Tracking the Economy Using FOMC Speech Transcripts
Laura Battaglia and Maria Salunina
Hear from faculty, admissions and career services officers, current students and alumni from our Data Science program
Watch the interactive videoThe digital revolution brings an explosion of data with significant value for businesses, science, and society. As data becomes larger and more complex, extracting useful quantitative insights becomes more challenging.
The Barcelona GSE Master's Program in Data Science Methodology aims to train future leaders in the field with a deeper understanding of the underlying methods, along with the ability to develop techniques for new and/or non-standard problems.
The Master's prepares graduates to design and build data-driven systems in the private, public and research sectors. The curriculum guides students from modeling and theory to computational practice and cutting edge tools, teaching skills that are in growing global demand.
Data Science Methodology students will gain a solid knowledge of Statistics, Machine Learning theory and methods such as Reinforcement Learning and Deep Learning, Optimization and Computing. The program also prepares students to critically assess the validity and performance of existing methods, and to address potential limitations by developing new ones. Students will learn how to apply classroom examples using real data and answering concrete questions from the perspectives of different sectors. Through an independent master's project or an industrial practicum conducted with local businesses or research teams, students have the opportunity to solve actual analytics problems hands-on.
A distinguishing factor of the program is the faculty team, with a strong international research and applied reputation spanning multiple fields: Statistics, Operations Research, and Artificial Intelligence. Our professors routinely publish in top research journals in these disciplines and received prestigious awards and research funding from agencies and the industry. These include the main funding agencies in Spain, the European Research Council, the USA, and the UK, leading technological companies such as Google and Accenture, and banks such as BBVA and CaixaBank. The program also invites guest speakers and entrepreneurs working at the frontiers of Data Science Methods and applications.
The new program director, David Rossell (UPF and Barcelona GSE), is a leading researcher in statistical methodology who has been involved in a number of highly cited applied projects ranging from Biomedicine, Economics to Biochemistry. He held research appointments in Spain, the USA and the UK, and has led teams of applied data scientists at several institutions.
We welcome students from different disciplines. The ideal candidates have graduated in programs with a solid mathematical basis, e.g. statistics, economics, mathematics, computer science, physics, or engineering. However, we also welcome candidates from other disciplines having excellent academic records, who wish to develop their data analysis abilities. The program includes brushup courses in Statistics, Linear Algebra and Programming, to ensure all students have a sufficient basic toolkit. For students interested in more theoretical studies, the program also opens up an opportunity of continuing with PhD studies in a dynamic, active research environment.
Accenture sponsors a full scholarship for one student in the Barcelona GSE Data Science Methodology Program.
Scholarship criteria and details
The Data Science Center offers scholarships in the form of research assistantships (RAs) that require the student to be involved with the Center's data science projects.
About the Barcelona GSE Data Science Center
The Data Science Methodology Program is organized around four pillars:
In September, students are required to take two brush-up courses. Students who can provide evidence of sufficient past coursework may be exempt:
The course offer displayed is for next year's edition (2021-22). Course offer is subject to change.
Course list for current students (2020-21)
The master project is a required component of all Barcelona GSE Master's programs. Working individually or in groups, students use the tools and knowledge they've acquired during the entire year to explore a topic of their choice. A professor supervises throughout the project.
Examples of master projects from recent Data Science cohorts
Select a project to view a summary on the Barcelona GSE Voice, our student and alumni blog:
Laura Battaglia and Maria Salunina
Maximilian Muller
Aron Pap
Michele Costa, Laurits Marschall, Seyed Hamed Mirsadeghi, Alessandro de Sanctis, and Alessandro de Sanctis
Kwa Jie Hao
Upon successful completion of the Barcelona GSE Data Science Methodology Program, students will receive a Master's Degree in Data Science awarded jointly with Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF).
All Barcelona GSE Master's degrees have been recognized by the Catalan and Spanish Education authorities within the framework of the Bologna Process (in Spanish, “Master Universitario o Master Oficial”).
Data Science students usually come from backgrounds primarily in Economics, Physics and Engineering. Successful candidates have strong interest in becoming developers of Data Science methodologies and algorithms, they are committed to remain up to date with current scientific developments in the field and have real interest in both the foundations of the field and real-life and large-scale applications
The industrial practicum is an in-depth analytics project that takes place during the final three months of the master. The practicum gives Data Science students the opportunity to complete a "deep dive" analytics project using real data from selected companies around Barcelona.
Students will dedicate 300 hours to the practicum, collaborating with companies on-site using real data to solve a specific challenge that requires the types of "skill bundles" they have acquired during the first two terms of the master program.
Companies that have expressed interest in offering practicum projects to Barcelona GSE students include commercial banks, consulting firms, mobile application developers, risk analysts, and online retail platforms, among others. With a wide menu of companies competing for their attention, students are very likely to be matched with a practicum in the industry where they might prefer to work after graduation.
Some of the companies collaborating with the industrial practicum are:
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Sample practicum project titles
Examples of recent professional placements:
Company | Position | Industry | Location |
---|---|---|---|
Accenture | Analyst | Consulting | Barcelona |
Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) | Data Scientist | Research | Barcelona |
Blackrock | Data Scientist | Consulting | London |
Central Bank of Chile | Head of Economic Surveys and Administrative Records | Government & Agencies | Santiago |
Criteo | Data Scientist | Advertising & Marketing | Paris |
ESADE | Research Assistant | Research & Academia | Barcelona |
European Central Bank (ECB) | Trainee | Government & Agencies | Frankfurt |
European Investment Bank (EIB) | Trainee | Government & Agencies | Luxembourg |
Fresenius Medical Care | Junior Data Scientist | Healthcare | Berlin |
International Labour Organisation (ILO) | Data Scientist | International Organizations | Geneva |
"la Caixa" Business Intelligence | Data Scientist | Banking & Finance | Barcelona |
Munich Airport | Data Scientist | Aviation | Munich |
Novartis | Advanced Analytics Specialist | Healthcare | Barcelona |
Socialpoint | Game Data Scientist | Gaming | Barcelona |
12 students from 7 countries (67% international)
Most represented countries this year:
Most common academic backgrounds:
Overview of Data Science career paths
To read personal career stories by Data Science alumni, visit the Data Science Program Ambassadors page.
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