Computer Science

Java is one of the most popular programming languages today, with very high demand for people with advanced Java skills in the industry. By joining this module you will be able to expand your programming skills with more advanced Java techniques.

The content is designed for well-qualified computer science students entering the MSc programme regardless of their diverse academic background. You will be equipped with skills and knowledge needed to tackle complex programming challenges and build high-quality Java applications. You will learn essential topics including generics, and advanced features such as reflection, lambda expressions, and high-order programming. By the end of the course, you will be able to confidently build substantial Java applications, communicate technical solutions, and continue their development in the ever-evolving field of Java programming.

Object-oriented programming is one of the most fundamental programming paradigms in Computer Science. Object-oriented programming languages are widely used within the software development industry. Focusing predominantly on the Java programming language, you will start by learning the fundamentals of programming, such as variables, statements and methods; and develop your knowledge and skills with a deep understanding of object orientation in Java, including advanced concepts such as objects and classes, inheritance and encapsulation. You fill follow a course that combines lectures with practical work, aiming to combine advanced theoretical knowledge of object-oriented programming with practical skills. Your skills and knowledge will be developed and applied over a series of practical classes and practical coursework.

Get ready to supercharge your programming skills! This module is your gateway to mastering foundational coding techniques through hands-on problem-solving. You’ll dive into the world of algorithms, learning how to design them, prove they’re correct, and optimize their performance. We'll explore essential data structures like arrays, lists, and trees, and tackle powerful techniques in searching, sorting, recursion, and divide-and-conquer.

Plus, you'll unlock the logic behind programming by exploring propositional and predicate logic—tools that will give you a new level of insight into how programs work. By the end of this module, you’ll have the skills to solve complex problems and write efficient, reliable code that can take on real-world challenges.

Ever wonder what really happens when you run a computer program? Welcome to the world of computer hardware, and how software actually controls it. You will receive a comprehensive overview from the lowest level of abstractions in hardware to the highest level of abstractions of modern programming languages. You will explore the design of instruction set architectures, memory hierarchy, and data paths. Computer architecture focuses on the high-level design principles and trade-offs that govern the organization of these components, such as pipelining, caching, and parallelism.  Examples of topics that may be covered include logic circuits, machine language, processors, memory management, processes, concurrency, file systems, and operating systems. Throughout, special attention is paid to abstraction, performance, and other quality requirements. Understanding computer systems is essential for computer scientists, IT professionals, architects, and programmers to design, build, and optimise efficient and reliable computing systems for various applications and domains.

Web-based information systems form the heart of e-commerce. In today's digital landscape, they are also increasingly the way businesses handle all their information needs. Building such systems requires an understanding of up-to-date tools and technologies such as web page creation, client-side programming, server-side programming and databases; it also calls for an understanding of how to design systems that genuinely meet user and business needs. This module will empower you with the essential skills and knowledge needed to thrive in the dynamic domain of e-business systems and in today's digital economy. You will learn the foundations for client-side and server-side programming as well as database design and implementation, critical knowledge on e-business systems and their properties. As technology continues to evolve, we will keep you ahead of the curve by exploring novel and emerging technologies in the e-commerce landscape.

Software is everywhere, and its development should be tailored according to its requirements. This module will cover principles of software engineering following agile principles for guiding its development. You will investigate software modelling as means to understand and manage software complexity. As an integral part of software development, you will learn principles of planning, cost and time estimation, quality, and risk evaluation. You will also learn why software should be developed considering social, professional, and ethical principles, including security and privacy principles. You will work with your peers to develop or evolve a software system. You will apply the principles of agile methodology in your project, manage your team effectively, organise your code using version control, and resolve problems via issue tracking. You will identify risks for software projects and follow the principles for developing software with the highest professional standards.

This module will guide you through the different stages of working on an exciting computer science project. World-leading experts in the field will support you along the way by providing supervision and monitoring of your weekly activities. With computer systems becoming more crucial in everyday life, you’ll have the opportunity to conceptualise, design, develop, and test your own large system capable of solving the identified challenges. Alternatively, you will explore and critically evaluate state of the art literature, identify relevant research methodologies to advance topics in computer science, carry out independent investigations, and make an impact in the research community. You’ll be empowered to explore different skills learned throughout your degree programme and apply them in the specific domain identified for your master’s project. Finally, you will reflect on your project journey throughout the writing of a well-organised dissertation demonstrating your individual reflection and achieved learning.

The increasing reliance on the internet, electronic devices, mobile apps and online resources greatly improve the quality of our daily lives but also escalate the volume of our digital fingerprints. This means that, nowadays, it is impossible to plan or commit an unlawful activity without leaving digital traces scattered across local or remote storage and cyber spaces. Do you want to learn digital forensic skills that contribute to the investigation of suspected wrongdoing? 

This module focuses on computer forensics and multimedia forensics, and introduces concepts and best practices relevant to uncover digital evidence on an investigative setting. It introduces tools and techniques for the collection, interpretation and analysis of digital evidence supporting informed reporting of findings. You will gain hands-on experience with investigative tasks and will have the opportunity to apply different tools and techniques to answer investigative questions related, for example, to ‘what’ happened, where, when, why, who and how.

Upon completion of the module, you will have a theoretical and practical appreciation of what ‘digital forensics’ entail.

Did you know that currently a majority of cyber security incidents involve one or more human elements (be it social engineering attacks, human errors, or misuse)? Today, it is clearer than ever that creating secure systems requires an appreciation of the underlying technology, but it also requires us to develop a solid grasp of people’s psychology – the ‘why’ people do, the ‘what’ they do, and the ‘how’ we can help them to adopt better security behaviours and practices. You’ll learn about human factors, usable security, security awareness, education and culture, all within the context of today’s organisations and social environments. With the knowledge gained, you’ll be able to think of technology systems more critically and in a socio-technical way which appreciates the various nuances of cyber security.

We will give you the statistical and computing skills you need to succeed in the rest of the course. Even if you have limited mathematical skills or no computer programming knowledge we will guide you to a level where you can apply advanced data science methods effectively. This module includes subjects such as introductory probability where you’ll learn how likely you are to win at a game of cards; introductory statistics such as testing a hypothesis in a clinical trial; and programming skills in a language such as R, including data visualisation. We will then move on to more advanced topics such as linear regression, which allows you to make predictions using multiple variables, and skills that will increase your employability, such as report writing, production of slides using appropriate software, and presentation skills. You will also find out about the important ethical implications of working as a data scientist.