Do you like coming up with elegant solutions for complex problems? Do you find it challenging to extract patterns from large sets of data?

Then you should consider getting a master’s in Data Science for Decision Making. In today’s world, many companies and organisations collect all sorts of data. They aim to extract useful information from it, to recognise patterns and anomalies. Data Science for Decision Making provides the mathematical tools to model and handle these datasets. It has widespread applications in business and engineering, ranging from scheduling customer service agents and optimising supply chains, to modelling biological processes and extracting meaningful components from brain signals.

Upon graduation, you'll therefore have excellent qualifications to pursue a career as a data scientist, researcher or manager in many different industries.

Why this programme?

Data Science for Decision Making will familiarise you with methods, techniques and algorithms that can be used to address major issues in mathematical modelling and decision making.

You will also get hands-on experience in applying this knowledge through computer classes, group research projects and the thesis research. The unique blend of courses will equip you with all the knowledge and skills you’ll need to have a successful career.

Widespread applications:

Data Science for Decision Making links data science with making informed decisions. It has widespread applications in business and engineering, such as scheduling customer service agents, optimising supply chains, discovering patterns in time series and data, controlling dynamical systems, modelling biological processes, finding optimal strategies in negotiation and extracting meaningful components from brain signals.

This means you'll be able to pursue a career in many different industries after you graduate.

Programme topics:

Data Science for Decision Making covers the following topics:

• production planning, scheduling and supply chain optimisation,
• modelling and decision making under randomness, for instance in queuing theory and simulation,
• signal and image processing with emphasis on wavelet analysis and applications in biology,
• algorithms for big data,
• estimation and identification of mathematical models, and fitting models to data,
• dynamic game theory, non-cooperative games and strategic decision making with applications in evolutionary game theory and biology,
• feedback control design and optimal control, for stabilisation and for tracking a desired behaviour,
• symbolic computation and exact numerical computation, with attention to speed, efficiency and memory usage,
• optimisation of continuous functions and of problems of a combinatorial nature.

Specialisation in Quantum Computing:

Quantum computing is a real buzz in computing science and beyond. Although quantum computing hardware is still in its infancy, scientists, companies and governments want to be ready for the real thing.

If you want to prepare for the advantages quantum computers may offer in computing, and specifically in the fields of data science, artificial intelligence and machine learning, then Maastricht University is the place to be. We are the only Dutch university offering a specialisation in Quantum Computing as part of Data Science for Decision Making and Artificial Intelligence master’s programmes. If you finish your specialisation successfully, it will be mentioned on your master’s diploma.