LAS Core Electives

Below you will find more information of the 7 Core Electives you can choose from.

Please note: The seats are available first come, first served.

How Things Work

Have you ever wondered why leaves are green, what happens inside your body when you eat, or where the energy in your food actually comes from? How Things Work is an engaging course that explores the science behind everyday experiences. By looking more closely at familiar situations, you will discover how scientific thinking helps us better understand the world around us.

The course is divided into two parts:

• Theory: You’ll explore well-known experiments and reflect on surprising ideas — like the concept of 'beauty' in science. You’ll also get a look at current research, including a visit to a laboratory on the Zernike Campus

• Practice: This part focuses on the science behind daily activities. For example, what happens when we cook food? How does the body process energy? Why are some foods better cooked than raw? Through experiments, interactive lectures and hands-on activities, you will explore the physical and chemical processes behind these questions.

How Things Work is part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme and is open to all students. While no scientific background is required, a basic understanding of mathematics can be helpful for some topics. The course encourages active participation, regular preparation, and a curious mindset.

Lecturers: dr. Tiago Medeiros Furquim Mendonca and dr. Moreira Goulart

Culture: The Building Blocks

Why do people see the world so differently? And how has your own way of thinking been shaped by your surroundings? Culture: The Building Blocks explores how human culture influences the way we understand ourselves and the world.

Over thousands of years, humans developed cultural tools: language, values, customs, technology, that shape our thoughts and behaviour. This course looks at how these tools work, and how they help us make sense of the world.

You’ll explore topics such as memory, imagination, language, creativity, and consciousness, and connect them to real-world situations and practices. By the end, you’ll be able to break down cultural phenomena into their key elements and better understand how culture works.

Some of the questions we ask include:

• How do we acquire culture, and how has it evolved?

• What is creativity, and how does it influence the things we design?

• How do technologies and objects shape how we think and act?

• What role does language play in culture and communication?

• What is theoretical knowledge, and why is it important?

• How can we reflect on ourselves using cultural tools?

You’ll work through these questions in group discussions, readings, writing tasks, and practical assignments. The course introduces a clear set of tools to help you analyse culture in many forms.

Culture: The Building Blocks is open to students from all academic backgrounds, no prior knowledge required.

Lecturer: dr. Theisje van Dorsten

People, Place and Culture in a Global Context

How are people connected to the places they live in? And how do global changes affect local communities, cultures and environments? People, Place and Culture in a Global Context introduces you to Human Geography, a field that explores the relationships between people, places, and the planet.

In this course, you’ll learn how to think geographically, that means understanding the human world by paying attention to space, location, and movement. You’ll see how geography plays a key role in shaping the world around us, and why it matters for understanding today’s global challenges.

By the end of the course, you’ll be able to explain how geography is involved in global flows, such as migration, trade, culture, and politics, and how places are shaped by and respond to these dynamics. You’ll develop a ‘geographical imagination’ that helps you make sense of current issues at international, national, and local levels.

Learning takes place through a mix of methods, including guest lectures, student presentations, field exercises, group discussions, and independent study. You’re encouraged to take an active and engaged approach.

People, Place and Culture in a Global Context is suitable for students from all academic backgrounds.

Lecturers: prof. dr. Bettina van Hoven and Angelica Caiza Villegas

This is the Sea

The ocean covers more than 70% of earth's surface and is a fundamental reason why life exists on earth – but much of it remains unexplored and under-recognized. This is the Sea introduces you to today’s most pressing marine-related challenges and helps you become ocean literate: familiar with key ideas and terms across different disciplines, so you can better understand and talk about the issues our oceans face.

In this course, you’ll explore topics such as:

• The origin and movement of the ocean

• Marine ecosystems and resources

• Ocean pollution

• The shipping industry

• Fisheries and marine energy

You’ll learn how these topics connect to global sustainability questions and why they matter now more than ever.

Guest speakers will talk about their research and five insight into the real-world challeneges of marine environments. Inspired by these sessions, you and your classmates will work togheter on a group project centered around a marine-topic. You’ll approach your chosen topic from multiple perspectives, showing how different disciplines contribute to our understanding of the sea.

The course includes two interactive sessions per week (2 hours each), some of which will be led by students. Active participation is expected, and attendance is required.

As part of the course, we also plan a field trip to Schiermonnikoog or a visit to a museum. Costs for this will not exceed €75.

This is the Sea is open to students from all academic backgrounds, no previous experience with marine studies is needed.

Lecturers: dr. Oksana Kavatsyuk and dr. Laura Kapinga

Disease

Why do humans get sick at all? Shouldn’t evolution have made us immune to disease by now? This course explores major health challenges from an evolutionary perspective, helping you understand why our bodies are vulnerable to illness and how this connects to broader public health issues.

Diseases affect individuals and societies in deep and lasting ways. They cause suffering and loss, increase healthcare costs, and influence economic growth, especially in communities with limited access to treatment and prevention. Even in countries with major health investments, some diseases remain difficult to control. Why is that?

In this course, you’ll explore questions such as:

• What actually is a disease?

• Why do pandemics occur?

• Why are some infections becoming untreatable due to drug resistance?

• Are heart disease and cancer just ‘lifestyle’ illnesses?

• Why is it so hard to prevent or cure diseases?

• What role can evolutionary thinking play in designing better health policies?

By learning to apply evolutionary theory to modern health problems, you’ll gain insight into how our biology and behaviour shape disease risks and why medical solutions are rarely simple.

The course includes interactive lectures, discussions, and work in small study groups (2–4 students). Self-study and peer feedback are important components, so active participation and independent work are expected.

Disease is open to students from all academic backgrounds. No prior knowledge of biology is required.

Lecturer: dr. Adriana Mattos

Love

Love is everywhere: in music, poetry, stories, films, adverts, apps, and countless other parts of our lives. It is often seen as one of the strongest and most important feelings a person can experience.

But what exactly is love? How do we define it? How do we feel and experience it? Since the time of Plato’s Symposium, philosophers have debated the nature of love. Alongside philosophy, biology and psychology have also explored what love means and how it shapes human behaviour.

In this course, we bring these three disciplines together to explore love from different angles. We consider questions such as:

• Are there different types of love?

• Is love a choice or a matter of free will?

• Why do we love some people and not others?

• Can love cause pain?

By combining insights from philosophy, biology, and psychology, this interdisciplinary course aims to deepen your understanding of love; one of the most talked-about yet complex parts of human life.

Love is open to students from all backgrounds. No prior knowledge is required, just curiosity.

Lecturers: dr. Martijn Boot , dr. Rodrigo Gonzalez Alvarez and dr. Adriana Mattos

War

What is war and what does it really mean? In this course, we study war from different perspectives, exploring its nature, causes, and consequences.

We begin by examining what war is, the different types of warfare, and how often wars occur. You’ll also learn about the laws that regulate war, including human rights law, humanitarian law, and international criminal law.

Next, we will study war and the dynamics and mechanisms within wars resulting in international crimes such as war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and genocide. We’ll explore what causes these crimes, how military training can sometimes produce torturers, and issues like the use of child soldiers and cultural factors.

Later, we focus on how the international community responds to these crimes. What legal obligations do states have to act? And why is political will sometimes missing? You’ll explore the mechanisms for addressing war crimes and the ways societies work to recover and rebuild after conflict.

Finally, we’ll consider the impact of these crimes on victims. The course concludes with a week-long online game, where you’ll apply what you’ve learned in a real-world simulation.

War is part of the Liberal Arts and Sciences programme and suitable for students from all academic backgrounds.

Lecturer: prof. dr. Alette Smeulers