MSc Politics & Data Science

The explosion of online and social media, the proliferation of digitized information, and improved electronic access to political decision-making processes provide new opportunities to study existing and emerging political processes in various democratic and non-democratic political regimes. The simultaneous development of cutting-edge data science methods to study digital text, audio, and video provide the tools we need to take advantage of these opportunities. The MSc Politics and Data Science is designed to equip students with the theoretical knowledge and methodological skills necessary to examine and understand politics in the digital age.

The MSc Politics and Data Science programme is organised around two streams of study. The first stream grounds students with backgrounds in political science and related social sciences in data science methods. The second stream is geared towards students with computer science or related technical backgrounds, teaching them about research design and theories in political science. Apart from two required core modules in each stream, all students can select four optional modules that best fit their interests. These modules can either revolve around methods needed to study digital and digitised politics, such as programming and machine learning, quantitative text analysis, statistics, and experimental methods. Or they can be modules relating to comparative politics, international relations, political violence, political economy, and related fields that the School of Politics and International Relations has strengths in.

The programme thus provides a thorough grounding in political science and its sub-disciplines, and in-depth training in the empirical methods necessary to study important questions emerging in these areas of study.