The Scientific Data Analytics and Modelling Programme is an English-language specialization for Master's students
of Physics, organized by the Institute of Physics, Eötvös Loránd University. The programme offers a
comprehensive practical and theoretical overview of modern scientific data science and aims to develop skills
in the fields of experimental data analysis, mathematical modelling, advanced statistics and big data technologies.
We are living in an age of data-intensive sciences, which is an alternative to the traditional hypothesis-driven approach. Meanwhile, there is a growing trend of using complex systems methods not just in natural sciences, but also in economics or sociology. A proof of these phenomena is the appearance of the latest journal of the European Journal of Physics family called EPJ Data Science that collects articles from all fields having common questions.
- How can we get data from ever more complex systems?
- How can we analyze the data to detect new connections?
- How to discover new empirical laws and fundamental theories about the behavior of natural or artificial systems?
The aim of the journal is to find answers to these question using experimental data, simulations and data mining. However, the methods used contain not only traditional statistics or programming, but they are combined with machine learning and artificial intelligence.
The recent changes have pushed the job market also in a direction, there the demand for workforce with low qualifications constantly decreases. The progress of automation makes jobs that can be automated disappear, while there is an ever growing need for digitally creative people who can design and implement the automated systems. Firms and governments have begun to measure the output of all of their activities, and operate their systems and base their decisions on the enormous amount of data collected. That is why parallel to experts in several fields such as economists, bankers, sociologists, engineers, biologists etc., there is a growing need for professionals familiar with data collection, storage, modeling and analysis techniques.
The Scientific Data Analysis and Modeling specialization is thus not just a module that is needed by people of the academia, but gives transferable knowledge for those who plan to work in a more industrial or corporate setting. While the specialization belongs officially to the Master of Physics course, its modular and interdisciplinary approach makes it possible to welcome people from diverse backgrounds. The specialization is practice based, and the core of the subjects (modern programming languages, statistics, databases, visualization, machine learning, modeling, networks, simulations) can be interesting for a wide range of audiences from diverse backgrounds. Students would belong to one of our research groups where they can apply their practical and theoretical knowledge from the module as a part of a real research project. Frontal teaching and lectures will consist of the bare minimum prescribed by the law.