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Security and Risk in the Digital Age

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:31:00 +0000

From biometric welfare systems that control the poor to cryptocurrency networks that challenge state monetary sovereignty, this course explores how technological innovations reshape security paradigms and justice frameworks. In this context, risk and uncertainty constitute fundamental challenges requiring critical analysis of power, justice, and democratic governance in technological societies. More precisely, we will analyse risk examine power dynamics, inequality, and resistance in digital spaces while questioning who benefits from technological ‘solutions’ to social problems and who bears their costs.

This course will provide a dual perspective based on an interdisciplinary approach: First, a practical introduction to digital security actors, practices and objects, and their implications for fundamental rights and societal justice such as privacy, mobility freedom of movement or ethics. Second, a critical exploration of how technology, security, and justice intersect in global politics. Thus, students will engage with multiple dimensions of risk and uncertainty: Epistemic, Technological, Governance, Social and Political Uncertainties.

Digital sociology

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:29:25 +0000

This course explores how digital technologies and society shape each other over time through a range of topics. Digital technologies have transformed our lives, everyday practices, relationships and the ways institutions are governed. People are not passive recipients of these technologies: they adopt, use and reshape them in diverse ways. Through various sessions, students will be introduced to digital sociology starting with theory and structure, then moving on to identity, resistance, global and ecological issues, and finally, critical futures.

Each session will begin with student presentations (either individually or in groups depending on the class size). Students will present a case study related to the topic of the week and discuss it in connection with the assigned readings for approximately 30 minutes, followed by reflections and discussion from their peers. In the second half of the lecture, the lecturer will present an additional case study and integrate relevant theories for that week.

By the end of the course, students will have a strong theoretical foundation in digital sociology and will have learned how to connect theory with case studies and relate digital technologies to everyday life, societal issues and forms of power, agency and resistance.

Technology, security and justice

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:27:31 +0000

How do facial recognition systems deployed for counter-terrorism in cities like London and Delhi differently impact communities of color? What happens when Iran silences democratic movements while tech companies profit from surveillance infrastructure? How does the promise of “smart cities” in places like Toronto or in the Gulf of Guinea mask new forms of digital colonialism and environmental racism?

The course will address the main theoretical approaches of security by examining more specifically how technology intersects with the politics of security and justice. It provides a dual perspective: A practical introduction to digital security threats and their implications for fundamental rights such as privacy and freedom of expression. A critical exploration of how technology, security, and justice intersect in global politics, with attention to risk, uncertainty, inequality, and power across the Global North and South.

Methods for digital analysis

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:25:53 +0000

This course introduces key digital methods for social research, combining theoretical insights with practical applications. It begins with studying society through social media and moves on to core techniques such as content analysis, sentiment analysis, text and data mining, and network analysis. Students will also learn about web surveys and basic statistical approaches, including correlation and regression analysis. Several lab sessions will provide hands-on experience with RStudio for content and sentiment analysis, web scraping, network visualization, and data modeling.
The primary objective of this course is to introduce students to key digital methods for social research, with a particular focus on how digital traces, online content, and social media data can be analyzed to study contemporary society. By the end of the course, students will have gained foundational knowledge in content analysis, sentiment analysis, text and data mining, and basic network analysis, learning how to extract and interpret patterns from digital data. They will also explore how to design and implement web surveys and how to apply basic statistical techniques such as correlation and regression analysis to answer social research questions.

International Trade and Sustainable Development

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:09:50 +0000

This course offers an advanced political economy analysis of trade and sustainable development. It conceptualizes trade, capitalism, and environmental degradation as interconnected ecological processes rather than separate policy domains. The course critically examines sustainable development as a contested governance project and evaluates competing visions of sustainability—including green growth, doughnut economics, degrowth, adaptation, and post-development alternatives. Emphasis is placed on power, distribution, knowledge, and political conflict in shaping global trade and environmental governance. Particular attention is paid to international trade institutions, including the WTO, trade agreements, and ongoing proposals to reform global trade governance for sustainability.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

Explain how international trade and the environmental are shaped by one another.
Describe the core principles of sustainable development.
Compare different approaches to sustainability (green growth, degrowth, adaptation).
Identify the theoretical underpinnings of different ‘solutions’ to the sustainability dilemma
Identify political and economic conflicts underlying each political choice

Global Development

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:07:53 +0000

Introduction to Green Political Thought

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:05:21 +0000

This course explores how ecological concerns challenge established political, economic, and social frameworks, and how alternative approaches can shape more sustainable and just futures. Students will examine key debates in Green Political Thought, including environmental ethics, planetary limits, degrowth, climate justice, ecofeminism, democracy, and postcolonial perspectives. The course highlights both the critique of mainstream approaches and the imaginative alternatives that seek to transform society’s relationship with nature. By engaging theory with contemporary examples, students gain tools to understand and critically reflect on the ecological and political challenges of the twenty-first century.

Climate Governance

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 15:03:52 +0000

The physical science is resoundingly clear. We must act immediately and collectively to address climate change. However, our global community has greatly struggled to do so. Moreover, addressing climate change cannot be isolated as a simple question of greenhouse gas emissions. Rather, it involves asking important and difficult questions about how we structure our societies, economies, and relationships with the environment. In this course, we will examine the challenges our global community faces in addressing climate change and the politics behind it. The course will serve as an introduction to climate change, related governance processes, and the role of different stakeholders therein. We will study the key concepts and tools used to make sense of how we can govern our changing world. In doing so, students will be exposed to the factors that have shaped and continue to shape global climate governance, established barriers to cooperation, and strategies for overcoming them.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
(1) identify the economic, ideational, and political dynamics shaping cooperation on climate change and related environmental problems
(2) identify the main types of stakeholders in global climate governance and their roles therein
(3) understand the link between “climate change” and other environmental problems and governance issues
(4) explain the functioning of and role of multilateral negotiations in addressing climate change, including the limits of such a state-based system of cooperation
(5) critically assess the potential for transnational and other means of cooperation for addressing climate change

Wikifactory II

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:59:25 +0000

Wikifactory I

Lucie Van Hoecke — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:58:16 +0000

By the end of the course, students will have developed both theoretical and practical competencies in ethics, critical thinking, and public engagement while also acquiring some basic knowledge of the importance of foresight for policymaking. They will understand the fundamentals of ethical reasoning and argumentation, gain expertise on a specific ethical or policy issue, and acquire the ability to construct persuasive ethical arguments. Students will also learn to develop a project proposal and suitable deliverables, aiming to deliver impactful research. Through a collaborative project, students will enhance their teamwork, organizational, and project management skills, while also mastering public communication and deliberation strategies. They will learn to better manage their schedules and conflicting deadlines and timelines, as well as navigate professional team dynamics. The course fosters creativity and analytical thinking by encouraging students to synthesize academic literature, reflect and engage critically with current societal debates. Ultimately, students will learn to bring their message to a broader audience through accessible, well-crafted public-facing deliverables.