The American University of Paris

M.Sc. in Human Rights and Data Science

Program Highlights

Practical Experience

IAPP Data Privacy Certification: The HRDS program will train students to sit this widely recognized privacy certification for professionals seeking to fulfill the role of data protection officer (DPO) within their organization – allowing you to prove to employers that you understand both the technical aspects of data collection and the legal and ethical ramifications.

Ecole de Guerre Practicum: Participate in our long-running conflict resolution simulation conducted in cooperation with the French War College. The practicum exposes participants to real-world examples of issues surrounding the ethical use of technology in warfare.

Data Science Industry Practicum: Through hands-on workshops with industry professionals, you’ll be exposed to the real-world applications of human rights frameworks on digital technologies, tackling questions such as: How can user privacy be protected online? Who should be responsible for technology’s ethical use?

Three Reasons to Study Human Rights and Data Science

1. Competitive edge: Balance a broad interdisciplinary academic approach with professional certification in an increasingly relevant field.
2. Dedicated faculty: Our faculty are both academic experts and industry professionals involved in EU-funded projects in the fields of technology and human rights. AUP’s small, close-knit graduate community ensures a high level of faculty–student interaction, including via regular collaboration on research and professional projects.
3. Train for the future: Futureproof your career with a transferable skill set relevant to a wide range of tech-based industries.

Program Content

The MSc in Human Rights and Data Science offers a set of rigorous postgraduate courses drawing extensively from faculty expertise and the University’s well-established data science and international human rights curricula. You’ll have the flexibility to tailor your studies to your particular fields of interest, as courses relating to topics as varied as climate policy and health communications feature in the list of electives. Classroom experiences are further enhanced by experiential opportunities.

Core Courses

• Advanced International Human Rights Law
• Data Science I: Methods and Context
• Data Science II: Theory and Practice
• Human Rights and Digital Technologies
• Data Science Industry Practicum (6 credits)
• Online IAPP certification course for Privacy Professionals (2 Credits)

The MSc in Human Rights and Data Science can be completed in three semesters. In your final semester, you will engage in an internship with an approved industry partner, a chance to apply what you’ve learned throughout your degree to tangible real-world situations. A select number of students may opt to apply to the Oxford International Human Rights Summer School, in lieu of the internship.

Paris

Studying at AUP also means living and working in a city that’s home to international organizations and NGOs of all kinds, including the OECD, UNESCO, and Human Rights Watch. Your extracurricular pursuits will continually feed into your potential for networking and professional immersion.

Faculty Research

Academic Experts and Industry Professionals

The core of the program builds on research by two AUP faculty members: Professor Susan Perry of the Department of History and Politics and Professor Claudia Roda of the Department of Computer Science, Math, and Environmental Science.

Their book, Human Rights and Digital Technologies: Digital Tightrope, published in December 2016, explores the interplay between their disciplines and aims to instill an appreciation of legal ethics into the implementation of data science practices.

In addition:

• Professors Perry and Roda have collaborated on a paper in the Journal of Human Rights Practice (Oxford University Press) focusing on AUP's Human Rights and Digital Technology course, on which they both teach.
• Professor Perry is currently an advisor to the EU-funded SHERPA project, which analyses how AI and Big Data analytics impact ethics and human rights.
• Professor Roda also published, in 2019, Communication in the Era of Attention Scarcity, a joint publication with fellow AUP professor Waddick Doyle.
• Both professors provide regular comments to UN agencies on the subject of human rights and digital technology.

The MSc in Human Rights and Data Science seeks to equip graduates with:

• A strong foundation in international human rights law with respect to digital technologies, data management, and data protection;
• A specific understanding of the GDPR in comparison to other jurisdictions;
• Familiarity with a wide range of policies and issues, including guarantees of privacy and security pertaining to the use of personal data;
• A robust understanding of data science processes, techniques, and tools, and their ethical and lawful use;
• The knowledge and skills that are necessary to serve as a Data Protection Officer or Data Manager.

Anticipating the Employment Trends of Tomorrow

Whether joining the program from a position at a law firm, an engineering role, or an academic background in the social sciences, you’ll take a broad, interdisciplinary approach to the ethical use of data within a human rights framework. You’ll tackle legal, philosophical, and technical questions relevant to the growing prevalence of digital technologies in both the public and private sectors.

As employment trends change, the importance of the kinds of career-critical hard and soft skills that AUP emphasizes will only increase. A 2020 report from the World Economic Forum stated that, as digital technologies become more entrenched in the workplace, “the tasks where humans are expected to retain their comparative advantage include managing, advising, decision-making, reasoning, communicating and interacting.”