Data Science

Data has been called “the oil of the digital economy” (Wired) with importance to all organisations in all sectors and at every level. As such, wide-ranging opportunities exist for skilled graduates with expertise in data science.

Designed in collaboration with industry partners and supported by funding from the Office for Students (OfS), our new MSc Data Science conversion programme has a distinctive focus on problem-based learning and offers modules designed to support your career goals and aspirations. Programme content is focused not only on fundamental data science but also on design thinking and innovation, data governance, ethics and data analysis.

This unique master's offers an excellent solution for graduates wishing to upskill to support their career aspirations in data science, pursuing roles in data analytics, management and stewardship. It is suitable for students from industry, including those who come from managerial, leadership and information administration posts and who wish to upskill in order to enter the world of data science. The programme also appeals to science graduates and those from the social sciences (eg criminology, economics, public health and psychology), life sciences (eg biological and biomedical sciences) and applied sciences (eg engineering and medicine) who wish to learn how to analyse data or who wish to understand the world of data science from a business perspective.

The programme is designed for students who do not have a first degree in computer science (those who do may wish to consider our MSc Artificial Intelligence or our MSc Advanced Computer Science). We would however consider applications in their own merit, so we encourage anyone to get in touch.

The kinds of positions we would anticipate graduates of this programme gravitating towards would include roles in analytics engineering, big data engineering and business intelligence, and as data architects, data analysts, data scientists and statisticians.

As a student in the Department of Computer Science, you will enjoy 24-hour exclusive access to our computer laboratories, including a designated MSc computer science laboratory supported by a team of systems specialists and specialist laboratory for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning work. You will also gain insights from the cutting-edge research of our academic staff and become part of a rich community that is research active and attracts staff, students and visitors from around the world.

You are now able to apply for the part-time version of the MSc Data Science programme. This has been designed to allow students to take two modules per semester and it will provide additional time for students to study the taught material and to complete their assessments. The modules of the part-time version run in parallel to the full-time programme. This provides a high level of flexibility for our part-time students in taking on more modules when possible; taking fewer modules if they want to extend the length of their programme.