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Learn about the out about the history of the Social Data Science Programme.
What is the Social Data Science Programme?
UCL’s Social Data Science Programme offers an in-depth undergraduate programme in quantitative methods for the social sciences over three years. It’s available across four departments – geography, political science, population health and social sciences – with academic staff from all of these disciplines contributing to our teaching. Our students study for a degree in one of these departments, but also come together each week for some of their modules to follow a common curriculum consisting of core modules in years 1 and 2 followed by specialist options in year 3. They graduate from UCL with the addition of “with social data science” to their degree title, a testament to the combined skills they gain in traditional social scientific analysis and data science. They form a close-knit group, collaborating with students from across the university.
What do we do and why do we do it?
We teach social data science. This includes quantitative research methods, data analysis, data visualisation and coding, all with a strong applied focus that builds on our disciplinary expertise in the social sciences. Our programme is unique in the UK not only for its breadth but also its depth. Over three years, our students go from learning introductory statistics to implementing cutting-edge techniques in machine-learning and spatial analysis that are more usually taught to masters and PhD students. These skills make our graduates highly sought-after in the job market. Former Social Data Science students have found success in a range of fields including academia, consulting, data analytics, data journalism, finance and the civil service. Their employability is boosted by our popular internship scheme, which places undergraduates with employers over the summer of their second year to undertake a data science project. Past organisations hosting students have included the Economist, the Financial Times and the Climate Change Policy Initiative.
History of the Programme
Our programme launched in 2013 and until recently was known as the Qstep Centre. We were one of ten Qstep centres founded across British universities as part of a £19.5m investment from the Nuffield Foundation, the Economic and Social Research Foundation and HEFCE. It was designed to address a perceived lack of quantitative skills amongst social science graduates, funding academic posts and administrative capacity to run these new programmes. An independent evaluation has shown that the centres achieved their aim of boosting the skills and employability of graduates. Although our external funding came to an end in 2022, the Social Data Science Programme is now fully funded by UCL and continues to go from strength to strength. In the 2022-23 academic year we launched a revamped third-year curriculum which now includes a range of exciting optional modules including Machine Learning with Python and Social Network Analysis, all taught by specialist staff.
