In order to receive official recognition of your participation in these seminars you will need to register in the Campus Online, in the Dean’s Office section. Enrollment forms can be found on the Campus Online with instructions and deadlines. If there is not enough demand for a Seminar, it will be postponed to the next term. The minimum number of participants varies depending on the nature of each Seminar.

The Seminars grant students from one to two ECTs credits and are offered at no additional cost.

Design Thinking

Professor	Fernando Moral
Description	We usually take well-known paths in our lives. But, what happens when the path doesn´t exist or disappears? Maybe it is in unknown fields where the most powerful and creative ideas emerge. Ideas that, in short, can transform society and its paradigms and perspectives. It is in these situations where entrepreneurs have to develop and grow, since these pathless fields must be their natural environment. Besides, understanding human nature is basic in order to obtain an optimal outcome in our activities: from a product to an organization. Here is where disciplines like Design and Architecture take special relevance, as they work directly with people. This fact enables these disciplines to work alongside other subjects by making use of the strengths of them all. So, in this seminar, and making use of design tools, we stress the importance of the following process: to observe – to understand – to investigate – to develop – to suggest. Henceforth, from an innovative perspective, we will design something (a product, a space, a strategy) in an interdisciplinary manner.
Sessions	6 S1 What does design thinking mean? S2 Fieldwork: observing and understanding a place. S3 Which are the opportunities? S4 Lab: real production. S5 Lab: real production. S6 Final Crisis.
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Biotechnology Entrepreneurship

Professor	Fernando Martín
Description	The creation and developing a new biotechnology based company is a complex process full of obstacles to overcome. Communication troubles among the team, business management, staffing, fund raising, adequate protection of the research results or putting products in a highly competitive global market are common issues to be faced by the bioentrepreneur. This course will help you to understand the main keys about how to successfully carry a brilliant scientific idea from the laboratory to the marketplace. Subjects: - Biotechnology overview, general areas of specialization, the biotech business plan, building up the right team, supporting institutions. - Asking for the right funds at the right time: 3F, grants, business angels, venture capital. - Facilities, staffing, budgeting, collaborations. - Project management, R&D system management, technology watch, competitive intelligence. - Appropriate planning of patent portfolio, License-in, License-out. - Overview Of Marketing Strategies, Sales, Internationalization.
Sessions	6 S1 From the lab idea to a biotech company S2 Getting funded S3 Laboratory Management S4 R&D Management S5 Intellectual Property Rights S6 Marketing And Sales
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Essentials of Doing Business with China

Professor	Paolo Giancane
Description	For more than two decades China has experienced unparalleled growth and increased foreign investment, and finally, in 2010, it emerged as the second largest economy in the world after the U.S. The country obviously offers some of the world’s biggest growth opportunities but only for those investors that understand and respond to a rapidly evolving marketplace and are diligent from the start. An investor in China will have to realize that China, despite its enormous growth, is still a developing nation. Some of the best examples of Western creativity and entrepreneurialism can be seen in innovative start-ups. Despite issues with intellectual property rights and the challenges of working in this relatively new and certainly unique market, the size of the population, combined with the growing wealth of the nation, make the Middle Kingdom an attractive market for many young businesses.
Sessions	7 S1 Why China? Basic Facts and Opportunities S2 Pillars of Investing in China S3 Checkpoints for Successful Negotiations: Get the Deal Done S4 Strategy and Execution S5 China as the World’s Playground for Young Entreprenueurs S6 E-commerce, Renewable Energy, HighTech, Design Awaiting New Ideas S7 Learning from Success and Failure
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Developing a Business Plan

Professor	Leticia Ponce
Description	Developing and writing a business plan is the most important actvity an entrepreneur does in planning a new venture. The business plan is a written document that explains a business opportunity and touches all aspects of how that opportunity will be exploited. It does not need to be a discouraging task for want-‐to-‐be entrepreneurs. If done correctly, the business plan will serve to: - Provide a better understanding of the business you want to start, avoiding wild projections. - Allow possible investors and lenders to analyze if they are willing to invest in your business. - Make you understand the industry, your clients and the competition. - Serve as a guide for future growth. Please do take note that in order to maximize the sessions of this seminar, it is important that all participating students show up on the first day of class with a business idea in mind.
Sessions	6 S1 Opportunity analysis S2 Context analysis S3 Business description S4 Marketing plan S5 Financial data and projections S6 Executive Summary
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Is the European Union the answer?

Professor	Antonio de Castro Carpeño
Description	The aim of this Seminar is to stand up a framework for common reflection that starting on the general question of the title concludes on the finding of several answers, whether they are positive or not. On the basic foundations of the European Union principles, instruments and polices, participants could understand the present situation of the EU and get reasoned answers to the general question of the Seminar. In order to achieve this objective, the most remarkable events of the present evolution of the EU will be monitored, focussing on the 3 main areas of the EU activity: - The Internal Market and the recent cases concerning restrictions of goods and people inside the EU (the Eboli Bacteria / Lampedusa refugees). - The Economic and Monetary Union and the Crisis of the Euro and the Public Debt of Member States. - The Foreign and Security Policy and the efficiency of the external action.
Sessions	6 S1 Foundations: Why a European union? S2 Reasons: What’s the European Union and what does the European Union do? S3 The European Union home cleaner: sweeping obstacles inside the union? S4 The European Union as a financial actor: a Euro drama? S5 The European Union as an international player: a soloist or a chorus line? S6 Final debate: any answers?
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Constitutional Tolerance

Professor	Giuseppe Martinico
Description	The aim of this course is to analyse a series of fundamental decisions of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU), by which the CJEU has transformed the European Union (EU) from a mere area of common market into a fully fledged constitutional organization. In the economy of this course six ambits where the impact of the case law of the CJUE has been consequential will be taken into account: citizenship, international relations, judicial cooperation, primacy of EU law, fundamental rights protection and national constitutional identity. In each of these sectors the CJEU has struggled to impose its last say but, at the same time, has always avoided to obliterate the diversity which characterizes the people(s) of Europe. The last part of the course will focus instead on the “reaction” of Member States.
Sessions	6 S1 Constitutional tolerance and evolving dynamism S2 Building the EU: the importance of judicial cooperation S3 Fundamental rights and the EU: a long journey S4 Tragic choices and revolutionary judgements: a few judgments on the EU citizenship S5 Who is the master of the Treaty? S6 On some political attempts to hijack the European integration
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Persuasion and Social Influence

Professor	Beatriz Gandarillas
Description	Persuasion is a method by which people orient our behavior. Our behavior is determined by the thoughts we think, that is, opinions, or evaluations that we have on everything around us and that psychology understands as "attitudes". Our attitudes can predict how we are going to behave in the different situations. Persuasion is an art and a science through which we can generate, influence or change attitudes of the others and in ultimate instance, their behaviors. Many people believe that persuasion is a method of manipulation with a negative connotation, however, is a method of influence that can be used not only to influence others, but to understand and better predict the mind and behavior of people even the self-behaviour. That´s why is important to understand why and how humans understand what is around us. This course is part of the scientific approach and research carried out in the field of persuasion and attitude change. The analysis shall consider various persuasive strategies theoretical and practical and will be taught effective tools to understand the information we receive from people and from media (advertisements, press releases, etc..). So we can explain our behavior and that of others, from the classmate to the boss, going through the neighbor, the family, the rival, the friend, etc....
Sessions	6 Theoretical and practical, exercises and role playing.
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Contemporary Issues in International Relations

Professor	Ángeles Figueroa
Description	The purpose of this seminar is to introduce students to some of the broad themes in the study of international relations, and provide them with methodological and empirical tools to understand and evaluate arguments about contending issues in international affairs. The seminar is intended to engage students in the study and application of theories of international relations. Theories give us a lens through which to see the core of problems and issues in international affairs. Moreover, theories can help shed light on essential factors that are responsible for what happen in today’s world. By applying theories to analyzing contemporary international phenomena, we are able to explain many of the issues and problems that we read about in the news on a daily basis.
Sessions	7 S1 The Meaning of International Relations: IR in the News. S2 Rising Powers: BRICs S3 International Economics: Regionalism & Integration S4 International Cooperation & Development: Policymaking S5 International Conflict: Resolution & Crisis Simulation S6-7 Social Entrepreneurship: Base of the Pyramid Workshop
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

The Experience and Future of Cities

Professor	Francisco Mata
Description	These seminar series are planned out to provide students with a series of tools in order to enable them to be critical of the way most cities are growing in the socalled “developed world”. This way of growth, by relying too much on a developmental vision of progress, is jeopardizing the lives of urban population, which already accounts for almost three quarters of the total world population. Not only there are ever more pressing environmental hazards, but there is also an increasing process of alienation in the lives of city dwellers, which in turn causes profound psychological and ethical problems. It is for these reasons that learning a series of tools to assess our cities is relevant. This seminar series will tackle the hazards our cities are facing from a double perspective: one the one hand, we will explore what a city truly is, and how the way cities are growing is jeopardizing the very essence of our cities. On the other hand, we will discuss how our experience of cities is an inextricable part of ourselves, and therefore we need to care about it if we want to preserve our humanness.
Sessions	6 Ss 1-2 What makes a city. Is any sizeable built environment a city? Towards a reformulation of the concept of urbanity. S3 The awareness of the life-world, and how it affects our experience of cities. S4 Growth and cities. The hazards of the developmental vision of progress, and an authentic approach to the growth of cities. S5 Connectivity and the creative city. Can we become more human through the interactions enabled by our built environments? S6 The future of your own city. Presentations by students on their own cities, regarded as case studies.
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Logic and Critical Thinking

Professor	Julián Montaño
Description	The truth of a statement is independent of the cogency, coherence and validity of the reasoning process that leads to it. Good argumentation is as necessary as the knowledge of truth. As students and scholars we know many true statements. But do we know how to justify them? Do we know how to argue in favor of them? Do we know how to defend them? Every professional or researcher needs the ability to construct clear, precise and convincing arguments, regardless his or her field of expertise. In an environment where information is often in conflict, this is indispensable. The ability to build a valid argument is vital to the proper understanding of a question and to solving problems, as well as intrinsic to the art of persuasion. The value of logic is not only instrumental, it is indeed essential, in how we construct our thoughts.
Sessions	6 S1 What is an argument? The basic tools of argumentation. Basic notions of Logic. S2 Deductive reasoning. S3 Inductive reasoning. S4 Fallacies. S5 Medieval Debate/Byzantine Discussions. S6 The emotional part of critical thinking. Right attitudes and wrong attitudes.
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

The Art of Telling

Professor	Juanjo Prat
Description	Since the beginning of culture, humans have communicated their most precious ideas through narratives: this is one of the most interesting areas of tradition. This seminar will introduce students this intangible heritage of humanity and help them understand the way stories have been a tool for building identity and communicating knowledge and values. Students will work with themes, symbols and narrative motives kept in cultural traditions around the world and learn to recognize the ways in which cultural and individual memory work and the imaginary is manifested, while beginning to work at performance.
Sessions	6 S1 Traditional narratives, orality, and other ideas in human communication S2 Types of stories: tales, novelle, exempla, animal tales and fairy tales S3 Ways of telling: Panchatantra, Arabian Nights, and the Grimm Brothers S4 Structure and meaning in tales. S5 Time, place and adventure: the aesthetics of tales. S6 The art of telling: Oral performance
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.

Symbolic Languages in Art

Professor	Miguel Larrañaga
Description	Art has had diverse functions through History and in this context the language of images has played an important role. During the different historical periods and civilizations, images have been used to communicate messages about basic concepts, related to social and political reality. This course presents different subjects that have been treated in the world of images through times. It allows a better comprehension not only on the symbolic language but also on the relationship between the artistic creation and its cultural context.
Sessions	6 S1 Theoretical framework: Social functions of Art and symbolic languages. S2 Art and religion. S3 Art and power. S4 Art and market. S5 Art and marginality. S6 Art and national identity.
Date	To be announced depending of number of students.
Registration	In your department’s secretary office no later than December 19th.
Recommended to	Any eligible student.