MSc Politics & Data Science
Dublin, Ireland
DURATION
1 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
Request application deadline
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
EUR 22,600 / per year *
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* full time non-EU fee per year - € 22600; EU fee per year - € 10350 | part time non-EU fee per year - € 11300; EU fee per year - € 6580
Key Summary
Introduction
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 interests. Apart from the core module and the optional core module in the Technical Background stream, students select four 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.
Vision and Values Statement
The programme shall equip students with both the theoretical overview and the empirical tools necessary to understand and engage with the brave new world of digitised politics, and the expansion in scale, types, and complexity of data available to study political phenomena. The MSc in Politics and Data Science provides students with in-depth knowledge of political science theories and approaches and methodological training to apply these tools in a theoretically-informed manner. It offers advanced training in statistical and computational methods, including tools to extract and prepare unstructured data (data wrangling), detect patterns and predict behaviour based on statistical data, evaluate the veracity of theoretical models on large-scale datasets, analyse highly interconnected data from networks and spatial data sets, and to develop simulations to evaluate the inherent consistency and implications of theoretical arguments.
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Ideal Students
Full-Time option suitable for:
- Domestic (EEA) applicants: Yes
- International (Non-EEA) applicants currently residing outside of the EEA Region: Yes
The MSc in Politics and Data Science is aimed towards students with backgrounds in political science and related social sciences with a strong interest in learning data science methods and towards students with a Computer Science or related technical background who want to study politics.
Admissions
Scholarships and Funding
Please note that UCD offers a number of graduate scholarships for full-time, self-funding international students, holding an offer of a place on a UCD graduate degree programme. For further information please contact our Admissions team!
Curriculum
What modules can I take?
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.
Core and Option Modules for MSc Politics and Data Science Social Science Background Stream
These are the current modules for 2022/23 but are subject to change. Each of the following modules carries 10 credits unless otherwise specified.
Core Modules
- POL40950 Introduction to Statistics (Autumn)
- POL42340 Programming for Social Scientists (Spring)
- POL42350 Connected Politics (Spring)
Core Option Modules - Select one
- IS41210 Platform Governance (Spring)
- IS41240 Social Networks Online & Offline (Spring)
- POL42050 Quantitative Text Analysis (Spring)
- SOC41070 Sociological Thinking in the Digital Age (Spring)
Option Modules
Autumn
- IS40840 Data & Society
- POL40050 Theories of International Relations
- POL40140 Global Issues in Pol Theory
- POL40950 Introduction to Statistics
- POL40970 Politics European Governance
- POL41020 Politics of Human Rights
- POL41510 Middle East & North Africa
- POL41650 Global Political Econ of Europe
- POL41800 Theories of International Rels Stream 2
- POL41860 Governance, Politics and Development
- POL42040 Gender & the Political System
- POL42440 Political Economy of Security
Spring
- IS41210 Platform Governance
- IS41240 Social Networks Online&Offline
- POL40100 Politics of Development
- POL40160 Comparative Public Policy
- POL40370 International Political Economy
- POL40540 Comparative European Politics
- POL41030 Theory of Human Rights
- POL41640 Qual Research Methods for Pol
- POL41720 Gender, Peace, and Security
- POL41780 The Politics of Inequality
- POL41870 Politi Economy & Comparative Dev
- POL41930 Psychology of Conflict in MENA
- POL41980 Peace & Conflict Studies
- POL42000 Political Theory and the EU
- POL42050 Quantitative Text Analysis
- POL42060 International Security
- POL42340 Programming for Soc Scientists
- POL42430 Social Theory & IR
- SOC41070 Sociological Thinking in the Digital Age
Please note, to be enrolled on POL42430 in Spring, students must have taken and passed either of the following two modules: POL41800 or POL40050.
Summer Trimester Core Module
- POL42310 Thesis (30 credits)
Core and Option Modules for MSc Politics and Data Science Technical Background Stream
These are the current modules for 2022/23 but are subject to change. Each of the following modules carries 10 credits unless otherwise specified.
Core Modules
- POL42350 Connected Politics (Spring)
Core Option Modules - Select one
- IS41210 Platform Governance (Spring)
- IS41240 Social Networks Online & Offline (Spring)
- POL42050 Quantitative Text Analysis (Spring)
- POL42340 Programming for Social Scientists
- SOC41070 Sociological Thinking in the Digital Age (Spring)
Option Modules
Autumn
- IS40840 Data & Society
- POL40050 Theories of International Relations
- POL40140 Global Issues in Political Theory
- POL40950 Introduction to Statistics
- POL40970 Politics European Governance
- POL41020 Politics of Human Rights
- POL41510 Middle East & North Africa
- POL41650 Global Political Economy of Europe
- POL41800 Theories of International Relations – Stream 2
- POL41860 Governance, Politics, Development
- POL42040 Gender & the Political System
- POL42440 Political Economy of Security
Spring
- IS41210 Platform Governance
- IS41240 Social Networks Online & Offline
- POL40100 Politics of Development
- POL40160 Comparative Public Policy
- POL40370 International Political Economy
- POL40540 Comparative European Politics
- POL41030 Theory of Human Rights
- POL41640 Qualitative Research Methods for Political Science
- POL41720 Gender, Peace, and Security
- POL41780 The Politics of Inequality
- POL41870 Political Economy of Institutions and Comparative Development
- POL41930 Psychology of Conflict in MENA
- POL41980 Peace & Conflict Studies
- POL42000 Political Theory and the EU
- POL42050 Quantitative Text Analysis
- POL42060 International Security
- POL42340 Programming for Soc Scientists
- POL42430 Social Theory & IR
- SOC41070 Sociological Thinking in the Digital Age
Please note, to be enrolled on POL42430 in Spring, students must have taken and passed either of the following two modules: POL41800 or POL40050.
Summer Trimester Core Module
- POL42310 Thesis (30 credits)
Program Outcome
The key objective is to have graduates who are able to join data science teams in the Government, corporate, or private sectors, with sufficient understanding of technical concepts in data science and machine learning to collaborate with computer scientists and engineers and with sufficient understanding of social science and politics to be able to bring a deeper understanding of human behaviour to otherwise technology-oriented teams.
Graduates can also use the skills acquired to continue work in political science research, either in academia, think tanks, or the non-profit or public sector, where they will benefit from a deep understanding of the cross-section between data science and political science.
Knowledge and understanding
- Understanding the range of data science and machine learning methodologies that are available to data scientists, and their key advantages and disadvantages.
- Understanding of theories of political behaviour, political processes, and political institutions.
- Understanding variations in political systems and their functioning.
Applying knowledge and understanding
- Understanding of central aspects of political and social science research design, such as conceptualization, operationalization and measurement.
- Ability to use knowledge of research design to systematically address questions pertaining to politics and public policy.
- Gain general experience in applying data science techniques to questions of political and social science relevance.
Making judgements
- Ability to decide on appropriate statistical techniques given a particular research question in relation to political behaviour and public policy.
- Ability to evaluate reported statistical and algorithmic results in political and social science research.
- Through training in general research design, ability to evaluate the veracity of input data of political and social behaviour for use in data science applications.
- Have a basic understanding of the situations where automated techniques as used in standard data science practice are suitable and ethically appropriate, and where not.
Communication and working skills
- Ability to clearly communicate results from statistical analysis of political and social behaviour.
- Ability to communicate the possibilities and scope of data science tools for the understanding of political and social behaviour.
- Basic practice in teamwork and learning how to collaborate in larger technical projects, including the ability to work with techniques for code sharing, agile development, tools for scientific replication, etcetera.
Learning skills
- Have a sufficient grounding in the fundamentals of statistical analysis and computer science to be able to acquire new skills in data science.
- Have a sufficient grounding in political and social science to be able to read into new domains of political and social science research.
Program Tuition Fee
Career Opportunities
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
Program Admission Requirements
Demonstrate your commitment and readiness to succeed in business school by taking the GMAT exam – the most widely used exam for admissions that measures your critical thinking and reasoning skills.
Download the GMAT mini quiz to get a flavour of the questions you’ll find in the exam.