Careers and industry

Our statistics graduates go on to pursue a wide variety of careers and further study at PhD level.

Graduate destinations

Our Statistics graduates go on to a wide range of successful destinations, and our Student Development Manager is on hand to support our students to develop their employability and to transition into careers or PhD study.

Employment

Key graduate employment sectors include:

  • data science
  • medical and health sector
  • pharmaceuticals
  • government statistics
  • finance and insurance
  • software development
  • sports industry

PhD study

In addition to entering employment, some of our graduates also choose to progress to an academic career by studying for a PhD in statistics.

Students have gone on to study their PhDs at highly-ranked universities including Oxford and Edinburgh. 

Summer projects with industry

As part of the MSc, you have to complete a significant independent research project that takes place over the summer. Each year a number of projects are offered by industrial contacts and companies to our MSc students. This practical experience is highly valued by employers. Some examples of previous industry-linked dissertation projects include:

  • Hospital admission prediction - in partnership with the NHS
  • Community energy generation - in partnership with Aberdeen Community Energy
  • Identifying lead in water pipes - in partnership with Scottish Water
  • Record linkage - in partnership with Amazon

Employability skills

We want to help you gain other skills alongside your strong academic profile to make sure you are fully equipped to maximise your potential in the global market.

Our students have access to an award-winning Careers Service. This team works closely with the School to put on talks and events including:

  • sessions on career development ranging from CV writing advice and preparing for interviews, to applying for PhDs
  • employer presentations representing a range of industries including Lloyds Banking Group, Wood Mackenzie, Merkle Aquila and the Government Operational Research Service (GORS)
  • an annual careers showcase to network with alumni from our MSc programmes and gain insights into their current roles and careers
  • interdisciplinary challenges, such as the "Analytics Challenge" set by Edinburgh Airport, and run in collaboration with the Business School

As well as these events, the Careers team are available for personal appointments (booked online).

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