Why study Social Statistics?

We are a leading, research-intensive department in Social Statistics.

Our work is interdisciplinary, with our colleagues publishing in top journals across fields as diverse as Statistics, Demography, Social Networks, Data Science, Economics, Political Science, Medicine, and Sociology.

Interdisciplinary learning

As an undergraduate student, you can combine the study of Data Analytics with a range of major social science subjects including:

You can also study joint undergraduate degree pathways.

If you are a graduate student with a background in Social or Natural Sciences, our MSc Social Research Methods and Statistics (SRMS) will help you boost your research and data analytical skills and will get you ready for a career in academia or industry.

Alongside the Department of Mathematics, Department of Computer Science, and the Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS), we contribute to MSc Data Science.

A vibrant learning environment

Our courses focus on statistics, data analytics, and research skills, and how these methods can be applied to understand the world around us.

You will learn to work with real data and to analyse those data with a variety of software such as R, Stata, SPSS, or Excel.

Your learning will be supported through on-site lectures, tutorials, and workshops as well as online materials, videos, discussion boards, and other innovative methods.

You will be learning statistics and data analytics from research-active experts whose work has been featured in the best journals in their fields.

Your future

Skills in data analytics are in demand in the graduate workplace.

The following examples reflect the sorts of opportunities available to you at The University of Manchester and how these can help differentiate you in applying for graduate roles.

With an undergraduate or postgraduate degree including data analytics, you will be able to able to apply for roles in a wide range of careers.

These include policy roles, research in academia, and the public sector.

We have former graduates who are civil servants, market researchers, and entrepreneurs, as well as working in artificial intelligence or as data scientists.

Our graduates have entered careers in a wide range of organisations including government departures such as the Department for Transport, the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Office for National Statistics, the Home Office, and the Scottish Government.

Some have entered careers in the not-for-profit sector such as the British Youth Council, Oxfam, the OECD, and the UN.

Others are working in the commercial sector for data consultancies, and some are in local government roles as intelligence analysts.

Some have chosen to pursue a PhD in subjects as far-ranging as ocean policies and an examination of gender in films using Social Network Analysis.