Data Visualisation (MASc/PGDip) (2025 Entry)

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Course code

P-L995 (MASc);

P-L996 (PGDip)

Start date

29 September 2025 

Duration

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (MASc); 9 months full-time or 21 months part-time (PGDip)

Qualification

MASc (Masters in Arts and Science); PG Diploma

Led by

Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies

Location

University of Warwick

Course code

P-L995 (MASc);

P-L996 (PGDip)

Start date

29 September 2025 

Duration

1 year full-time or 2 years part-time (MASc); 9 months full-time or 21 months part-time (PGDip)

Qualification

MASc (Masters in Arts and Science); PG Diploma

Led by

Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies

Location

University of Warwick

Meet us

Download our prospectus Link opens in a new window

Apply now

Explore our Data Visualisation taught Master's degree at Warwick

Warwick’s Data Visualisation MASc focuses on the skills and knowledge needed to design, develop, deploy and interpret data visualisations. Open up diverse career opportunities by developing a Data Visualisation portfolio through studies spanning the Sciences, Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies.

Course overview

The MASc in Data Visualisation is an innovative, interdisciplinary course which enables students to acquire crucial knowledge and skills in visualisation as a methodology for data-intensive research, communication and engagement. Students will be trained in concepts, methods and techniques from data science, digital humanities and design research, whilst developing a portfolio of work that prepares them for diverse career opportunities.

The programme aims to develop the methodological, conceptual and practical skills needed to design, deploy and interpret data visualisations successfully in academic, policy and public contexts. The course combines academic training in methodological and conceptual aspects with the development of technical, creative and practical competences in data visualisation as a way of communicating knowledge, as a form of engagement, and as a way of seeing the world.

During the programme you will develop:

End-to-end skills and joined-up understanding that enable you to design, create and code visualisations, work with data, and analyse and understand your data visualisations and those of others.
Critical, interdisciplinary perspectives required by employers, that integrate expertise in tools, techniques, knowledges and methods of analysis, leading to a 360 view of what data visualisations are and do, and the limits of this medium.
A portfolio of work to kickstart your career, progressed through diverse projects in your modules, a practice- or theory-led dissertation, and within the Data-Design Camp.
Expertise in the interactions between Data + Code + Design + Theory developed through learn to code as a basis for creating visualisations, as well as furthering your understanding of visualisations through critique and analysis.

What is an MASc?

The MASc is a flexible degree where students customise their learning trajectory through interdisciplinary topics and modules that might usually be isolated to either MA or MSc qualifications. Through optional module choices, project directions and final dissertation, you can tune your degree to fit your learning and career goals.

Skills from this degree

Coding and software skills for visualisation
Design and visual analysis skills building on the fundamentals of data visualisation
Substantial design experience through project work
Analytical skills to conceptually frame and relate visualisation designs to wider societal, cultural, and political debates
Writing and communication skills for analysis/discussing technical content
Critical academic research skills with an interdisciplinary focus

Entry requirements

General entry requirements

Minimum requirements

2:1 undergraduate degree (or equivalent). There is no requirement for prior knowledge of coding or programming.

English language requirements

You can find out more about our English language requirementsLink opens in a new window. This course requires the following:

Band B
IELTS overall score of 7.0, minimum component scores of two at 6.0/6.5 and the rest at 7.0 or above.

International qualifications

We welcome applications from students with other internationally recognised qualifications.

For more information, please visit the international entry requirements pageLink opens in a new window.

Academic References

We typically ask for one academic reference for taught courses, and two academic references for research courses.

You will be asked to include an email address for your referee(s) when submitting your application and we will contact them for you.

View our guide to academic references.Link opens in a new window

Additional requirements

There are no additional entry requirements for this course.

Modules

Core modules

Visualisation Foundations

Data visualisations (graphs, maps, networks) have become a fundamental currency for the exploration of data and the exchange of information. This module develops foundational understanding in what visualisations are and how they operate. Coding skills are developed alongside the conceptual understanding, allowing students to develop visualisations and their understanding in terms of design, theory, data and code.

As visualisation is such an interdisciplinary topic, students will engage with diverse topics spanning data science and psychology, graphic design and the arts, and critical cartography and data feminism.

Data Visualisation in Science, Culture and Public Policy

The module introduces concepts, methods and empirical cases that enable an understanding of the affordances, power and limitations of data visualisation in science, culture, and public policy.

Data visualisations have opened-up diverse challenges and opportunities for contemporary science, culture and public policy that show how visualisations mediate knowledge and enable communications through persuasion and real-world engagements. The module draws from social, cultural and political theory, science and technology studies, as well as digital and environmental humanities, equipping students with an ability to analyse and research the affordances of data visualisation as forms of knowledge, intervention and participation.

Advanced Visualisation Design Labs

In this module, students develop three visualisation projects that further advance their independence in visualisation design, development, analysis and critique. Each project responds to a visualisation challenge drawn from methodological, societal, scientific and policy topics. At least one of the challenges involves a real-world problem proposed by an external partner.

Students respond to project briefs through hands-on workshops, prototyping, and expanding their design and technical skills in dialogue with their methodological and critical understanding. Master-classes expand students’ methodological and technical repertoire in areas such as human-centred design, typography, storytelling, stencilling, and digital cartography. In dialogue with their visualisation portfolio, students produce a design manifesto exploring their methodological and aesthetic approach, in relation to ethics and visual cultures.

Optional modules

Optional modules can vary from year to year. Example optional modules may include:

Data Science Across Disciplines: Principles, Practice and Critique
User Interface Cultures: Design, Method and Critique
Generative AI: Histories, Techniques, Cultures and Impacts
Urban Infrastructures
Introduction to Contemporary AI: Techniques and Critiques
Approaches to the Digital
Digital Objects
Big Data Research: Hype or Revolution?
Adventures in Interdisciplinarity
Global Digital Health and Human Rights

Tuition fees

Tuition fees are payable for each year of your course at the start of the academic year, or at the start of your course, if later. Academic fees cover the cost of tuition, examinations and registration and some student amenities.

Find your taught course fees

Fee Status Guidance

We carry out an initial fee status assessment based on the information you provide in your application. Students will be classified as Home or Overseas fee status. Your fee status determines tuition fees, and what financial support and scholarships may be available. If you receive an offer, your fee status will be clearly stated alongside the tuition fee information.

Do you need your fee classification to be reviewed?

If you believe that your fee status has been classified incorrectly, you can complete a fee status assessment questionnaire. Please follow the instructions in your offer information and provide the documents needed to reassess your status.

Find out more about how universities assess fee status

Additional course costs

As well as tuition fees and living expenses, some courses may require you to cover the cost of field trips or costs associated with travel abroad.

For departmental specific costs, please see the Modules tab on the course web page for the list of core and optional core modules with hyperlinks to our Module Catalogue (please visit the Department’s website if the Module Catalogue hyperlinks are not provided).

Associated costs can be found on the Study tab for each module listed in the Module Catalogue (please note most of the module content applies to 2024/25 year of study). Information about module department specific costs should be considered in conjunction with the more general costs below:

Core text books
Printer credits
Dissertation binding
Robe hire for your degree ceremony

Scholarships and funding

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and financial support

Find out about the different funding routes available, including; postgraduate loans, scholarships, fee awards and academic department bursaries.

Living costs

Find out more about the cost of living as a postgraduate student at the University of Warwick.

CIM Scholarships and Bursaries 2025-26

Digital Health and Rights Project Scholarship

This multinational research project advocating for rights-based digital governance in low- to middle-income countries is offering one scholarship to an exceptional postgraduate student with an interest in furthering digital health and human rights. The award will provide £24,000 towards tuition fees and a £1,600 travel grant. Only candidates eligible for Overseas Fees status can apply.

The deadline for applications is: 23:59 (BST) 31 May 2025

Find out more about the Digital Health and Rights ProjectLink opens in a new window.

International Masters Bursaries

Applicants from all African countries: £19,243 (70% of the full-time 2025-26 Overseas fee)
Applicants from South and Southeast Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka; Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar): £13,745 (50% of the full-time 2025-26 Overseas fee)
Applicants from all South American countries: £13,745 (50% of the full-time 2025-26 Overseas fee)

The deadline for applicants from these regions is: 23:59 (BST) 31 May 2025

Home Masters Bursaries

Each award will be an £8,000 contribution towards tuition fees and be made on a competitive basis. Full- and part-time candidates are eligible to apply.

The deadline for applications is: 23:59 (BST) 31 July 2025

Learn more about our MSc courses and funding options on our websiteLink opens in a new window.

Teaching

Modules in this course make use of a range of teaching and learning techniques, including, for example:

Student group and project work
Lectures
Seminars
Coding sessions
Blended learning including the use of an online virtual learning environment
Reading and directed critical discussion
Independent research by students
Practice-based activities

A one-week Data-Design Camp enables students to advance their projects through interactions with leading visualisation professionals.

Class sizes

A typical workshop for this course contains around 20-30 students and a typical seminar around 16-18 students.

Typical contact hours

There are typically around 8-10 hours contact hours per week, depending on type and number of optional modules chosen.

Assessment

A combination of essays, reports, design projects, a portfolio, technical report writing, practice assessments, group work and presentations and an individual research project (5,000 word Final Project, MASc only).

Reading lists 

If you would like to view reading lists for current or previous cohorts of students, most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library on the Talis Aspire platformLink opens in a new window. 

You can search for reading lists by module title, code or convenor. Please see the modules tab of this page or the module catalogueLink opens in a new window.  

Please note that some reading lists may have restricted access or be unavailable at certain times of year due to not yet being published. If you cannot access the reading list for a particular module, please check again later or contact the module’s host department.  

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you have been registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules shortly before joining us.

Careers

Your career

Graduates from our courses have gone on to work for employers including: AXA, BaiDu, GroupM, Just Eat, Skyscanner, The Labour Party and University of Warwick. They have pursued roles such as: authors, writers and translators; business and financial project management professionals; buyers and procurement officers; data analysts and product managers; marketing associate professionals; quality assurance and regulatory professionals and researchers.

Our department has a dedicated professionally qualified Senior Careers ConsultantLink opens in a new window offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. Previous examples of workshops and events include:

Warwick careers fairs throughout the year
Careers in AI and Data Science
Discovering Careers in the Creative Industries
Discuss What’s Next After Your CIM Master’s Degree

Department

Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM)

The Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM) was established at Warwick in 2012 to foster innovative and experimental forms of knowledge production through a sustained focus on methodology. CIM is dedicated to expanding the role of interdisciplinary methods through new lines of inquiry that cut across disciplinary boundaries, both intellectually and institutionally.

Method is central to the formation and transformation of disciplinary knowledges, and the challenge of working across and in between disciplines is both exciting and pressing. Our research team is drawn from across the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Sciences, with expertise in a variety of substantive domains.

Within Warwick, CIM is an advocate of interdisciplinary research and study. Beyond Warwick and beyond the academy, CIM explores new forms of public engagement, both with potential research users and with the experts, experimenters and institutions in business, civil society and government that are at the forefront of applied methodological innovation.

Find out more about us on our website.Link opens in a new window

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How to apply

Applications are now open for courses that start in September and October 2025.

Applications will close on 2 August 2025 for students who require a visa to study in the UK, to allow time to receive a CAS and complete the visa application process.

Places are often limited, so we recommend that you submit your application as early as possible.

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Why Warwick

Discover why Warwick is one of the best universities in the UK and renowned globally.

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6th Most Targeted University

by the UK's top 100 graduate employers (The Graduate Market in 2024, High Fliers Research Ltd)

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out of 1,500 institutions across 104 locations (QS World University Rankings 2025)

Page updates

We may have revised the information on this page since publication. See the edits we have made and content history.

About the information on this page

This information is applicable for 2026 entry. Given the interval between the publication of courses and enrolment, some of the information may change. It is important to check our website before you apply. Please read our terms and conditions to find out more.

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Data Visualisation (MASc/PGDip) (2025 Entry)

Explore our Data Visualisation taught Master's degree at Warwick

Scholarships and financial support

Living costs

After you’ve applied

Applicant Portal

Admissions statement

Join a live chat

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Explore ways to connect with us

Why Warwick

Why Warwick

Why Warwick

Why Warwick

8th in the UK

6th Most Targeted University

69th in the World

5th best student city in the UK

Gold standard teaching

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