Summer Term Programs in Barcelona, Spain

The main aim of this course is to delve into the processes of influence of advertising messages and the effects that the comercial discourse produce in society. In this sense, the main focus will be on the analysis and understanding of the impact that advertising has in specific audiences. In order to do so, elements such as memory, persuasion and attitudes towards audiovisual advertisements will be analyzed. The course explores different target audiences and the strategies of the advertising discourse. Theoretical sessions will be combined with practical ones, aimed at analyzing and creating publicity campaigns departing from the reflection and criticism of the topics discussed in class. Taught in English

The goal of this course is to introduce biology students to the mathematical modeling of living processes from a systems perspective. According to this perspective, biological processes emerge from the interaction between different elements, be them genes and proteins in the case of cellular processes; cells in the case of tissues; organs in the case of organisms and organisms in the case of ecosystems. We will learn how to represent these interactions mathematically, how to simulate them in a computer, and how to generate predictions that can be compared with reality. Taught in English

Why do low-income countries, regions and neighborhoods have a much lower life expectancy than high-income areas? Why less favored social groups have worse health than better-off groups? Why some populations enjoy better health than others? What can be done to improve this situation? According to the hegemonic biomedical approach, the main reasons for the production of health are biology and genetics, unhealthy life-styles, and deficiencies in the access and use of health services. Available knowledge, however, shows that other factors play a significant role. Firstly, political and social determinants (e.g., power relations, social policies, poverty, work, housing, etc.) have a larger effect on health, and quality of life. And secondly, these determinants are strongly related to axes of inequality such as social class, gender, ethnic origin, migration status and territory. Using a transdisciplinary integrated approach, this course introduces the student to the characteristics, causes, and potential solutions of health inequalities, which is a key indicator of justice and quality of life. Taught in English. Taught in Spanish

Science and art are rooted in our perception of the world. The course is aimed at exploring the biology of perception and its implications on how we experience works of art. It is a discussion on beauty and the brain, a discussion on the history of breakthroughs in painting and on the nature of the irresistible attraction of music for humans. The course starts with a general overview of how our senses build up a representation of the world, with particular reference to the visual and auditory systems. We shall discuss the biology underlying great painters’ achievement of the conquest of space and movement on a canvas. Then we do a parallel exercise with music, looking at the biological and evolutionary roots. Taught in English

The year 2016 marks 2400 years since the birth of Aristotle, perhaps the greatest philosopher of all time. The course will deal with the evolution of Philosophy (mainly the analytical Philosophy) during the XX century. So far, this XXI century can be considered a travel from a anti-metaphysical account, rather Human, to a return to the Aristotelian issues. Whereas great philosophers like R. Carnap, A. J. Ayer or W. V. Quine maintained a view of philosophical analysis as a discovery of the conceptual structure underlying our uses of language, analytic philosophers, as S. Kriopke or T. Williamson, or the recently deceased D. Lewis, H. Putnam or, even, J. Rawls, have now more interest in how things are than in the words or concepts. For this reason, the course is conceived as an introduction to the Aristotelian issues from the contemporary Philosophy: the causal theory of reference, the virtue epistemology, the phronesis and practical reasoning, virtue ethics and republican politics. Taught in Spanish.

El objetivo del curso es estudiar el modo en que los sistemas de protección internacional de los derechos humanos han tenido -o pueden tener- reflejo en otros ámbitos, ya sea en la literatura y el cómic, en el cine y otros medios audiovisuales tales como los documentales y los podcasts. Para el cierre del curso está programada una visita a la sede de Cruz Roja en Barcelona, con una sesión explicativa de la tarea desarrollada por esta institución y además una entrevista a la directora del centro, con quien los estudiantes podrán debatir las cuestiones analizadas a lo largo de las clases. La asignatura tiene un enfoque práctico y pretende llevar a la práctica nuevos métodos de enseñanza del derecho aplicados a la investigación de los derechos humanos. Taught in Spanish

As any other social system, Law has also memory: it refers, through laws, legal decisions or doctrine, to the recent past. This is especially important in the case of mass atrocities, wars and dictatorships of Europe’s 20th Century. This course is aimed at analyzing the influences between Law, society and memory. It studies the legal construction of dictatorships and states of exception. It also explains how our contemporary legal systems have dealt with the past. The perspective is global and interdisciplinary. Taught in English.

Contrary to the initial expectations, international peacebuilding operations have had little success since the 1990s. From Bosnia or Congo to South Sudan, the UN and other international organizations have failed to bring peace and stability. In the literature, they have been criticized for applying onesize-fits-all approaches, for their little consideration of the culture and history of post-war societies and for defending the interests of a world order dominated by Western states. However, in the last five years, international organisations are currently adopting new strategies to correct the failures of the past: there are ‘lessons learned’, ‘hybrid’ and ‘bottom-up’ approaches, context-sensitive policies and emphasis on resilience, local ownership and self-reflexive dialogues among a variety of actors. Are we witnessing the continuation of a 25 years crisis or there is room for hope? This module investigates how peacebuilding is understood and practiced today and speculates about the future of international peacebuilding. Taught in English

Around the world, no place is less safe for women than their own home – almost one in three women have suffered physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner and one in four women have suffered psychological violence. The public sphere is neither free from gender-based violence (GBV) either, with sexual violence being a widespread global phenomenon in the workplace, in university campuses, in the streets or in the context of armed conflicts. GBV is one of the main drivers of the production and reproduction of gender inequality. This course examines GBV from an interdisciplinary approach, including sociological, legal, political science and media perspectives. It provides a forum for students to explore contemporary issues in GBV from both a theoretical and practical standpoint (using local and international case studies) through the discussion of ongoing controversies about the causes and effects of such violence. It also analyses the policy responses addressing GBV coming from states, civil society and international actors and assesses the extent to which they are effective (or not). Given that the experiences of GBV and the interactions with institutions vary across groups, the course will pay attention to how gender intersects with race, class, and sexuality. Taught in English

La asignatura está centrada en el buscador Google y en su plataforma de publicidad online Adwords. La asignatura tiene como objetivo entender el ecosistema digital de Google a través del estudio del funcionamiento de los buscadores (indexación de páginas y ordenación de resultados) y de la composición de las páginas de resultados del buscador. A partir de la distinción entre resultados orgánicos (SEO) y patrocinados (SEM) el curso incidirá en ambas especialidades. Durante la primera setmana se tratará la optimización de resultados orgánicos (SEO) y se realizarán análisis de sitios web mediante las herramientas de auditoría de calidad web y de posicionamiento en buscadores. Esta sección se ejemplificará a través de la creación de un blog de curso donde se aplicarán las herramientas de analítica web. De forma individual los alumnos llevará a cabo el mapeado de un nicho de búsqueda identificando los sitios web más relevantes de una temática y/o sector. La segunda setmana se centrará en el funcionamiento de las herramientas de analítica de Google (Google Analytics y Search Console) y de la plataforma de anuncios patrocinados Adwords. El curso se cerrará una con visión general de las tendencias presentes y futuras del marketing digital en base a los informes Hype Cycle de Gartner. Taught in Spanish

Organized and conducted as a workshop, this course focuses on the contemporary art practices known as interactive media art. Strategically situated at the intersection between the arts, humanities, science, technology and society, interactive media arts offer a privileged field from which our world can be reexamined. The interdisciplinary nature of this subject will allow students from any field to bring their own personal knowledge, skills and perspectives into discussion and class activities and, above all, into their own course project. The expected outcome is a personal project which will be developed, prototyped, presented and evaluated within the three-week course. The process will be structured in the following six interrelated stages: education, research, experimentation, production, dissemination and reception. Evaluation will consider both the creative process and the final presentation. Assessment criteria will be adapted to each particular project, but will contemplate the formal, conceptual, contextual and relational aspects of the interactive art works produced. Taught in English

The course aims at providing basic knowledge to understand the big issues that corrent biology has generated in society. These debates transcend the strict scientific field and require basic awareness and serious discussion platforms. The course aims to interest students in the Humananities, Law, Economy and, generally speaking, to any Student with a humanistic aspect who is interested in the biologic side the human being in a social context. Taught in English

Over the recent years, R has become the leading software tool for statistical computing and graphics. The software is greatly enhanced by numerous contributed packages submitted by users. The majority of computing in the leading applied statistical journals is done in R, and R is used almost exclusively in some of the leading-edge applications, such as in genetics and data mining. The purpose of this course is to set a foundation for full exploitation and creative use of the statistical language for computing and graphics R. The course introduces students to the syntax and inner workings of R, to become proficient in everyday computational tasks with datasets of all kinds, skilled in applications of elementary statistical methods, with emphasis on (initial) data exploration and simple graphics. Focus is also placed on opportunities to enhance the learning experience in other statistical courses by illustrating and applying basic statistical concepts in R. Taught in English

Social inequalities, national security, climate change, the rise of nationalism and populisms are some the most serious challenges that national democracies face today in the era of globalization. How can national governments defend the interests of their citizens in an even more interconnected economic and political context? How does Globalization affect national public policies and what can national states do? The course aims at providing a critical overview on the current challenges that national democracies will have to face in the next years. Geographically, it focuses on Europe and Spain and how political actors and central governments do play a role in the international scenario. It studies how and to what extent the European Union Member-States own independent policy autonomy to handle economic and institutional crises and to foster human development. By covering basic historical and critical tools for understanding the construction and integration processes of the European Union after World War II, the course centers on current socioeconomic scenarios at the national level and how these are affects by inequalities, poverty, unemployment and the lack of social provisions. Being Spain a pluri-national democracy which is usually characterized as the most decentralized among the unitarian national states that compose the European Union, the course will focus on Spanish contemporary political and societal scenario as an interesting case-study. Relying upon facts, figures and current issues, the course will provide an important set of examples and real cases about what work (and does not work) regarding public policies and public administrations in Europe and Spain. Taught in English

This course understands the cultural history of the city as a reflection of the cultural history of contemporary Spain, from the anarchist city to the cosmopolitan capital with international outreach. Focusing on the last two centuries and from a sociological and anthropological point of view, the course will analyse the Barcelona society and its most recent political history through its conflicts and cultural influences. Interviews and on-site visits are foreseen to grasp the testimonies of relevant stakeholders. The course has an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of urban studies, Catalan history, Hispanic studies, cultural studies, and anthropology. Taught in English

This course studies current artistic practices in Spain, mainly performance, video creation, creative actions, media and net art, music, and photography and their interrelation with other aesthetic practices. The course combines a theoretical approach and the direct contact through visits to museums, galleries, theaters and others. Taught in English

A photographic image is usually understood as the capture of an instant, the very instant when a picture is made. Nevertheless, photography can represent many other temporalry aspects of reality. This course has three intertwined goals. Firstly, it will present different models of time described in Philosophy and Art History disciplines. In order to learn to identify different representations of time in images, we will describe the cosmological, psychological and social models of time. We will see concepts such as the instant, the movement, the narratives, the biography, the urban memory, the ecstasy and the speed. Secondly, we will learn photographic techniques that express those temporary aspects through fine art photography works and the students own practice. Finally, the third goal will be to develop four mini-projects to bring into practice some of the time concepts analyzed in class. Taught in English

This course is designed to introduce students to the phenomenon of contemporary international migration through the lenses of Cultural Pluralism and Accented Cinema. The rise in global mobility, the growing complexity of migratory patterns and their impact on countries, families and communities has turned international migration into an important policy issue and the self-representation of migratory identities in cinema (Accented Cinema), that has emerged as a an aesthetic response to these experiences of displacement, represents testimonies that may contribute to a new understanding of cultural diversity and accommodation policies. Through emerging topics such as global flows of humans and capital, borders and identities, place and displacement, individual and cultural rights, patriarchalism, discrimination and marginalization, the political science perspective on international migration will be linked to theoretical approaches concerning filmic self-representation of migratory identities. Examples of films made by migrant filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas, Fernando Solanas, Marilú Mallet and Atom Egoyan will be analyzed in order to gain new insights into the phenomenon of international migration Taught in English

En 2015 se aprobó la Agenda 2030 de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo Sostenible y los 17 Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) son los que guían su implementación. Las temáticas que abordan estos objetivos son muchas y diversas: la pobreza, el hambre, la paz, la salud, la educación, las desigualdades, la inclusión, la prosperidad económica, la protección del planeta, la lucha contra el cambio climático, las ciudades y los territorios, la energía, el consumo y la producción sostenibles. Este curso busca capacitar al estudiantado para pensar críticamente sobre estos acuerdos analizando las posiciones éticas y políticas que representan, y formarlo en los diferentes ámbitos que están relacionados con estos objetivos. Taught in Spanish

Summer term students can select 1-3 content courses from the Barcelona International Summer School at Universitat Pompeu Fabra. Classes available in English and Spanish. For current offerings, see courses under “4 week course modules” here: https://www.upf.edu/web/barcelonasummerschool/courses-and-syllabi

The world is faced with serious and complex social and environmental problems that require a deep understanding of the systems where they occur in order to find innovative solutions. This course introduces students to the concepts, strategies and processes of social innovation and social change. It examines the state of the world from a social economic perspective focusing on how social innovation can help solve existing and future problems. The course also explores how social entrepreneurship, with its challenges and opportunities, functions as the vehicle for social innovation. From this standpoint discussions will be raised on whether innovation and entrepreneurship require a nondeterministic mentality, in order to deal with uncertainty and complexity. Taught in English

In the globalized context, cities have to compete with each other in different matters such as: to attract investment or human talent, to favor exportations, or to position themselves as tourist destinations. This reality advocates the adoption of marketing techniques to manage cities’ positioning since cities are no longer only a container of all the goods that can be consumed within it: the place itself offers symbolism desired by all its audiences. This course provides an overview of the main changes that have motivated the contemporary role of cities. It is focused on the understanding of the new symbolic role of the territory and explore the difficulties to build up a coherent brand that represents the complex offer of places. It also emphasizes on the importance of involving the different stakeholders in the process of branding the city, the challenge to control the impact of tourism activity and its effect on residents lifestyle, and the importance of the communication activity. The case of Barcelona will help students understand the content of the theoretical sessions. Combining lectures and practical sessions, students will study in-depth how Barcelona is represented as the international brand it is today. Taught in English

This workshop course introduces participants in the world of transmedia narratives. After a general introduction of the distinctive features of this kind of stories, the workshop presents a series of examples of transmedia storytelling experiences (fiction and non-fiction) to understand the logic behind this narrative strategy. During the workshop the participants will develop a transmedia narrative project working in groups of no more than three students. The project may be oriented to fiction or non-fiction narratives. The story to be expanded may be of own creation or it may be worked from an existing story (novel, videogame, film, comic, etc.). Each project should also include a strategy for encouraging and managing user-generated contents. The final objective of the workshop is to make participants “think in transmedia” and apply the basic principles of this narrative strategy Taught in English

El curso ofrece una introducción al cine español desde el inicio de la democracia, en los años setenta, hasta la actualidad, con una atención particular hacia aquellos cineastas que destacan tanto por su valor artístico como por su capacidad para reflejar los rasgos más destacables de la realidad y la cultura española contemporánea. Las diferentes sesiones del curso exponen el imaginario plural del cine español más reciente, a través de la obra de autores como Pedro Almodóvar, Víctor Erice, Julio Médem, Alejandro Amenábar, José Luis Guerín, Pilar Miró, Isabel Coixet, Icíar Bollaín, Judith Colell, entre otros. Taught in Spanish

The goal of this course is to provide students with an introduction to documentary film making. Special attention will be given to the renewal of the Spanish and the Catalan film scene in the last 15 years. The course consists of both theoretical and practical sessions. During lecture classes the professor will present the history of Spanish and Catalan Documentary and will set the theoretical basis for the production of a Documentary. During practical sessions, students will develop a project of a documentary where they can express their particular way of seeing the Spanish reality. Students will work in small teams to produce a 15 minute film, from the conception of the idea to the final editing, including the writing of the script and the shooting. Taught in English

The course analyses the historical, political, business, social and anthropological elements at work in the “import” and “export” of the Spain brand and its assets, as well as in the review of Spain’s main industries and businesses, leveraging the legacy and the opportunities that are at stake in recent and immediate contemporary contexts. The goal of the course is a descriptive and critical reflection on the notion of Spanish brands and their equity exploits across the globe; their distinctive traits, the diversity of mixed cultures, identities and realities the country portrays and how the communications world has shaped and can still shape the competitiveness of the potential and capabilities at hand. The course questions Spain’s unique attributes; moreover it aims at debating around the symbols and the strategic brand discourses of Spanish businesses and institutions. The course is best suitable for advertising, public relations and communications students, as well as for humanities, business and economics and political sciences majors.

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