Data Science

Funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), as part of an innovative initiative to fund conversion courses in computing and engineering, our intensive MSc Data Science is designed for graduates who are new to computer science, providing an excellent grounding for working as a data scientist or analyst in industry. It is also ideal if you are working in IT, without a formal IT degree, and want to strengthen and update your knowledge and skills in the areas of data science and software engineering, while obtaining a formal Master's qualification in this area of emerging importance.

You will gain a broad knowledge of computing and acquire programming and data analysis skills, as well as comprehensive, practical problem-solving and analytical skills. You will also critically explore current research and methodologies and have the opportunity to investigate an area of current research in more depth via a project.

• Birkbeck established one of the first computing departments in the UK in 1957. Today, we provide a stimulating teaching and research environment for both part-time and full-time students. Our research dates back to the late 1940s, when one of the first electronic computers was developed at Birkbeck by Dr Andrew Booth. We now house the Computational Intelligence Research Group and the Information Management and Web Technologies Research Group, both of which collaborate with other research groups and with industry, in the UK and abroad, and undertake interdisciplinary research in the life, natural and social sciences, and the humanities.
• We provide a stimulating teaching and research environment, with academic specialists in all fields, including information and knowledge management, web and pervasive technologies, computational intelligence, and information systems development, among others.
• You will have 24-hour access to laboratories of networked PCs with a range of language compilers, database and other application software. We are connected, via the SuperJANET network, to the computers of other academic institutions in London, elsewhere in the UK and abroad.
• The Birkbeck Knowledge Lab draws on multi- and interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies from across the sciences, social sciences and the arts, to investigate how digital technologies and digital information are transforming our culture and how we learn and work.
• Birkbeck was ranked in the top 25 universities in the UK for its Computer Science and Informatics research in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.