About the Centre for Computational Social Science

The Q-Step Centre for Computational Social Science (C2S2) at the University of Exeter promotes education and research in the interdisciplinary field of computational social science, which combines scientific methods, statistical techniques, Artificial Intelligence, and machine learning to gain actionable insights from big data. Building upon the University’s strong foundations in Sociology, Criminology, and Politics and International Relations, C2S2 combines knowledge and understanding from these fields using computational methods to develop a better understanding of both novel and long-standing socio-political issues through cutting-edge research and our range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

C2S2 originally started as one of the Q-Step Centres established as part of a nationwide £19.5 million Nuffield funded programme. These centres were designed to promote a step-change in quantitative training in British social science education over a five-year period in order to address the nationwide shortage of numerically-skilled social science graduates.

Since then, C2S2 has expanded and now offers a range of both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. These courses blend substantive knowledge in all areas of social science with transferable data-orientated skills; skills that are increasingly in demand by employers in all sectors and industries as a result of our evermore data-driven society.

C2S2 is based in the Clayden Building on the University of Exeter’s Streatham campus and boasts a state-of-the-art Computational Social Science Lab providing individual PCs for up to 30 students.