PhD Data Science

An Integrated PhD provides a route into research study if you do not have a Masters degree, or have very little research training. It enables you to spend your first year completing a Masters-level qualification, followed by a full-time PhD studied over 3-4 years. We also offer a ‘standard' PhD in this subject which can be studied either full-time (3-4 years) or part-time (6-7 years).

The techniques we use to model and manipulate data guide the political, financial and social decisions that shape our modern society and are the basis of growth of the economy and success of businesses. Technology is growing and evolving at an incredible speed, and both the rate of growth of data we generate and the devices we use to process it can only increase.

Data science is a growing and important field of study with a fast-growing number of jobs and opportunities within the private and public sector. The application of theory and methods to real-world problems and applications is at the core of data science, which aims especially to use and to exploit big data.

If you are interested in solving real-world problems, you like to develop skills to use smart devices efficiently, you want to use and to foster your understanding of mathematics, and you are interested and keen to use statistical techniques and methods to interpret data, then the first year of our Integrated PhD Data Science may be for you.

In your second year you move onto the PhD element of the course. We have staff members available to act as supervisors across a number of areas within data science. Possible areas of research include: artificial intelligence, classification/supervised learning, clustering/unsupervised learning, data science education, deep learning, industry 4.0, information retrieval, mathematical foundations of data science, multidimensional scaling, optimisation, and statistical learning.

The University of Essex is a leading institution worldwide on Data Science Education. We have a strong track record on Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTP) with data-driven industries, for example: Profusion, Mondaq, MSXI and Ocado. We have two research groups: Data Science and Mathematics.

All University of Essex research students have access to our innovative and unique scheme, Proficio. Postgraduate research students are automatically enrolled on Proficio, which provides a variety of training courses, and a fund of up to £2,500 per student for conference attendance and relevant external training courses.

Our expert staff

Today's computer scientists are creative people who are focused and committed, yet restless and experimental. We are home to many of the world's top scientists, and our staff are driven by creativity and imagination as well as technical excellence. Specialist staff working on data science and analytics include:

• Dr Luca Citi – machine learning, learning from biological signals and data (EEG, etc)
• Professor Maria Fasli – machine learning, adaptation, semantic information extraction, ontologies, data exploration, recommendation technologies
• Professor Berthold Lausen – biostatistics, classification and clustering, data science education, event time data, machine learning, predictive modelling
• Professor Abdel Salhi – data mining, numerical analysis, optimisation
• Professor Spyros Vrontos – actuarial mathematics and actuarial modelling
• Professor Xinan Yang – approximate dynamic programming, Markov decision process

Our School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science has an international reputation in all areas of mathematical sciences including; statistical learning, artificial intelligence, classification/supervised learning, clustering/unsupervised learning, data science education, actuarial science, mathematical statistics, operational research, applied mathematics, pure mathematics, and mathematics education.

We encourage PhD students to meet with their supervisor regularly. While undertaking your research within our School, joint supervision across other Essex departments and schools is possible.

Your PhD should lead to publications in academic journals. Our PhD students have had papers accepted and published in journals such as: Advances in Data Analysis and Classification; BMC Bioinformatics; Ecology; Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical; Mathematical Modelling of Natural Phenomena; and The North American Journal of Economics and Finance.

Specialist facilities

• Our School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science is based in the University's state-of-the-art STEM Centre
• All computers run either Windows 10 or are dual boot with Linux
• Software includes Java, Prolog, C++, Perl, Mysql, Matlab, DB2, Microsoft Office, Visual Studio, and Project
• You have access to CAD tools and simulators for chip design (Xilinx) and computer networks (OPNET)
• We also have specialist facilities for research into areas including non-invasive brain-computer interfaces, intelligent environments, robotics, optoelectronics, video, RF and MW, printed circuit milling, and semiconductors
• Collaborate with the Essex Institute of Data Analytics and Data Science (IADS) and the ESRC Business and Local Government (BLoG) Data Research Centre of the University of Essex
• The UK Data Archive and the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) at Essex contribute to our internationally outstanding data science environment

Your future

With a predicted shortage of data scientists, now is the time to future-proof your career. Data scientists are required in every sector, carrying out statistical analysis or mining data on social media, so our course opens the door to almost any industry, from health, to government, to publishing.

Our graduates are highly sought after by a range of employers and find employment in financial services, scientific computation, decision making support and government, risk assessment, statistics, education and other areas. Our recent graduates have gone onto work as data scientists and data analysts in both the private and public sectors.

Many of our former PhD students have gone on to work as academics in prominent institutions across the world, such as the University of Bristol, University of Cambridge, University of Nottingham and many other international universities. Some have also remained at the University of Essex, working as postdoctoral research fellows, research impact officers, or lecturers.

Other graduates have joined organisations like the Met Office, the Ministry of Defence, and companies based in the City of London. There is a high demand for data science experts in all sectors of the economy, so our graduates are sought after in the UK and abroad.

We additionally work with our Employability and Careers Centre to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.

“The journey of a PhD student is just like a roller coaster, so make sure you take the time to celebrate the wins and reflect on the losses. My PhD involves examining the process of skeletal muscle activation/deactivation by developing novel mathematical methods to extract dynamic information from image data. The most enjoyable aspect of my work is the flexibility it gives me as an individual and being able to deepen my understanding in the field of Bayesian statistics, which I find particularly interesting. In the future I plan to work in the industry as a Data Scientist, on various projects related either to macroeconomics or finance.”

Madalina Mihailescu, PhD Data Science student

UK entry requirements

A good honours degree in one of the following subjects: Mathematics, Actuarial Science, Statistics, Operational Research, Computer Science, Finance, Economics, Business Engineering.

Our four year integrated PhD, allows you to spend your first year studying at Masters level in order to develop the necessary knowledge and skills and to start your independent research in year two.

English language requirements

Course structure

Most of our taught courses combine compulsory and optional modules, giving you freedom to pursue your own interests. All of the modules listed below provide an example of what is on offer from the current academic year. Our Programme Specification provides further details of the course structure for the current academic year.

Our research-led teaching is continually evolving to address the latest challenges and breakthroughs in the field. The course content is therefore reviewed on an annual basis to ensure our courses remain up-to-date so modules listed are subject to change.

The research element of your degree doesn't have a taught structure, giving you the chance to investigate your chosen topic in real depth and reach a profound understanding. In communicating that understanding, through a thesis or other means, you have a rare opportunity to generate knowledge. A research degree allows you to develop new high-level skills, enhance your professional development and build new networks. It can open doors to many careers.

We understand that deciding where and what to study is a very important decision for you. We'll make all reasonable efforts to provide you with the courses, services and facilities as described on our website and in line with your contract with us. However, if we need to make material changes, for example due to significant disruption, we'll let our applicants and students know as soon as possible.

Teaching

• Core components can be combined with optional modules, to enable you to gain either in-depth specialisation or a breadth of understanding
• Learn to use LATEX to produce a document as close as possible to what professional mathematicians produce in terms of organisation, layout and type-setting
• Our postgraduates are encouraged to attend conferences and seminars

Assessment

• Our taught modules are assessed on the results of your written examinations, together with continual assessments of your practical work and coursework

Dissertation

A PhD (with a minimum period of three years) typically involves wide reading round the subject area in your first year, then gradually developing original results over your second and third years, before writing them up in a coherent fashion. The resulting thesis is expected to make a significant contribution to knowledge.

Your PhD is awarded after your successful defence of your thesis in an oral examination (viva), in which you are interviewed about your research by two examiners, at least one of whom is from outside Essex.