Computational Social Science

Use statistical and computational methods to understand society and human behaviour. The programme prepares you to harness complex data and advanced computational tools to address these and other important social questions.

The increased integration of technology into our lives has created unprecedented volumes of data on everyday human behaviour. Troves of detailed social data related to choices, affiliations, preferences and interests are now digitally archived by internet service providers, media companies, other private-sector firms, and governments. New computational approaches based on predictive modeling, agent-based simulations, text analysis, and network science make it possible to analyse these data in insightful and novel ways.

This is a chance to develop skills in cutting edge computational techniques alongside a strong grounding in the principles and practice of contemporary social research. The programme’s quantitative methods training will help you harness complex data and use them to explore social theories and fundamental questions about human societies. The programme’s theoretical and substantive training will introduce you to the principles of social inquiry and theories of human behaviour, and help you apply your technical skills to pressing social issues such as ethnic segregation in schools, income inequality, entrepreneur- ship, political change, and cultural diffusion.