The MPhil in Digital Policy provides a firm foundation for understanding the challenges and possibilities posed by digital transformation, aimed at policy professionals in the UK and overseas who have embarked on or are embarking on a policy career.

The course is interdisciplinary, spanning political science, economics, law and computer science. The course aims to provide students with the opportunity to develop their powers of critical thinking and the skills and tools to form judgements based on wide ranges of information with varying degrees of uncertainty, and act on them. The course will also train students to understand how others operate and how to work with them to achieve a desired outcome.

The MPhil in Digital Policy is primarily a professional Master's course.

Learning Outcomes:

Knowledge and Understanding

Upon completion of the course students are expected to be able to: ·

• Analyse and deploy different kinds of data and information in an informed and rigorous fashion to develop new insights.

• Demonstrate a critical awareness of digital policy issues from a range of different disciplinary perspectives.

• Critically analyse policy advice and communicate conclusions clearly.

• Critically appraise information from diverse kinds of experts including technical experts.

• Integrate different forms of thinking, including qualitative and quantitative modes of thought in the creation of original research.

• Have a conceptual understanding of the implications of complexity, risk, and uncertainty in policymaking in a technically complex and rapidly changing area.

Skills and other attributes

After completing the course, students can expect to develop:

• Communication skills including preparation of specialist policy briefings and reports

• The ability to obtain and synthesise relevant information and communicate these to different audiences.

• The ability to autonomously judge sources of data and information.

• Strategic thinking in decision-making for complex issues.

• Critical reasoning and independence of mind.

• Teamwork skills for use in professional environments.

• The ability to evaluate the quality and importance of the arguments of a range of different policy experts and analysts.

Continuing:

For those who hope to read for a PhD at Cambridge, a definite decision will only be taken once your performance in the MPhil can be fully assessed. The relevant Admissions Committee will set conditions for you, related to the entry requirements of the PhD – one of which is that you obtain a Distinction in the MPhil.

You will need to attain these targets to continue towards a PhD. The new PhD in Public Policy is due to commence in October 2027, with applications opening September 2026.