all located on the Kumpula Science campus. The MSc programme in Data Science is offered jointly by these departments and institutes. The studies are largely based on current research trends and topics and focus on applying solutions and methods from research on data science problems.
Data science, as a research field, studies methods for extracting useful knowledge from data. It formulates computational and probabilistic principles for this task; using these principles it develops algorithms, models and systems to address data science needs.
All of the departments and institutes taking part in organisation of the programme are internationally recognised for their research. The faculty are actively engaged in data science research themselves. Their research covers a wide spectrum of the many aspects of data science.
At a very general level, the focal areas of data science research at the University of Helsinki are
Studies in the programme are tightly connected to research carried out in the participating departments and institutes. All the teachers in the program conduct active research in various areas of data science and courses in the programme are largely based on current research trends and topics.
A key element tying your studies and research together is the Master's thesis that you will write at the end of your studies. In the Master’s thesis work you will exercise your data science knowledge in addressing a data science problem. The problem can be theoretical or practical in nature, but your thesis work must always have a research component and a scientific basis. Although your thesis is independent work, you can write it as part of a research group, participate in the daily research activities of the group, and get a first-hand look at how research in data science is performed. You might also be able to write your thesis for a company as long as you fulfil the academic criteria described above. You can discuss these issues with your supervisor.
Helsinki Centre for Data Science (HiDATA) is a world-class hub of Data Science in Helsinki.
The centre builds on the pioneering scientific results of the community and paves way for new breakthrough results across disciplines. The overarching goal of HiDATA is to leverage the synergies of the network in solving significant societal and industrial challenges related to data analysis. HiDATA is a joint hub of the two participating universities University of Helsinki and Aalto University.
HiDATA is funded in 2017–2021 as part of the profiling measures of the Academy of Finland, the University of Helsinki and Aalto University.
The Finnish Center for Artificial Intelligence (FCAI) is a nation-wide competence center for Artificial Intelligence in Finland, initiated by Aalto University, University of Helsinki, and VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. FCAI is one of the six Academy of Finland Finnish flagships. FCAI's mission is to create Real AI for Real People in the Real World—a new type of AI, which is able to operate with humans in the complex world—and to renew the Finnish industry with the new AI.