Master's in Politics and Data Science

University College Dublin (UCD) is a world-renowned university located in Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1854, it is one of the oldest and largest universities in the country, with a current student population of over 34,000. UCD offers undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate programs across a broad range of disciplines, including arts, humanities, business, law, engineering, medicine, and science. The university is particularly well-known for its programs in agriculture, veterinary science, and architecture, and is also a leader in research in areas such as nanotechnology, information technology, and food science. The campus itself is situated on 350 acres in the south suburbs of Dublin, providing a picturesque and spacious setting for students and staff. Facilities on campus include state-of-the-art lecture theaters, research labs, libraries, sports facilities, and accommodation options for students.

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 the three core modules in the Social Science Background stream, students can select three modules that best fit their interest. Apart from the core module and the core optional module in the Technical Background stream, students select four modules that best fit their interest. 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. Careers & Employability Graduates from this programme will be ideally equipped for careers in a large and varied set of employment sectors. The combination of a solid understanding of social science theory and the technical ability to apply advanced data-science approaches to answer questions of political and societal relevance, makes our graduates a unique addition to any data science team. Furthermore, graduates will be well-positioned to apply for quantitative social science PhD programmes with the aim of pursuing an academic career. Potential future employers include: Government International Organisations (EU, UN, WTO, World Bank) Non-Government Organisations Not-for-profit sector Corporate Sector Tech industry Think tanks Potential roles include: Political Advisor Social Data Specialist Data Manager Chief Information Officer Social Science PhD candidate