Program Overview

BSc Politics with Data Science will allow you to study topics such as distributional justice and questions of power alongside thinking critically about a wide range of political phenomena. You’ll gain an understanding of important social science questions, with the latest tools and data sources to analyse them. You will make use of data to understand the political world whilst becoming a social scientist that can both understand and shape the data revolution.

Our BSc Politics with Data Science offers a wide range of topics from the political world, ranging from individual voting decisions to international cooperation between states along with hands-on training in the basics of programming and data analysis.

Areas that you can expect to explore include, but are not limited to:

• Concepts in political science: the state, laws, wars and political parties
• Programming with Python, Java, and R
• Data collection, visualisation and natural language engineering
• International relations
• Democratic systems and political power
• Statistical analysis and machine learning

Placement year

Alternatively, on a placement year you gain relevant work experience within an external business, giving you a competitive edge in the graduate job market and providing you with key contacts within the industry. You will be responsible for finding your placement, but with support and guidance provided by both your department and our Employability and Careers Centre.

A Placement-Linked Project module is also available as an alternative to the dissertation module in your third year. You attend shorter placements (a minimum of 150 hours in total), and use your learning on placement to inform a research project; fantastic work experience for your CV.

If you complete a placement year you'll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.