scientists are so hung up on the core ideas of replication and falsification

Elective tutor: Dr Scott Ramsay 

Scott is Deputy Head of SLD, managing the team of Effective Learning Advisers and PhD Tutors who work with students in the Colleges of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, Science & Engineering, and who provide Maths and Stats support to all UG and PGT students at the University of Glasgow. Scott's PhD is in the molecular biology of heat tolerance, so he has broad experience working with various techniques in the modern lab. Scott has taught for many years in subjects across medical and biological sciences, and also worked on secondment as the University’s Good Practice Adviser for several years. 

Scott has co-authored two scientific textbooks: Writing for Science Students, and Writing a Science PhD (both with Dr Jennifer Boyle).

This course is spread over 4,000 years of human history, and challenges us to question our assumptions of the world, of each other, and of our popular culture. We investigate how maps are designed to dominate populations through the assumptions they imbue within us, but we also look at how maps have the power to cure diseases, win elections, and create fictional worlds. The course is open to students from all disciplines, and you’re invited to bring your own knowledge and experience with you.

Elective tutor: Rohit Rao

Rohit is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.

500,000 people in the UK volunteered to contribute to science in a big way. Extensive medical data, including their genetic information to what they ate in a day was collected, was anonymised and maintained to allow for a better understanding of prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various disease. But what does that look like in practice? It starts with a topic and a question. The topic: the impact of mental ill-health on the human body using data science. The question... join the course to find out!

In this T2G course, together we will explore what it's like to be a scientist without a lab, how using large datasets like UK Biobank gives us insight into disease etiology (or origins), and the current information when it comes to people living with mental illness and the leading cause of death in people with mental illness: cardiovascular disease. Within this course will enable you to think critically about health science, how to review and consolidate information about a topic of interest (reviewing literature and hypothesis formation), discussion and communication, all while considering a new perspective of how we view mental and physical health.

Elective tutor: Madeleine Hayman

Madeleine is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.

In this course we will be exploring the rollercoaster ride of drug discovery from historical medical breakthroughs to recent triumphs such as the COVID-19 vaccine.

This course will introduce students to the drug discovery process and investigate some of the most important drug discoveries of our time. The course will also look at how we have developed drugs from plants and other natural products, discovered antibiotics and vaccines, and what technologies and diseases may influence the future of drug discovery. Importantly, we will also investigate some drug development tragedies we have faced over the years and discuss how we have learned from them. 

Elective tutor: Alina Zorn

Alina is a Graduate Teaching Assistant within Student Learning Development.

Rehabilitation is an important area of health in this era. The World Health Organization has highlighted how an increase in ageing populations and several health problems make it an important health concern in the 21st century.

In this course, you will learn more about generic rehabilitation, gain a bit more knowledge in the sub-field of neurorehabilitation, and have a go at proposing solutions to some of the challenges in this area. You might be surprised to find out you can ideate out-of-the-box solutions for some of these!

Elective tutor: Lydia Jilantikiri

Lydia is a PhD researcher in Biomedical Engineering. Her research is about developing a system that uses virtual reality for arm rehabilitation. She has some years’ experience working in academia, and enjoys teaching and mentoring. 

Dive into the world of programming in this course which will guide you from the basics of programming all the way to building a machine learning model. You will start with hands-on programming in Python as we learn to go from concept to code. You will learn about effective coding practices and get a glimpse of the kind of coding that lies before you at the University and beyond. Course requirements: a computer, a web-browser and the curiosity to learn to code. No prior experience necessary.

Course tutor: Amey Anil Noolkar

Amey is a Graduate Teaching Assistant with SLD.