Statistics

Statistics is the science of learning from data under uncertainty. It provides the mathematical and conceptual tools for designing studies, collecting and summarising data, making inferences about populations from samples and communicating what evidence does and does not support. Statistics underpins scientific research across every field that uses data, from medicine and social science to economics, engineering and environmental monitoring, and it is the foundation on which modern data science and machine learning are built.

At the University of Essex you will follow this four-year full-time statistics degree, developing a thorough grounding in probability theory, statistical inference, regression and linear models, Bayesian methods, time series analysis and the computational tools used in statistical practice. The four-year structure gives you the time to develop genuine mathematical depth alongside breadth of application, exploring how statistical methods are used in different disciplines and developing the ability to adapt them to novel problems. Essex has a strong quantitative social science tradition and well-developed research connections across the statistical sciences, providing a stimulating intellectual environment.

Statistics develops a distinctive quality of thinking: clarity about what you know and do not know, precision about what a given dataset can and cannot tell you, and the ability to communicate uncertainty honestly and usefully to people who need to make decisions. These are capabilities that are in growing demand as data becomes ubiquitous but statistical literacy remains scarce.

Graduates from statistics degrees are employed in pharmaceutical and clinical research, government statistical services, market research, financial risk modelling, actuarial work, data science, machine learning, environmental modelling and a very wide range of other analytical roles. The combination of mathematical rigour with practical data skills that statistics provides is one of the most versatile foundations a quantitative degree can offer. Postgraduate study in statistics, data science, biostatistics or related fields is a natural option for those wishing to develop specialist expertise.