MSc by Research VISUAL ANALYTICS

Overview & facilities

“Every two days now we create as much information as we did from the dawn of civilization up until 2003... That’s something like five exabytes of data…” 
                                                                                                                                                                        Google CEO Eric Schmidt

Visual analytics is a key requirement of the early 21st century. As our human activity generates rapidly increasing amounts of new data every day, there is an urgent need to make sense of it and a huge potential to elicit new knowledge and insights from it. World events and phenomena like climate change, 9/11, global finance systems and public health are data rich and increasingly complex. Visual analytics turns large and complex, data sets into interactive visualisations that can prompt visceral comprehension and moments of insight that are compelling and offer an unparalleled richness of possibility for data analysts. In this uncharted world of boundless data, visual analytics is providing our new maps and new ways of navigating. Data analytics is recognised as a key trend that will have a major impact on the IT and Communications industry in the next 5 years

Middlesex University is the recognised centre for excellence in visual analytics the UK and leads the UK Visual Analytics Consortium (UKVAC). This group is working at the leading edge of Visual Analytics and works on a global basis. The UK partners are: Imperial College, University College London (UCL), Swansea, Bangor and Oxford Universities.

We are growing our community of practice in visual analytics and this is a chance to join our team, to work alongside some of the best UK researchers and to get involved in leading edge work. The course will build your professional network, your understanding and your portfolio of experience. Visual Analytics is an interdisciplinary, creative and technical activity. That’s why we’ve built a masters course that is unique. You’ll be working for most of the time on your own research and development project, supported by great supervisors, and connecting with new people, theories and practices through workshops that are spread throughout the year. You’ll leave with unique insights, strong skills and great contacts; you’ll also pick up an MSc along the way.

Listen to the course introduction by Professor William Wong

Download the School of Engineering and Information Sciences brochure.

Content & modules

This unique, research-based course doesn’t follow the traditional model of lectures, examinations and thesis writing. We will induct you into our community through an ongoing series of workshops and then help you to build a project that meets your current needs and future plans. We’ll also tailor learning experiences for you to fill identified gaps in your knowledge and to prepare you for novel application areas. We’d expect your project to be greeted with interest in the academic sector and to give you the leverage that you need in the jobs market place. The normal study period with us will be 12 months full time or 24 months part time. We do not offer this course by distance learning as we need you to be fully engaged with our community and working actively with your peer group; visual analytics is moving fast and we intend to stay at the leading edge.

Our workshop schedule includes:

Logic and Sense-making: how do we reason about the world, and how do we make sense of the information that is presented to us?

Human Perception and Information Visualisation: how does human visual perception work, and how do we navigate, interact and evaluate in domains that present information visually. What modalities can we use to represent information about entities and their relationships (e.g. temporal, locative, etc), and how do these modalities impact on human processes?

HCI and System Modelling: how do we apply the principles of user and activity centred design to VA systems? How do we design representations that support decision making? How do we determine what relationships in the data sets should be represented? How do we design the interactions that simplify analytical procedures, evidence collation and conclusion formation?

Visual Analytics System Architecture: how do we design systems architectures that bring together complex data sets so that they can be visualised to support intended applications? This could include areas such as data integrity, data granularity and data provenance.

Operational Issues and e-Discovery: how do VA systems integrate into real working practices, with particular reference to environments where they will be used for e-Discovery such as complex documentation sets?

Data Analysis and Knowledge Engineering: advanced techniques for analysing data sets and extracting knowledge.

In addition, there will be a series of supporting seminars to cover required areas of research methods, mathematical skills and programming.

Entry & applying

Visual Analytics is an interdisciplinary activity that requires creativity and technical knowledge and skill. It is a human centred activity and is developing rapidly. There are opportunities for a broad range of specialists to make a productive contribution and a future career. We are interested in people with backgrounds in subjects involving considerable analytic skills, such as Computer Science, Mathematics, Psychology or Physical Science. Some experience of programming is required, or a willingness to learn prior to embarking on the course.

Qualifications accepted

For a comprehensive list of qualifications accepted by Middlesex, see further information under entry requirements

English language requirements

You will write and defend your Thesis in English, so you must have competence in English language and we normally require Grade C GCSE or an equivalent qualification. The most common English Language requirements for international students are IELTS 6.5 or TOEFL (paper based) 575 or TOEFL (internet based) 90 with specified minimum scores for each component. For details of other equivalent English language requirements that Middlesex accepts see international entry requirements

Applying

You can apply at any time during the year, and if you are shortlisted you will be invited to discuss the programme and your needs. This will be done through phone or video calls for overseas students. 

To make an application you will need to follow the university application procedure for a research degree. We don’t expect you to make a detailed research proposal, but would prefer you to prepare a 1-2 page statement of your interest in Visual Analytics research and how you expect this experience to develop your future career prospects.

Please contact Dr. Kai Xu for further information on this course and how to apply.
k.xu@mdx.ac.uk

Fees & funding

The tuition fee for the MSc by Research - Visual Analytics for the academic year 2012/13 is as follows:

UK/EU Students

Full-time students: £6,000

Part-time students: £50 per taught credit

Find out about our flexible payment plans for UK/EU students, and how they can help you spread the cost of your course.

International Students

Full-time students: £10,600

Part-time students: £93 per taught credit

Careers & placements

Visual Analytics - the sexy job of 2010 and beyond

"People think I’m joking, but who would’ve guessed that computer engineers would’ve been the sexy job of the 1990s? The ability to take data—to be able to understand it, to process it, to extract value from it, to visualize it, to communicate it—that’s going to be a hugely important skill in the next decades." 
                                                                                                                                   Hal Varian, Google’s chief economist, October 2008

During the course you will work alongside some of the UK's best researchers and get involved in leading edge work. The course will build your professional network, your understanding and your portfolio of experience. You’ll be supported by great supervisors, and connecting with new people, theories and practices through workshops that are spread throughout the year.  You’ll leave with unique insights, strong skills and great contacts.

Placements

During the course there will be placement opportunities such as working at the Middlesex Design and Innovation Centre. For outstanding students there are also opportunities to visit or exchange with our US partners including the leading visual analytics institutes such as the Purdue University and National Visual Analytics Centre located at the Pacific Northwest National Lab.

Careers

Graduates from the degree will have the opportunity to continue the study towards a PhD. For those who would prefer to go into industry, there is also excellent prospects to work as “data analysts”, which is in high demand in software houses,consultancies, and end-user companies in a variety of sectors.

Data analysts perform complex data analysis in support of management and/or customer requests. More specifically, data analysts:

• Discuss information or business intelligence needs with internal staff and/or external clients
• Collect and collate appropriate data for use in databases and conduct related research
• Generate reports using IT / database systems and assist in their analysis
• Monitor and maintain the quality of database systems and secure access and use
• Assist in development and upgrading of database systems and analytical techniques.

Starting salaries are typically £18,000 to £28,000 depending on size and type of employer. With a couple of years’ experience and knowledge of latest systems and techniques, this can rise to £30,000 to £50,000.