This work contains pedagogical articles on the dominant non-stochastic methods of microscopic many-body theories: density functional theory, coupled cluster theory, and correlated basis functions methods in their widest sense. Further articles introduce students to applications of these methods in front-line research such as Bose-Einstein condensates, the nuclear many-body problem, and the dynamics of quantum liquids. These keynote articles are supplemented by experimental reviews on intimately connected topics of current relevance. The volume aims to address the striking lack of pedagogical reference literature that allows researchers to acquire the requisite physical insight and technical skills. It should, therefore, not only serve as a collection of information relevant to those who attended the school, but provide useful reference material to a broad range of theoretical physicists in condensed matter and nuclear theory.