Introduction

The digitisation of society has led to considerable increase in the volume of data available. As a result, most of society's stakeholders now rely heavily on this data to help them make objective decisions and develop their areas of expertise. These specific needs have resulted in the emergence of new data-oriented careers.

The Civil Engineering Master in Data Science offers training in scientific methods and technology tools to answer societal or scientific questions based on the processing of often massive data ("Big Data"). This discipline generally involves combining structured modelling of the problem of interest with computer science, statistics and mathematics to provide a rigorous, quantitative and operational solution to the question posed.

An IT infrastructure and complex calculation algorithms also complement these scientific methods to enable the data to be structured and processed.

Finally, cybersecurity has become an essential element in a data-centric world: it involves understanding and being able to manage the risks associated with the data itself, as well as being able to protect stored data and circulate it securely.

The areas of application of data science are extremely varied: political and security decision-making, e-commerce, network data processing, financial and industrial production data processing, natural langage processing, biomedical research based on microbiological or imaging data and more.

Your profile

You have completed a bachelor's or master's degree in which you have gained solid skills and an appreciation of the three fundamental pillars of data science - mathematics, statistics and computer science - as well as an interest in the fields in which these disciplines are applied.

You have a good command of technical English and are able to follow lectures, read scientific literature, write reports and express yourself orally in this language. You have the general skills and personal qualities necessary for a scientific master's degree, namely, autonomy, critical thinking, rigour, self-learning capacity and the ability to search and process information.

An additional teaching block (of maximum 60 credits) may be offered to students who lack some of these skills.

Your future job

Your degree in data science will prepare you for positions as a data scientist, data analyst, security analyst, data and analytics manager, data engineer, security engineer or security architect, and will prepare you to take on responsabilities in these fields. 

Your programme

UCLouvain civil engineering master's programme in Data Science : Information Technology is based on a core curriculum that provides a technical foundation in the fields of learning theory, databases, and linear statistical models.

This core curriculum is complemented by a specialisation in data analysis or cybersecurity :

• The data analysis major offers a range of algorithms and statistical methods for data mining, learning, and visualisation of large datasets.
• The cybersecurity major is built around five pillars: cryptography, privacy, and hardware, software and system security, as well as an introduction to information theory.

These specialisations are completed by options and elective courses that allow students to deepen their knowledge of algorithms, computer science, statistics, applications or entrepreneurship.

Your parcours

You will primarily develop solid, in-depth, cross-disciplinary skills to be able to address a broad spectrum of data science and cybersecurity problems and to carry out projects or develop research in the field.

Your programme will offer you opportunities to explore, through projects, internships or applied courses, the extremely varied fields of application of data science.