MPhil/PhD Computational Social Science

You'll learn to rigorously and creatively apply computational methods to social science research problems. You'll develop advanced skills in computational methods, research design, social scientific thinking and research communication.

You'll have the opportunity to take taught courses in research design, computational methods, and others, to update your skills. Your research will benefit from attentive supervision from a supervisory team. Throughout your studies you may draw on our interdisciplinary expertise in areas including political science, statistics, sociology, social psychology, anthropology and criminology.

You'll begin your study on the MPhil and move on to the PhD (subject to certain requirements).

Applicants should have some background in both a social science and quantitative/computational methods. Your proposed project should use computational methods in a social science context, to make a contribution that is methodologically innovative, substantively important, or both.

You'll typically take a small number of courses to provide you with skills you need to conduct your project. You'll produce a literature review and research design for your PhD project.

Your focus will be on conducting your research. In addition to the PhD seminar, you may take transferable skills courses.

At the end of your second year (full-time), you'll need to satisfy certain requirements and if you meet these, will be retroactively upgraded to PhD status.

Your focus will be on conducting and beginning to write up your research. In addition to the PhD seminar, you may take transferable skills courses.

Your focus will be on writing and submitting your thesis. In addition to the PhD seminar, you may take transferable skills courses.

The department is an internationally recognised centre of excellence in social science research methodology.

We offer postgraduate programmes in social research methods, applied social data science and demography, welcoming around 80 students each year.

As a department, we also provide training for thousands of students and staff across LSE on research design, qualitative, quantitative and computational methods. From our regular courses and seminars through to our advanced short courses, we want to ensure that students and staff have the expertise to maintain the School’s excellence in social scientific research.

The department has a vibrant and collaborative ethos. We’re proud to have won the 2023 LSE SU Teaching Award for Departmental Excellence – based on student nominations.

Our teaching team include leading researchers in sociology, political science, international relations, anthropology, economics, psychology, criminology, and statistics. We also work closely with colleagues in the departments of Statistics and Mathematics on interdisciplinary topics, such as the social applications of data science.

Our aim is to make the School the pre-eminent centre for methodological training in the social sciences.

Department of Methodology

Who's who

Dr Eleanor Power

Doctoral Programme Director

Department of Methodology

We welcome applications with research projects that complement the academic interests of staff in the Department of Methodology. Your primary supervisor must be a faculty member in the department. You'll have at least one other supervisor, who may be located in a different department in the School.

We encourage prospective students to email their proposals to potential supervisors before applying to gauge their interest. Browse our list of potential supervisors for MPhil/PhD Computational Social Science under "academic staff".

We carefully consider each application and take into account all the information included on your form, such as your:

• academic achievement (including existing and pending qualifications)
• statement of academic purpose
• references
• CV
• outline research proposal
• sample of written work.

See further information on supporting documents.

You may need to provide evidence of your English language proficiency. See our English language requirements.

Part-time study

Please note that LSE allows part-time PhD study only under limited circumstances. If you wish to study part-time, you should mention this (and the reasons for it) in your statement of academic purpose, and discuss it at interview if you're shortlisted.

For students awarded a Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) studentship, the structure and duration of the studentship offered, including part-time study, will depend on a candidate's previous academic experience, and social research training and experience. ESRC studentships are applicable to both full-time and part-time study. We can discuss part-time options with you if you're interested in applying. International students requiring a student visa should also see the student visas information in the GOV.UK website and the LSE visa advice for more details.

Research proposal requirements

The Department of Methodology requires you to submit a proposal summarising and justifying your proposed research, to be attached to your formal application. This will provide the selectors with an idea of the topics of interest, and help in matching candidates to potential supervisors.

The research proposal should include the following questions:

• Why is the topic interesting?

What is the central research question? Is there a theoretical and empirical "gap" that your research will seek to fill? Is there a theoretical or empirical contradiction that your research will seek to resolve? How will your research take our understanding forward in your chosen field? What core theories and concepts will you draw on?

• What are the relevant literature(s) and field(s) the work will contribute to?

What are the main theories in the area? What are the critical empirical phenomena in the area? Specify the key references relevant to the proposed research.

• How will you address the empirical aspects of the research?

What empirical data do you propose to collect, how, from where, and why? What methodology of analysis is appropriate and why? If the research question requires a combination of different methodologies, how will they be related? Do you foresee any practical difficulties in pursuing the research (eg, finding data sources, gaining access or requiring funds)? If so, how might they be overcome?

The application deadline for this programme is 27 May 2026.

However, if you’d like to be considered for any funding opportunities, you must submit your application (and all supporting documents) by the funding deadline.

See the fees and funding section below for more details.

The fee is likely to rise over the full duration of the programme. The School charges home research students in line with fee levels recommended by the Research Councils.

Learn more about fee status classification.

The fee is likely to rise over the full duration of the programme in line with the assumed percentage increase in pay costs (ie, four per cent each year).

Learn more about fee status classification.

Progression and assessment

First year review

In the Spring Term of your first year, you're required to produce a 10,000-word "first year review" that outlines the aims and methods of your thesis: this means summarising the key literature(s), motivating your specific research questions, and highlighting the planned contributions of your work. A first year review document typically includes a general introduction, a comprehensive literature review (covering relevant empirical and theoretical work), a motivation of the research questions and hypotheses, and an indication of the literature(s) that you seek to contribute to (ie, the gaps in knowledge that will be addressed). You'll also give an oral presentation of your proposal at the Department of Methodology PhD day.

Written and oral work will be assessed by two academics (not on the supervisory team), normally members of Department of Methodology staff. This work has to reach an acceptable standard to enable you to progress to the second year. It's particularly important that the first year review clearly states the objectives of the doctoral research and indicates how the empirical work will be carried out.

If the panel deems the first year review to be not suitably clear, they can choose not to accept the submitted document and give you up to a month to clarify. This decision will be taken maximum one week after the Department of Methodology PhD Day. Examples of unclear work might include (but not be limited to):

• a first year review that doesn't state clear research questions
• a first year review that doesn't adequately review the specific literatures that the empirical work is contributing to
• a first year review that doesn't give enough methodological detail, showing how the design will produce data that allows you to address the theoretical issues at stake in a systematic and rigorous way.

After your first year

After the first year you'll spend more time on independent study under the guidance of your supervisor(s). This will involve the collection, organisation and analysis of data, and writing up the results. During your second year of registration, you'll typically submit three (minimum) draft chapters of your thesis plus a short introduction and a detailed plan for its completion. The three draft chapters will typically include a detailed literature review, specification of research problem(s) and two empirical chapters. If you're pursuing a paper-based thesis, your upgrading documents will typically include a short introduction, a literature review and at least two empirical papers. Whether a traditional or paper-based thesis, the material will be evaluated by an upgrading committee (two academics, not necessarily of the MI or even LSE) who will recommend transferral to PhD registration if your work is judged to be of sufficient quality and quantity.

Throughout the MPhil/PhD and PhD, you'll attend the department's research seminar and other specialist workshops and seminars related to your interests. You must present at every Department of Methodology PhD day.

Learn more about the progress review and upgrade process

Further information on graduate destinations for research students in our department

From CV workshops through to careers fairs, LSE offers lots of information and support to help you make that all-important step from education into work.

Many of the UK’s top employers give careers presentations at the School during the year and there are numerous workshops covering topics such as job hunting, managing interviews, writing a cover letter and using LinkedIn.

See LSE Careers for further details.