This course is available through the following application route(s)
*UCD Iseult Honohan Doctoral Scholarship is now accepting applications! Deadline is 30th Jan 2026. See here*
** Two Ad Astra Doctoral Scholarships also open for applications. Deadline is 6th Feb 2026. See here**
For more information and details regarding the application process, please visit the programme webpage
We offer a PhD programme in Quantitative and Computational Social Science (QCSS). The structured PhD programme includes (2) extensive training in cutting-edge research methods, (2) regular contact with a Research Studies Panel composed of academic staff with expertise related to the student’s interests, and (3) the writing of a doctoral thesis based on original research.
This programme is built around quantitative and computational social science methods and tools applied to substantive and methodological research questions in the social sciences. The programme brings together the perspectives and research methods of various disciplines such as Economics, Politics, Sociology and Statistics. The QCSS programme provides students with rigorous training in quantitative research and methods, including quantitative text analysis, machine learning, computer vision techniques, agent-based modelling, network analysis, and causal inference. Students will apply these methods in their PhD thesis to answer substantive research questions in Social Sciences. Successful candidates are invited to join the Connected_Politics Lab, an interdisciplinary hub for researchers using computational methods to study politics and society, the UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy, and/or the (opens in a new window)UCD Behavioural Science and Policy group, a centre for research and collaboration on integrating behaviourally-informed ideas into public policy.
Students with a quantitative background in any area can undertake the programme. They will undertake various quantitative social science modules offered by the UCD School of Politics and International Relations, the School of Sociology, and the School of Economics. They may also choose modules that are relevant to their own research interest in other UCD Schools.
Below is a list of all modules offered for this degree in the current academic year. Click on the module to discover what you will learn in the module, how you will learn and assessment feedback profile amongst other information.
Incoming Stage 1 undergraduates can usually select an Elective in the Spring Trimester. Most continuing undergraduate students can select up to two Elective modules (10 Credits) per stage. There is also the possibility to take up to 10 extra Elective credits.
| Trimester | Credits | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Stage 1 Core Modules |
POL50220 | Social Science Methodology | Autumn | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - A) Min 1 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE:Students must also take at least one of the following threemodules in Stage 1: |
SOC40640 | Social Simulation: Methods and Models | Autumn | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - A) Min 1 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE:Students must also take at least one of the following threemodules in Stage 1: |
ECON50580 | PhD Econometrics 2 | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - A) Min 1 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE:Students must also take at least one of the following threemodules in Stage 1: |
POL42050 | Quantitative Text Analysis | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
ACM40290 | Numerical Algorithms | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
COMP40610 | Information Visualisation | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
COMP40730 | High Performance Computing | Autumn | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
POL42540 | Applied Data Wrangling and Visualisation | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
SOC40640 | Social Simulation: Methods and Models | Autumn | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
STAT40400 | Monte Carlo Inference | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
STAT40680 | Stochastic Models | Autumn | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
COMP47470 | Big Data Programming | Autumn and Spring (separate) | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
COMP47670 | Data Science in Python (MD) | Autumn and Spring (separate) | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
COMP41680 | Data Science in Python | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
ECON42720 | Causal Inference & Policy Evaluation | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
IS41510 | Social Networks Online and Off | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
POL42340 | Programming for Soc Scientists | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
POL42530 | Politics of International Trade and Investment | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
POL42560 | AI and Large Language Models | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
POL50050 | Quantitative Methods II | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
SOC30380 | Social Dynamics and Networks | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
SOC41130 | AI and Society | Spring | 10 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
STAT30270 | Statistical Machine Learning | Spring | 5 |
Stage 1 Options - B) Min 0 of: SEPTEMBER INTAKE: In addition, students must take up to three option modulesfrom the list below, to bring the credit balance to 35. Note: All taught credits must be taken in Stage 1 and students must achieve a minimum of 35 taught credits in total, between core and options. Students with a technical background (computer science, engineering, statistics) take these modules from relevant offerings in the social sciences, while students with a social science background (incl. business and law) take these modules from relevant offerings in computer science, mathematics, and/or statistics. If your supervisor has recommended a module that does not appear below then please follow the advice on registration to taught modules published on the Graduate Studies website. |
STAT40150 | Multivariate Analysis | Spring | 5 |
Full Time option suitable for:
Domestic(EEA) applicants: Yes
International (Non EU) applicants: Yes
General application route(s) for Irish/UK/EU applicants* for International (non-EU) applicants* to PhD Quantitative & Computational Social Science:
| ROWCLASS | Apply to |
|---|---|
Currently, there are no forthcoming intakes for this course that are open for application |
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