Statistics - MSc, PhD

Postgraduate Open Event

Join us at the Canterbury campus on Wednesday 15 November from 17:00 - 19:00. Open Events are a fantastic way to meet our staff and students, explore our locations and find out how Kent can help you make your ambition count.

These programmes offers the opportunity to begin or consolidate your research career under the guidance of internationally renowned researchers and professionals in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS).

Overview

Research interests are diverse and include: Bayesian statistics; bioinformatics; biometry; ecological statistics; epidemic modelling; medical statistics; nonparametric statistics and semi-parametric modelling; risk and queueing theory; shape statistics.

Statistics at Kent provides:

  • a programme that gives you the opportunity to develop practical, mathematical and computing skills in statistics, while working on challenging and important problems relevant to a broad range of potential employers
  • teaching and supervision by staff who are research-active, with established reputations and who are accessible, supportive and genuinely interested in your work
  • advanced and accessible computing and other facilities
  • a congenial work atmosphere with pleasant surroundings, where you can socialise and discuss issues with a community of other students.

About the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Actuarial Science (SMSAS)

The School has a strong reputation for world-class research and a well-established system of support and training, with a high level of contact between staff and research students. Postgraduate students develop analytical, communication and research skills. Developing computational skills and applying them to mathematical problems forms a significant part of the postgraduate training in the School. We encourage all postgraduate statistics students to take part in statistics seminars and to help in tutorial classes.

Entry requirements

A first or 2.1 in a relevant subject.

All applicants are considered on an individual basis and additional qualifications, professional qualifications and relevant experience may also be taken into account when considering applications. 

International students

Please see our International Student website for entry requirements by country and other relevant information. Due to visa restrictions, students who require a student visa to study cannot study part-time unless undertaking a distance or blended-learning programme with no on-campus provision.

English language entry requirements

The University requires all non-native speakers of English to reach a minimum standard of proficiency in written and spoken English before beginning a postgraduate degree. Certain subjects require a higher level.

For detailed information see our English language requirements web pages. 

Need help with English?

Please note that if you are required to meet an English language condition, we offer a number of pre-sessional courses in English for Academic Purposes through Kent International Pathways.

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Course structure

The research interests of the group are in line with the mainstream of statistics, with emphasis on both theoretical and applied subjects.

There are strong connections with a number of prestigious research universities such as Texas A&M University, the University of Texas, the University of Otago, the University of Sydney and other research institutions at home and abroad.

The group regularly receives research grants. The EPSRC has awarded two major grants, which support the National Centre for Statistical Ecology (NCSE), a joint venture between several institutions. A BBSRC grant supports stochastic modelling in bioscience.

Fees

The 2023/24 annual tuition fees for this course are:

Statistics - MSc at Canterbury

  • Home full-time £4712
  • EU full-time £18000
  • International full-time £18000
  • Home part-time £2356
  • EU part-time £9000
  • International part-time £9000

Statistics - PhD at Canterbury

  • Home full-time £4712
  • EU full-time £18000
  • International full-time £18000
  • Home part-time £2356
  • EU part-time £9000
  • International part-time £9000

For details of when and how to pay fees and charges, please see our Student Finance Guide.

For students continuing on this programme fees will increase year on year by no more than RPI + 3% in each academic year of study except where regulated.* If you are uncertain about your fee status please contact information@kent.ac.uk.

Your fee status

The University will assess your fee status as part of the application process. If you are uncertain about your fee status you may wish to seek advice from UKCISA before applying.

Additional costs

General additional costs

Find out more about general additional costs that you may pay when studying at Kent. 

Funding

Search our scholarships finder for possible funding opportunities. You may find it helpful to look at both:

We have a range of subject-specific awards and scholarships for academic, sporting and musical achievement.

Search scholarships

Independent rankings

In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021, 93% of our Mathematical Sciences research was classified as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’ for outputs.

Research

Research areas

Statistical Ecology

There has been research in the area of statistical ecology at Kent for many years. We are part of the National Centre for Statistical Ecology (NCSE), which was established in 2005.

Bayesian statistics 

The research conducted in this area at Kent is mainly on Bayesian variable selection, Bayesian model fitting, Bayesian nonparametric methods, Markov chain Monte Carlo with applications.

Biological and health statistics 

Research is focused on statistical modelling and inference in biology and genetics with applications in complex disease studies. Over the past few decades, large amounts of complex data have been produced by high through-put biotechnologies. The grand challenges offered to statisticians include developing scalable statistical methods for extracting useful information from the data, modelling biological systems with the data, and fostering innovation in global health research.

Machine learning 

This theme encompasses both theory and applications. Theory is involved with supervised and unsupervised learning, matrix factorisation, modelling of high-dimensional time series, differential privacy, deep learning and networks, shape analysis and statistics on manifolds, and neuroimaging. Applications in biology, industry, medicine and psychiatry. Often new computational methods are the key to analysing complex big data problems.

Nonparametric statistics 

In order to describe the data, it is common in statistics to assume a specific probability model. Unfortunately, in many practical applications (for instance in economics, population genetics and social networks) it is not possible to identify a specific structure for the data. Nonparametric methods provide statistical tools for addressing inference in these situations.

Economics and finance

At Kent there is particular interest in the use of nonparametric methods including quantile regression and Bayesian nonparametric approaches. Application areas include modelling of the business cycle and capacity utilisation, calculating sovereign credit ratings, modelling of stock return data, and predicting inflation.

Staff research interests

Kent’s world-class academics provide research students with excellent supervision. The academic staff in this school and their research interests are shown below. You are strongly encouraged to contact the school to discuss your proposed research and potential supervision prior to making an application. Please note, it is possible for students to be supervised by a member of academic staff from any of Kent’s schools, providing their expertise matches your research interests. Use our ‘find a supervisor’ search to search by staff member or keyword.

Full details of staff research interests can be found on the School's website.

Careers

Students often go into careers as professional statisticians in industry, government, research and teaching but our programmes also prepare you for careers in other fields requiring a strong statistical background. You have the opportunity to attend careers talks from professional statisticians working in industry and to attend networking meetings with employers.

Our graduates have started careers in diverse areas such as the pharmaceutical industry, financial services and sports betting.

Study support

Postgraduate resources

Kent’s Computing Service central facility runs Windows. Within the School, postgraduate students can use a range of UNIX servers and workstations. Packages available include R, SAS, MATLAB, SPSS and MINITAB.

Dynamic publishing culture

Staff publish regularly and widely in journals, conference proceedings and books. Among others, they have recently contributed to: Annals of Statistics; Biometrics; Biometrika; Journal of Royal Society, Series B; Statistics and Computing. Details of recently published books can be found within our staff research interests.

Professional recognition

The taught programmes in Statistics and Statistics with Finance provide exemption from the professional examinations of the Royal Statistical Society and qualification for Graduate Statistician status.

Researcher Development Programme

Kent's Graduate School co-ordinates the Researcher Development Programme for research students, which includes workshops focused on research, specialist and transferable skills. The programme is mapped to the national Researcher Development Framework and covers a diverse range of topics, including subject-specific research skills, research management, personal effectiveness, communication skills, networking and teamworking, and career management skills.

Apply now

Learn more about the application process or begin your application by clicking on a link below.

You will be able to choose your preferred year of entry once you have started your application. You can also save and return to your application at any time.

Apply for entry to:

Contact us

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United Kingdom/EU enquiries

MSc at Canterbury

PhD at Canterbury

Admissions enquiries

T: +44 (0)1227 768896

E: information@kent.ac.uk

Subject enquiries

Claire Carter

T: 44 (0)1227 824133

E: smsaspgadmin@kent.ac.uk

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International student enquiries

Enquire online

T: +44 (0)1227 823254
E: internationalstudent@kent.ac.uk