The University of Basel has an international reputation of outstanding achievements in research and teaching. Founded in 1460, the University of Basel is the oldest university in Switzerland and has a history of success going back over 550 years.
Discover how different allergies are understood, diagnosed, and treated today.The human immune system is designed to fight infection, but sometimes this defence mechanism provokes allergic disorders. In this course, you will explore the similarities and differences of infections and allergies, and understand the intricacies of the immune system.You will address the events, mishaps, and discoveries that have led to a common understanding of allergies today. You will explore different types of allergies, like food allergies and hayfever, as well as allergy symptoms, methods of diagnosis, and different allergy treatments with the support of case studies.This course is designed for healthcare professionals or students studying health sciences. It will also be of interest to the general public looking to gain insights into the immune system and allergies.
Broaden your understanding of musical notation in the past few centuriesMusic is all around us: we listen to it while we are on our way to work, when preparing lunch or even while showering. Most people know that music has its own script – the notation. But seldom are they aware of the long tradition of this notation system.In this course, we’ll travel back in time and explore musical notations from the Middle Ages. We will show you how to decode and transcribe early notational systems. And we will discuss the challenges and principles of music notation, referring to semiotic approaches and visual theory.This course is intended for professional and nonprofessional musicians interested in musical paleography and its history, as well as undergraduate students of musicology, historians, philologists, theologians, art historians and semioticians. The only requirement is that you know how to read modern musical notation.There are no software tools needed but we encourage you to use a feather quill to enjoy the original feeling of writing down music. If you have no quill at hand, you can try building your own or buy one at a stationery stop. A quill, however, is not necessary to follow the course.
Learn about economic tools to become a successful social entrepreneur.Nonprofit organizations operate globally in many areas. They address societal issues in fields like health, culture and arts, environment, education and research. With their work, they make a significant contribution to sustainable social and ecological development. This course provides you with the economic tools and knowledge that are needed to become a successful social entrepreneur. It gives you an introduction to the topics that need to be addressed in order to make informed decisions in nonprofits, and it asks you to look upon your own practices in order to critically reflect your learnings.This course is intended for anyone interested in the topics of social entrepreneurship and dedicated people who work in the nonprofit sector or would like to do so. You don’t need prior knowledge of the economic tools that are needed to apply entrepreneurship in nonprofits - this course addresses non-professionals as well as NPO executives and employees and students of economics and management at BA and MA level.
Learn modern methods that will help shaping the future of medical interventionsStatistical shape models are one of the most important technologies in computer vision and medical image analysis. With this technology, the computer learns the characteristic shape variations of an object or organ. The model resulting from this analysis may then be used in implant design, image analysis, surgery planning and many other fields.In this free online course, you will get insights from mathematics, statistics and machine learning, in order to address practical problems, as well as a theoretical and practical introduction to the open source software Scalismo.This course is intended for students and professionals with a Bachelor in computer science, medical imaging professionals and biological anthropologists, who are interested in top-notch research, scientific insights and a useful application. Please note that tutoring usually takes place between End of February and Mid May. The course addresses people with some previous knowledge in computer science. If you find it challenging it would be a good idea to wait for the next mentoring window.Although you can watch the videos, read the articles, and completethe tests and quizzes on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets, you will have to install the free software Scalismo on your own workstation in order to use it – there is no online version available.In order to be able to do this, your computer should meet the following minimum system requirements: Windows (32bit/64bit), Mac OS X or Linux (64bit), 4GB of RAM, 500MB of free HD space. There are no special requirements for the graphic adapter.To take part in this course, you need to download and install Scalismo Lab and create your account on SMIR.
Examine gender discrimination in the Global South’s labour marketAlthough women’s participation in the paid labour market has increased in recent decades, gender discrimination in access to decent work persists. Women, particularly in the Global South, have the lowest participation in the labour market due to a number of factors.This three-week course from the University of Basel will guide you in assessing the Global South’s labour market to understand the impact of gender inequality in labour.Discover how gender equality in labour contributes to sustainable developmentYou’ll delve into the major role the labour market plays in helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Agenda from the United Nations.With this understanding, you’ll explore the importance of decent work for sustainable development and examine how gender equality can boost the global economy.Explore how intersectionality and gender roles impact women’s opportunitiesOn this course, you’ll explore how intersectionality and gender roles minimise women’s access to decent work, and examine how this labour often goes uncompensated.You’ll hear testimonies from women workers in Laos, Nepal and Rwanda to further investigate the labour market from a gender perspective.Study with global expertsThe educators leading this course have a wealth of experience in the fields of gender and women in the labour market.Their combined insight and expertise will provide you with the guidance to understand the impact of gender on the labour market and be empowered to advocate for decent work for all.This course is designed for policymakers and students of development and gender studies.It will also appeal to anyone interested in key aspects of the labour market in the Global South.
Diversify your historical perspective by learning about the Global SouthThe history of science has largely been written from the perspective of the Global North. This has meant that the impact of the Global South has been neglected and undervalued.This five-week course from the University of Basel will uncover the innovation and excellence that Africa has brought to global health over time.Use African ingenuity to improve public health worldwideAfrica has been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19, having contributed 12.8% of the technologies used to respond to the pandemic.As you will learn in the case studies, many African countries have overcome health challenges using innovative solutions that can benefit the world. You’ll explore theories, financing solutions, and technologies from Africa that can be used to uplift health systems across the world.Utilise the knowledge exchange of the Global South to inspire innovationAfrican countries have a wealth of knowledge that the Global North could benefit from.Using the knowledge from this course, you will be able to identify problems relating to clinical trials and financing in the Global North and learn from innovative approaches in Africa.You will also learn about examples of knowledge exchange in the Global South and find connections between urban planning and public health that can be used to motivate transformation in global health.Learn with the experts in African Studies from the University of BaselThe University of Basel has a renowned Centre for African Studies, has one of the few chairs of African History in Europe, and is associated with one of the leading tropical medicine institutes in the world.The experts are best placed to guide you in your journey, broaden your horizons, and improve your knowledge of the history of African contributions to global health.This course is suited to public health professionals as well as students and scholars of global health and African Studies.It’s also helpful to those interested in history, urbanism, public health, health economics, drug development, and Africa.
As we make sense of what we read, we construe meaning using the cultural technique of interpretation. Only rarely do we actually reflect this process: what are the means that help us understand literary texts? How does interpretation work? And how has our increasing use of electronic devices changed the way we read and interpret literature?This free online course addresses these questions as it introduces you to a variety of ways of interpreting literary texts. We will look into time-tested methods such as close reading and will also address more recent practices such as computer-based distant reading.This course is for people from all walks of life who enjoy reading literature and would like to know how literary scholars interpret texts in the digital age.If you are a student looking for an introduction to literary analysis, ‘Literature in the Digital Age’ will provide that.The only requirement is that you like to read and love to reflect your experience and discuss it with others.This course is only facilitated at certain intervals. Learners are encouraged to support one another, share personal experiences, and see new perspectives.
Make informed decisions about pressing environmental issues.What will our future look like? Will we continue burning fossil fuels or will we live in a 100% renewable world? How can we address climate change and what policies do we need to implement?We will provide you with model examples to make you familiar with aspects of economic modeling and state-of-the-art research on current debates in energy policy.This online course explores these concerns, using models in environmental and energy economics. You will learn how to design models, how to interpret and use results to make informed decisions, and how to use models to assess energy and environmental policies.This course is intended for anyone interested in the topics of environmental economics and energy economics, including students at MSc or advanced BA level and policy makers.To gain the most from this course, we encourage you to examine the details of the provided model examples, which require some basic knowledge in mathematics and microeconomics.This course is not facilitated. Learners are encouraged to support one another, share personal experiences, and see new perspectives.
In times of economic uncertainty and increasing migration within Europe, the relationship between Switzerland and the European Union (EU) is severely tested. Located in the west of the European continent, Switzerland is a small but wealthy country, which is surprisingly not a member of the EU. Did you ever wonder what the reasons for this are? And have you ever thought about what legal conditions govern this exceptional relationship?In this free online course, we will attempt to answer some key questions, including:What is the general place of Switzerland in the ‘legal (and political) landscape’ of Europe?What effect does the special situation of Switzerland have for the debate in other countries on issues such as taxation and migration?Learn to distinguish fact from mythThis course offers a legal and political look at the position of Switzerland in Europe and its challenges as a non-Member State of the EU. We will put a particular focus on much debated and sometimes misunderstood issues such as corporate taxation, banking secrecy and the debate about curbing immigration. With this in mind, you will be able to reflect on Switzerland, the EU and regional integration on a differentiated basis.Expand your knowledge through case studiesIn addition to case studies on ‘money’ and ‘migration’, we will also discuss the negotiations between Switzerland and the EU on the institutional framework of the Swiss-EU legal relationship.Studying the case of Switzerland from different angles will not only further your legal knowledge but also sharpen your awareness of the high degree of interconnectedness of countries in the modern world. After this course you should be able to apply your knowledge in other contexts - for example, when assessing news about regional integration in Europe or elsewhere.The only thing you need to bring to the course is an interest for legal, political and social issues. You do not need to have a prior knowledge of law to profit from this course. The course addresses non-professionals as well as people working in politics or administration - for example, in the EU, the EEA and Switzerland, further journalists and law students, in particular, but not only, those specialising in EU and international law.