Master of Science in Data Science

at Goldsmiths, University of London United Kingdom

There has never been a more exciting time to study media and communications. The digital age has transformed our experiences from shopping, to chatting to friends, to searching out information, to political activism. Our mediated worlds impact upon the rhythms and rituals of our daily lives changing the way we think about things, the way we create things, even the way we conceive of ourselves.

We encourage you to look at issues holistically. Alongside lectures and seminars we run workshops, screenings and cultural trips to encourage you to explore the role of the media in our lives as widely as possible – from the individual and organisational level to corporations, the state, and the market across both the public and private sectors.

This is a theory-driven MA, but you also have the opportunity to do a practice option in a range of areas including Journalism, Campaigns and Design, and the Screen School. Plus you get the chance to apply your knowledge to a subject that ignites your interest and do your own independent research as part of your dissertation. From how people mediate the self through body piercing to how we form intimate relationships through social media, your dissertation topic is entirely up to you.

Economists study how markets function. Marketing is about how to operate in markets. The Goldsmiths BA Economics with Marketing will help you develop crucial skills in both disciplines.

Why study BA Economics with Marketing at Goldsmiths?

• This unique course combines a rigorous training in economic theory and applications with cutting-edge insights and techniques from marketing practice.
• Our economics teaching is pluralist and interdisciplinary, so you'll be able to understand which tools are useful when tackling different problems in the real world. Our marketing teaching uses perspectives from psychology, sociology and management to keep you at the frontier of marketing practice.
• This degree will give you great flexibility in today’s competitive labour market: you can work in traditional economics jobs and in a range of management and marketing jobs that are looking for this unique set of skills. For example, you will be uniquely positioned for marketing jobs with a quantitative angle.
• To prepare for your future career, you'll have the opportunity to apply for a limited number of competitive placements. Placements take place at the end of your second year; they count as a 15-credit option towards your degree. Placements enhance your CV, bring theory and practical experience together, and help you develop industry contacts.
• Through the Erasmus programme, you can spend half of your third year at a university in Europe. You'll attend modules, experience a different culture and academic environment, and you'll have the option of learning or improving a foreign language.

This programme offers an exciting and complementary combination of two humanities disciplines which promote the understanding of human life, culture, and society in the past and present.

The BA History with Anthropology at Goldsmiths will enable you to explore and analyse contemporary social, cultural, and anthropological issues in their historical contexts. You will learn the importance of historical understanding for exploring and analysing the complex present-day world that surrounds us.

This programme will give you a grounding in both History and Anthropology, teaching you to think about History like an anthropologist, or Anthropology like a historian. Through History, you will learn to study, analyse, and understand the past and how it continues to make vital contributions to how we comprehend and interact with the world around us. Through Anthropology, you will learn to contextualise contemporary societal and cultural issues, and explore the complex and global world we live in. You will have the opportunity to develop knowledge of many key anthropological concepts, such as kinship, ritual, world systems, and development, as well as investigating anthropology in relation to history, politics, religion, philosophy, and psychology.

From day one, you will be introduced to complementary aspects of the two disciplines, developing Historical skills in modules addressing how History is written and how it should be read while focusing on a range of specific historical controversies. You will also be introduced to key concepts in social anthropology and field research methods. Your first year will also give you the choice of studying a range of subjects in History, many of which can be analysed using anthropological approaches.

Computation consists of all the changes brought about by digital technology. Art is an open set of ways of acting inventively in culture. Mixing the two together in a systematic way gives us computational art. This is a very open field, and one that is set to expand enormously in the coming years. It is where the most exciting developments in technology and in culture can already be found. This degree will place you in the middle of this fast-evolving context.

This degree develops your arts practice through the expressive world of creative computation. Over a two years (full-time) or four years (part-time) you will develop your artistic work and thinking through the challenge of developing a series of projects for public exhibition which will explore the technological and cultural ramifications of computation.

You will learn the fundamentals of programming and how to apply this knowledge expressively. You will work with popular open source programming environments such as Processing, OpenFrameworks, P5.js and Arduino, and will learn how to program in languages such as Java, Javascript and C++.

Since computational artworks don’t necessarily involve computers and screens, we also encourage students to produce works across a diverse range of media. Supported by studio technicians in state-of-the-art facilities, our students are producing works using tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, robotics, wearable technologies, paint, sculpture and textiles.

You will also study contextual modules on computational art and the socio-political effects of technology. Modules provide students with the historical foundations, frameworks, critical skills and confidence to express their ideas effectively. You will have the opportunity to learn the cultural histories of technology, to reflect on computation in terms of its wider cultural effects, and to understand the way in which art provides rigorous ways of thinking.

This programme will equip you for working life in the arts and cultural industries, with a specific focus on working in and managing the arts.

Why study BA Arts Management at Goldsmiths?

• Culture and the arts are vital to the global economy. You'll develop a powerful combination of theoretical insights and professional practice skills to help you navigate these important and expanding sectors.
• You’ll learn how to understand arts and creative organisations, from small community endeavours through to world renowned flagship organisations. This will prepare you for a career in this fascinating subject, in settings such as museums, galleries, theatres, dance and live music venues, festivals, and cultural centres.
• The programme includes talks from experts and visits to cultural organisations, so you’ll gain direct experience of professional practice. You may also benefit from a work placement as part of your studies in, for example, an audience development, fundraising or event management context.
• We're based in London - a global leader in the arts and one of the most important cultural centres in the world. London is the perfect place to study this subject, giving you unrivalled access to a diverse range of arts organisations. The city will become your classroom.
• You can tailor the degree to your unique interests, through independent work in your final year.

This degree brings together the rich work within critical and cultural theory, continental philosophy, cultural studies, and contemporary feminist and postcolonial scholarship.

The MA Sociology (Cultural Analysis) enables you to develop critical and analytical interdisciplinary perspectives on contemporary socio-cultural processes. It offers a sense of the breadth of possible approaches while developing the skills necessary to produce original analyses in a scholarly and inventive manner. You will explore topics like the nature and historical conditions of critique itself, the relations between power and subjectivity, the concept of performativity, cosmopolitics, novel forms of protest, and radical empiricism, among others. These questions cross and connect human and non-human worlds, and involve both aesthetic and historical aspects.

Why study MA Politics, Development and the Global South?

• This degree responds to a need for a fresh, innovative approach to the study and pursuit of development, which has grown from major changes in recent decades – for example the emergence of new geopolitical powers on the international stage, growing challenges to neoliberal dogmas, heightened concern with increasing global inequality, and the recognition of the danger of ecological devastation.
• You’ll study the Global South as a producer of theory, and as a site where novel forms of political struggle are emerging. You’ll gain an understanding of the relationship between discourses of development and specific issues, such as gender, ecology and sexuality.
• The MA reflects Goldsmiths’ interdisciplinary academic spirit, drawing on expertise in the Centre for Postcolonial Studies, the Department of Politics and International Relations, and other departments from across the university.
• You’ll be able to choose options from a wide range of modules across the Department of Politics and International Relations, Anthropology, Media, Communications and Cultural Studies, and Sociology ­– so you can tailor your degree to your own interests and aspirations, and get the most out of your time at Goldsmiths.
• You’ll learn from scholars with an international reputation across a diverse range of research and area specialisms including Latin America, India, China, Japan, the Middle East and Africa.
• Alongside the compulsory modules, you’ll also gain insight into development as a career through a series of industry and activist seminars. You’ll have the opportunity to shape the speakers, format and content of these events to explore different facets of development, such as politics, activism, policy, journalism, charities, consultancy and NGOs.

This MA is designed for students interested in new ways of exploring and understanding the social world through the use of visual, sensory, and other experimental approaches. You’ll study sociological issues alongside innovative methods and gain the tools needed to examine, represent and intervene in the social world.

Why study MA Sociology (Visual Sociology) at Goldsmiths?

• You’ll join students from a wide variety of backgrounds, including art, design, anthropology, media and communications, cultural studies, geography, and sociology.
• You’ll develop the ability to carry out empirical research and present it publicly in a variety of media and materials. You’ll engage with sociology as an inventive research practice, using creative research methods to address classic and changing sociological problems.
• You’ll be introduced to the range of debates in visual research and encouraged to build on these by using visual, sensory and inventive methodological practices to carry out critical social research in your areas of interest, whether this is science and technology, contemporary capitalism, gender and sexual cultures, race, human rights, globalisation, or other aspects of social life.
• Combining lectures and seminars with practical sessions and workshop-based projects, this MA will help you develop a hands-on approach to sociological research. You’ll gain a skills base in methods which could be used in public sector contexts, art or media research, design or commercial application.
• As well as presenting your ideas through writing, you’ll have the opportunity to produce different outputs, including film/video, photography, sound and multimedia pieces. You’ll also have the opportunity to organise and curate some of this work in an exhibition.

This distinctive degree supports your individual concerns and development and enables you to navigate your way through theory and practice, various fine art media, and thematic strands within the study of art history and visual cultures.

Why study BA Fine Art and History of Art at Goldsmiths?

• You’ll gain the expertise that will help you develop independent thought and confidence in your practice, as well as transferable skills suitable for employment in the creative industries.
• Studying both the theory and practice of fine art means you’ll be able to take a critical approach to your work and think about it in the wider context of art history.
• We're renowned for our strengths in the creative and visual arts, as well as humanities subjects, so you'll be able to benefit from this wide-ranging expertise.
• We're ranked 15th in the world for art and design (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2021).
• Staff on the programme are practising artists, curators, academics and writers, here to help you develop your practice, focus your research and respond to the work that you make.
• Our teaching takes advantage of the many galleries, art spaces, museums, cultural facilities and specialist libraries in London and on campus you'll have access to a studio space and excellent facilities including specialist art practice areas, as well as the newly opened Goldsmiths Centre of Contemporary Art.
• Invited artists, curators, gallerists, administrators and funders will provide you with specialist advice and further information to complement your studies and prepare you for professional life after graduation.

Are you interested in a career in anthropology, but haven’t studied the subject before? Have you studied anthropology in the past, but need to consolidate this experience before moving into anthropological research?

Why study MA Social Anthropology at Goldsmiths?

• Whatever your disciplinary background, you’ll have the opportunity to build a solid base in social anthropology, its theoretical foundations, methodology and ethnographic diversity.
• You’ll be able to choose from a variety of option modules, which means you can tailor the degree to your own theoretical or regional interests.
• You can choose to study topics including gender, sexuality and the body, religion and symbolism, political economy, psychological perspectives in anthropology, the anthropology of rights, and visual anthropology.
• You’ll join a diverse group of students with a range of educational backgrounds and interests, so you’ll be exposed to many different perspectives.