A clear path from readiness to research

Students learn how clinical research actually works: how trials are designed, how evidence is weighed, and why some findings hold while others fail to replicate. A foundational seminar for anyone considering medicine or the life sciences, building the critical literacy to read medical claims with a discerning eye.

An exploration of how the physical brain produces the mind. Students survey what neuroscience reveals about memory, emotion, perception and decision-making, and consider the open questions where the science is still being written. Accessible to students without a biology background.

Health is never purely medical. Students examine how policy, economics, environment and inequality shape who gets sick and who recovers — from pandemics to chronic disease to access to care. The seminar develops a population-level view of medicine and the systems that deliver it.

From gene editing to genetic screening, students explore the science of genetics alongside the ethical dilemmas it creates. What should we do with the power to read and rewrite the code of life? The seminar pairs scientific understanding with structured ethical reasoning.

Students examine how psychology explains human behaviour — how we form judgements, manage emotion, and make decisions that are often less rational than we assume. Drawing on landmark studies, the seminar builds insight into the mind that applies far beyond psychology itself.

Classical economics assumes rational actors; behavioural economics studies the real ones. Students explore the biases and heuristics that shape how people actually spend, save and choose, and how governments and businesses use these insights — for better and for worse.

Students examine how new ventures are born: spotting a real problem, testing an idea, and building something people want. The seminar looks honestly at failure as well as success, and develops the entrepreneurial habits of mind — initiative, resilience, and disciplined experimentation.

An introduction to how financial markets work, why they matter, and how risk ripples through a connected global economy. Students explore crashes and crises as case studies, building the literacy to understand the financial news rather than be mystified by it.

Students explore the psychology and strategy behind consumer markets: how brands are built, how attention is won, and how identity and culture shape what people value. A seminar that connects economics, psychology and the creative business of persuasion.

Students examine the tension at the heart of modern business: the pursuit of profit against responsibility to society and the planet. Through real cases, they weigh greenwashing against genuine change and ask what a sustainable economy would actually require.

Students explore the forces that shape relations between nations: power, ideology, economics and alliance. Using current and historical cases, the seminar develops a framework for understanding a turbulent world — and the analytical habits to read global events critically.

An introduction to legal reasoning and the role of law in society. Students examine how rights are defined and defended, how legal arguments are constructed, and the perennial tension between order, liberty and justice. Ideal preparation for the study of law or politics.

Students learn how policy is made — from evidence and competing interests to implementation and unintended consequences. The seminar develops the ability to analyse a social problem rigorously and to assess whether a proposed solution would actually work.

From treaties to wars to international institutions, students examine how the world attempts to govern itself in the absence of a world government. The seminar pairs the study of conflict with the study of cooperation — and the fragile structures that hold between them.

Students examine how political messages are crafted, spread and contested — from classical propaganda to social media. The seminar builds critical media literacy: the ability to recognise persuasion, identify manipulation, and reason clearly in a noisy information environment.

Students engage with central questions of philosophy — identity, freedom, meaning and the good life — through accessible readings and structured discussion. The seminar develops the core philosophical skills of careful reasoning, precise argument, and intellectual humility.

Students explore how literature engages with its historical and cultural moment, and how close reading reveals meaning beneath the surface. The seminar builds interpretive skill and the ability to write persuasively about texts and ideas.

History is not a list of facts but an argument about evidence. Students learn to interrogate sources, weigh competing interpretations, and construct their own historical arguments. The seminar develops research and reasoning skills that transfer across the humanities and social sciences.

Students examine how digital platforms have transformed the way culture is made, shared and consumed. From algorithms to influence to online identity, the seminar develops a critical understanding of the media environment students live inside every day.

As technology advances, the hardest questions become ethical rather than technical. Students examine dilemmas posed by AI, biotechnology, surveillance and automation, and learn to reason through them with structure and clarity rather than instinct alone.

Students learn to look closely and interpret meaning in visual art across periods and cultures. The seminar develops visual literacy and the ability to write analytically about images — skills that underpin study in art history, design and the wider humanities.

Design thinking is a disciplined approach to creativity. Students learn to understand users, frame problems, prototype solutions and iterate — a method that applies far beyond design itself, from products to services to social challenges.

Students explore how buildings and cities are designed, and how that design shapes community, behaviour and wellbeing. The seminar pairs aesthetic and technical questions with social ones: who cities are built for, and how they might be built better.

Students examine the language of film and the emerging grammar of interactive media and games. The seminar develops critical and creative understanding of how these forms work, how they move audiences, and how they are reshaping storytelling.

Students explore fashion as a cultural force and a global industry — how it expresses identity, reflects society, and operates as one of the world’s largest creative businesses. The seminar connects creative analysis with the commercial realities of the cultural industries.