Behavioural and Economic Science (MSc)

Course overview

This innovative course in the growing area of decision science and behavioural economics combines multidisciplinary expertise from the Department of Psychology, Department of Economics and Warwick Business School (WBS). The course emphasises both theoretical foundations and real-world application of core and advanced areas of behavioural economics, and the cognitive science of judgement and decision making. The Science Track variation of the course is designed for students with a first degree in a science-based subject, such as Psychology, Maths, Biology, etc. or a subject with a strong quantitative element, such as Business, Finance, etc.

A variation of the course is offered by the Department of Economics and is available if you have a first degree in Economics.

Skills from this degree

By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Gain a deeper understanding of how and why people make the choices they do
• Understand how influencing such choices is important across a variety of domains, from public policy (e.g. encouraging people to save for pensions), through to industry (e.g. how to place a new product in the market), and individual behaviour (e.g. why people drink and eat too much).
• Develop a theoretical understanding of key models and results in behavioural economics and judgment and decision making
• Design, conduct and analyse behavioural experiments
• Implement models of choice
• Access and analyse large-scale datasets
• Initiate economic enquiry and test economic models
• Assess and deploy potential behavioural interventions

Teaching

You will have a combination of lectures, seminars, and practical classes/workshops, depending on the module. Lectures introduce you to a particular topic, seminars build on that knowledge, and practical classes/workshops allow you to put what you are learning into practice alongside tutors knowledgeable in the topic.

Class sizes

Class sizes will naturally vary, however our Psychology courses comprise of around 25-30 students.

Typical contact hours

Teaching occurs throughout the week, with an average of 8-12 hours of lectures and 5-7 hours of workshops, practical classes and/or seminars per week. You will also have meetings with your personal tutor at regular intervals throughout your course.

Assessment

We typically assess modules through a mix of assessment types, which include worksheets, essays, research reports, modelling and data analysis, class tests, exams, and presentations.

Reading lists

Most departments have reading lists available through Warwick Library. If you would like to view reading lists for the current cohort of students you can visit our Warwick Library web pageLink opens in a new window.

Your timetable

Your personalised timetable will be complete when you are registered for all modules, compulsory and optional, and you have been allocated to your lectures, seminars and other small group classes. Your compulsory modules will be registered for you and you will be able to choose your optional modules when you join us.

Undergraduate: Warwick IFP required. Alternatively IB, A-Levels, APs/SAT IIs will be considered.

First Class:84% (GPA of 3.65/4.0)
2.1: 73% (GPA 3.0 out of 4.0)
2.2: 62%(GPA of 2.5/4.0)

Your career

Graduates from this course have gone on to work at places including: Decision Technology, the Commonwealth Bank, the Bursara Center, the Behavioural Insights Team, and Cowry Consulting.

Our department has a dedicated professionally-qualified Senior Careers Consultant offering impartial advice and guidance together with workshops and events throughout the year. We also encourage you to attend a number of networking events held each year, and we hold a series of careers-focused workshops which have previously included topics such as:

• Careers in Behavioural Science
• Applying for PhDs in the Behavioural Science