Courses
Courses are planned, coordinated and implemented by the partner universities of the Alliance. They take place on the campuses of the institutions in Toulouse, Luxembourg, Düsseldorf, Kraków, Lulea and Kiruna. You can attend the courses in person, distant or blended. To access a course, you should send an email to the responsible coordinator mentioned in the course description.
The courses are typically delivered in English as well as in other languages such as French, German, Polish and Swedish.
As an UNIVERSEH student, you will have the opportunity to combine courses across Universities and access foreign language classes in a multilingual environment.
* Recognition of ECTS credits as part of your study programme depends on the policies and procedures of each UNIVERSEH member university. For more information about the policy on credit recognition, please contact the UNIVERSEH Team at your home university.
Do you have questions?
Join our academic journey now!
Offered by Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf and University Toulouse - Jean Jaurès
Lecturer:
- Rolf Kailuweit
- Florent Poupart
Duration:
- 9. October 2024 - 15. January 2025
Teaching modalities:
- Online, synchronus
Requirements:
- Open to all interested Master students (English B1 and French B1 are required to follow the course)
At the fascinating intersection of cultural studies and social psychology aspects of the preoccupation with exocultures and UFOtherness (space-based figures of radical difference in the sense of Lewis & Kahn 2010) will be examined. The course will dive deep into the narratives that bridge the real and the imagined. Key topics include:
• Analysis of the narrative interplay between factual reporting and fictional storytelling in human-alien encounters.
• Exploration of the line between engaging science fiction and controversial conspiracy theories that shape public perceptions of space.
• Comparative study of how various space programs, both public and private, envision interactions with extraterrestrial cultures, referred to as exocultures.
We aim to uncover the role these narratives play within societal discourse and examine the psychological motivations behind belief systems such as conspiracy theories relating to Earth and outer space, such as Flat Earth theory or Raelian beliefs. The course emphasizes practical engagement through project work. Students will have opportunities to conduct field research, participate in interviews, and produce content in diverse formats such as podcasts, films, and theater productions. This program is particularly focused on engaging students from Romance, German, and English-speaking countries, fostering a rich, multicultural dialogue on these pressing topics.
Mobility for HHU students to Toulouse in the second week of December 2024.
This course grants you 3 ECTS.
Registration and further questions:
Send an email to - HHU students register directly via HIS LSF.
Offered by Heinrich Heine Univsersity Duesseldorf and University of Luxembourg
Teachers:
- Marten Düring
- Tobias Winnerling
- Stefan Reiners-Selbach
Duration:
- 11. October 2024 - 13. December 2024
Teaching modalities:
- online, synchronus
Requirements:
- Students of an advanced semester (Bachelor's degree) in historical science, philologies, digital humanities, media studies and (trans-)cultural studies
- English B1, German B1
The proposed UNIVERSEH course "Mankind on the Moon. Mining 400 years of Space Exploration" (working title) explores the cultural history of space travel and more generally the moon as a cultural reference point in Early Modern, Modern and Contemporary History. Students will explore this topic based on digitized Early Modern Encyclopedias as well as Modern and Contemporary newspaper collections. Alongside lectures on the topic, student-led teams will design small-scale research projects and employ fundamental techniques for the semantic enrichment and data-driven exploration of their sources. In addition, students will explore novel techniques for content presentation in virtual worlds in collaboration with students of the BA Animation Studies at the University of Luxembourg. The proposed seminar pursues a decidedly interdisciplinary approach, fostering collaboration across various fields to enable students to employ digital methods for the study and critical analysis of the multifaceted discourses of space exploration.
The seminar is structured into three main blocks, beginning with an introductory phase in Düsseldorf, where students receive theoretical grounding and hands-on training in using early modern encyclopedias and digitized newspapers as historical sources. This phase emphasizes the formation of interdisciplinary teams, leveraging complementary language skills to facilitate diverse research perspectives. The second block consists of hybrid meetings featuring lectures on premodern voyages to the moon, space travel in the modern era, and digital humanities research methods. These sessions are complemented by practical training in digital tools such as Voyant Tools and the Impresso web app, enhancing students' skills in text analysis and digital research methodologies. In the concluding block held in Luxembourg, students will finalize and present their projects in a virtual world based on the Unreal game engine, incorporating insights from lectures, digital humanities tools, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The seminar aims to equip students with a critical understanding of the cultural history of the moon and space travel, bolstered by project management skills including science communication, writing, and text analysis.
Overall, "Mankind on the Moon. Mining 400 years of Space Exploration" not only offers a critical introduction to cultural and digital history but also contributes to the establishment of a continuous class format. This innovative seminar framework encourages students to continually apply a critical lens to their (inter-)disciplinary training, promoting a holistic understanding of the cultural significance of the moon and space travel throughout history
Mobility to Dusseldorf (October 2024) and to Luxembourg (December 2024).
This course grants you 3 ECTS.
Registration and further questions:
Send an email to - HHU students register directly via HIS LSF.
Offered by Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf and University Toulouse Jean Jaurès.
Teachers:
- Claire Cazajous-Auge
- Jens Temmen
Duration:
- 14. October 2024 - 16. December 2024
Teaching modalities:
- online, synchronus
Requirements:
- Master student
- English B1.2
The course “Critical Outer Space Studies“ will explore the complex field of study that is the science and exploration of outer space through a variety of disciplinary lenses such as environmentalism, posthuman studies, mobility studies, astroethics, or postcolonial studies. Participating students will have the unique opportunity to engage with the work of leading scholars and scientists in all of these fields through seminar sessions and their discussions of texts, films, reports and other material.
Mobility to Heinrich Heine University Dusseldorf in November 2024.
This course grants you 3 ECTS.
Registration and further questions:
Send an email to - HHU students register directly via HIS LSF.
Past courses
The course “Critical Outer Space Studies“ will explore the complex field of study that is the science and exploration of outer space through a variety of disciplinary lenses such as environmentalism, posthuman studies, mobility studies, astroethics, or postcolonial studies.
Participating students will have the unique opportunity to engage with the work of leading scholars and scientists in all of these fields through seminar sessions and their discussions of texts, films, reports and other material, as well as via the accompanying Lecture Series.
The course curriculum includes two field trips to HHU Düsseldorf and Université Toulouse -Jean Jaurès for the first and final sessions of class, respectively, which will be fully funded for enrolled students.
30 hours, 3 ETCSCo-modal teaching - October 10th — December 12th 2022
HHU Düsseldorf • Université Toulouse-Jean Jaurès
Teachers:
- Marcus Liwicki
- Hamam Mokayed
- Andrzej Skoczeń
- Maciej Wielgosz
The course provides a wide insight into neural network (NN) algorithms and their hardware implementation. The development of NN applications is typically carried out using GPUs and requires a long calculation time. The course gives participants the ability to accelerate and shorten inferring latency using dedicated hardware with limited resources. Although this idea can be adopted in many different applications from many disciplines, the course demonstrates practical examples from space-related research projects. The main goal is to motivate, illustrate, and experience the impact of Machine Language (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the space sector.
Besides the emphasis on creating practical design on the available hardware platforms, the course presents a survey of commercially available (and recently introduced by leading manufacturers) systems for hardware implementation of neural algorithms. A survey of dedicated processors with neural architectures currently being developed is also covered.
Another fascinating subject in the course concerns emerging technologies dedicated to future hardware neuromorphic systems currently in the R&D stage.
The huge innovation potential of ML is strongly emphasised during the course. Practical examples of innovative projects are presented to illustrate the impact of ML and AI in business activity.
Hybrid Lecture Series open to non-specialists
March 28th and April 13th 2023
Join the UNIVERSEH’s space crew and take a ride to discover the perspectives around this passionate theme, proposed by specialists from different fields of science.
UNIVERSEH invites you to the multidisciplinary conference cycle: "Sustainability and Space Sector". Whether it is in the field of launch vehicles, the sustainability of the earth as seen from space, sustainability in critical space studies, or ethical issues related to space debris, there are many interpretations.
The Sustainability and Space Sector: Multidisciplinary Lecture Series, open to non-specialists, will be held live and online from the Université Toulouse Jean Jaures.
Please find below the lectures and here the links to the registration forms.
Mar 28th, 2023 16:30 – 17:30 | Online | Register here | ||
Apr 13th, 2023, 16:30 – 17:30 | Room PM1 Philippe Malrieu building | Can Student-Built Rockets Benefit Science? | Register here |
Past Lectures
Prof. Dr. Stefanie Dunning
Miami University, FL USA
When? Tuesday, June 27th, 2023, 18h
Where? Online via WebEx
Who? Open to the public
