The MA in Data Journalism is a cutting edge course designed to give you the interactive storytelling skills needed to work within a growing number of jobs in the media and beyond.
The course includes partnerships with The Telegraph, Haymarket magazines, Reach newspapers (formerly Trinity Mirror) in the UK, La Nacion in Argentina and Convoca in Peru, as well as a number of other organisations covering broadcast, online and print data journalism, all of which are keen to bring in the skills that you will be developing on the course. You should indicate on your application in you wish to be considered for opportunities with those organisations during the course.
Studying under internationally renowned course leaders in a city with a vibrant cultural sector, and with access to a range of media organisations, you’ll learn exciting new skills in data journalism and interactive storytelling across a range of contexts, from mobile-first data journalism on social platforms, to practising data driven journalism within online and broadcast newsroom contexts. Partnerships with newspaper, magazine, online and broadcast organisations provide unique opportunities for students to build contacts and experience, and work on live projects.
This practical course is designed to help you respond to work within a range of data journalism roles, from sourcing data, to investigating leads, and communicating your stories in new, engaging ways, in a range of newsroom contexts
Under the guidance of award-winning journalists who have worked with organisations ranging from the BBC and The Bureau of Investigative Journalism to The Guardian and specialist magazines, you’ll develop a keen eye for a story, develop advanced data driven journalism techniques that help you establish the facts, find out how to work within a range of newsroom contexts and tell those stories across a range of platforms.
You’ll get access to some of the industry’s most respected journalists who are working in the field now, learn about the legal, commercial and ethical contexts surrounding the future of journalism, and you’ll have the opportunity to work with wider data communities as you make a name for yourself in your chosen sector. Previous students have worked with organisations including the BBC, ITN, ITV News, The Guardian, The Mirror, Carbon Brief, The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, the European Data Journalism Network, TV3 in Catalonia and the Centre for Investigative Journalism.
You’ll have access to the facilities at BCU’s new Parkside campus, including radio and TV studios, and audio and video editing suites. You’ll have access to video and still cameras, audio recording equipment and mobile journalism kits to get out and capture the human side of the story too. You’ll be expected to find and report stories regularly, experimenting with new formats while exploring and testing the latest research into this exciting period in journalism’s development.
As the course progresses you will develop more specialist skills and connect with others already in the industry, building your reputation as you prepare to enter the industry. Graduates of the course and the predecessor MA Online Journalism course have gone on to work as data journalists, data designers, digital editors and journalism consultants.
"Studying Online Journalism at Birmingham City University was fantastic. It not only provided me with the skills and confidence to transition from a traditional journalism role into an emerging digital sector, but the contacts I made helped me launch my successful infographics and data design company." Caroline Beavon, Data Designer, Consultant and Trainer
*Photo by Sara Chaudhry: the Data Journalism UK conference, organised by MA students with the BBC Academy
Birmingham City University graduate Barbara Maseda has been awarded a prestigious fellowship at Stanford University. Only 18 journalists and journalism innovators from around the world are selected to receive this fellowship.
If you’ve got any questions about the course, we’d love to hear from you. Please email the Course Director: Paul Bradshaw.
Alternatively, you can register for our next postgraduate open day.
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You should have a 2:1 or higher in a related discipline from any UK university. |
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Applicants should submit a portfolio of examples of their media production work. That might include examples of journalism online, in print or video or audio. The more varied this is, the better. If you have any other relevant work, such as photography, web or print design, film making, research, or running online communities, then please include that too. |
| Award | Start | Mode | Duration | Fees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Sep 2019 | FT | 1 year | £7,100 per year | |
| PgCert | Sep 2019 | PT | 1 year | £2,370 per year |
| Award | Start | Mode | Duration | Fees | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Sep 2019 | FT | 1 year | £12,300 per year | Register your interest |
If you're unable to use the online form for any reason, you can complete our PDF application form and equal opportunities PDF form instead. Fees for 2019/20 will be published as soon as possible. The University reserves the right to increase fees in line with inflation based on the Retail Prices Index or to reflect changes in Government funding policies or changes agreed by Parliament up to a maximum of five per cent.
Students are required to submit a personal statement as part of their application for this course.
Your postgraduate personal statement is going to shine a light on your personal experience, academic success, personal skills and any other factors that will support your application for further study.
Here are the key areas you’ll need to address:
Studying a postgraduate course usually means you want to specialise in something. So what’s driving you?
Show that you’ve researched the course offering. What is it about this particular course that appeals to you? Is it the lecturers? The modules? Etc.
Tutors want to know that you can handle postgraduate study, so show them how your undergraduate experiences or work life has equipped you for a more advanced level of study. Key areas to address are research and group work but this can vary depending on your chosen course.
Add anything relevant that relates back to your chosen course and shows how your skills will contribute towards your learning. What extra-curricular activities have you taken part in? What awards have you won? What employment or voluntary experience do you have that has helped you develop transferable skills? How do these specifically relate to the course you are applying for?
You should also mention your future plans and how a postgraduate qualification fits in. Try to look beyond your postgraduate study – do you plan to jump straight into a specific career or follow your studies with a research degree? Lastly, use plain, professional English and, where possible, utilise the language of your chosen industry.
Get more information on writing personal statements
.You will be expected to report using your mobile phone and laptop, so you will need a good quality handset and a data plan large enough for uploading multimedia. You should also ensure your laptop is powerful enough to run data journalism tools. The course often includes opportunities to visit external events and organisations. These are not compulsory but you may need to be able to cover transport costs where applicable.
The additional costs listed here are to be used for indicative purposes only and are based on the additional costs for the 2018/19 academic year. The additional costs for 2019/20 will be published as soon as possible.
We offer further information on possible postgraduate financial support. This includes the type of loans, grants and scholarships available both from the government and from Birmingham City University.
Did you know that you will soon be able to apply for a postgraduate loan of up to £10,000 for some courses and options?
The MA is completed full time across three semesters covering one year. The first semester focuses on a broad range of skills: you will be introduced to data gathering techniques, computer assisted reporting, and interactivity. You will also explore how to tell stories across different platforms using a range of media, including text, audio, video and visual journalism. You will also be developing an understanding of different research methodologies.
You’ll benefit from a blend of academic learning and practical application, exploring and applying the latest industry and academic research on cutting edge newsgathering, production and distribution techniques. Alongside this you will develop essential understanding of the legal and ethical contexts surrounding modern journalism.
In the second semester you explore data journalism in more depth, developing more advanced coding skills for finding and telling stories, alongside investigation skills and an understanding of law, regulation and security.
The final semester sees you developing a project or dissertation to build your reputation as a practitioner in your field. Previous examples have ranged from live working news websites and documentaries to ebooks, investigations, broadcast packages and portfolios of work for clients.
The PGCert version of the course consists of 60 credits of study completed across three semesters covering 12 months. The credits are obtained on three modules: Data Journalism in semester 1, and both Specialist Journalism, Investigations and Coding and Law, Regulation and Institutions in semester 2, with deadlines for those staggered across semester 2 and a final summer semester. This allows students to focus on building cutting edge skills in data journalism and investigation alongside their current employment.
Masters level study is built around the independent development of the individual’s chosen path. You will be expected to spend around a quarter of your time within classroom activities, across three classes, with the remainder of your time on independent study and practice of the techniques explored. There will also be additional opportunities to participate in newsroom production and events.
Examples of classroom activities you will be involved in include:
As part of a competition launched by 360Giving I built a data visualisation that showed themes, amounts and organisations funded by grant makers. My tutor Paul shared the competition details and he’s always encouraging us to try new things, so I thought it would be a good way to practise and develop some of the visualisation skills we’ve learned. When my work was selected as one of the winners I felt so happy and euphoric! I couldn't believe it as I wasn't an expert in this field and was awarded £4000!
The final MA project can be completed from overseas. Previous students have, for example, run a hyperlocal news site based in Canada, built a data project in Portugal, and crowdfunded for an investigative longform ebook from Northern Ireland.
Studying MA Data Journalism can form a platform for further study at PhD level, such as our Media and Cultural Studies PhD research degree.
Students on the course are given regular opportunities to attend industry events and newsrooms. These have included hackdays at the Times and BBC, trips to the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph, FT, IPC magazines, the Centre for Investigative Journalism Summer School and the Nordic data journalism conference NODA in Helsinki.
The course focuses on developing graduates at the cutting edge of contemporary professional practice, with a critical knowledge of the field leading practical application.
In addition to specific technical skills, students will also develop highly employable qualities in adapting to new technologies, and work towards building their contacts and reputation in the field. Opportunities to work with industry clients often lead to employment or the establishing of new enterprises.
Students on the MA can choose to undertake an industry placement of 72 hours, work with a client on a project or research entrepreneurship in practice. Previous students have undertaken placements or projects with clients including the BBC, The Guardian, the Open Knowledge Foundation, The European Data Journalism Network, the Royal Statistical Society, and the Centre for Investigative Journalism.
OpportUNIty: Student Jobs on Campus ensures that our students are given a first opportunity to fill many part-time temporary positions within the University. This allows you to work while you study with us, fitting the job around your course commitments. By taking part in the scheme, you will gain valuable experiences and employability skills, enhancing your prospects in the job market.
It will also allow you to become more involved in University life by delivering, leading and supporting many aspects of the learning experience, from administration to research and mentoring roles.
The course has strong links across all aspects of the media industry, including online, broadcast, magazines, newspapers, NGOs and new media startups. The school of media hosts the annual industry event Rethink Media, while Paul Bradshaw organises the annual Data Journalism UK conference in the city and is regularly invited to speak at industry events all over the world. The school’s global reputation in multiplatform journalism leads to frequent approaches from media organisations looking for cutting edge expertise or student input into new projects: examples range from Al Jazeera involving students in the design of a ‘news game’ and The Telegraph recruiting students to liveblog news events, to Centaur magazines inviting students to improve their social media performance and the BBC testing out new Snapchat content in class. Every year students attend a hackday at The Times, and one-off hackdays organised with the course include a music festival data hackday, transport data hackday and BBC election hackday.
“Honestly, I couldn't have done this job without the MA, because I'm using R constantly and a lot OpenRefine. The course taught me which sources I’d need to use to find data and how to accurately report what the figures mean.
I chose to study at Birmingham City University because the course curriculum really stood out to me, along with the expertise and career path of the course leader. I would say the highlight was the industry events we attended and my advice to students would be to take advantage of the different events, hackdays, conferences and work placement opportunities.”
Graduate employability on the course is extremely high, with alumni working as digital editors, reporters, social media managers, data journalists, data designers, production assistants, UGC reporters, journalism consultants and professors, and media analysts.
Birmingham City University is a vibrant and multicultural university in the heart of a modern and diverse city. We welcome many international students every year – there are currently students from more than 80 countries among our student community.
The University is conveniently placed, with Birmingham International Airport nearby and first-rate transport connections to London and the rest of the UK.
Our international pages contain a wealth of information for international students who are considering applying to study here, including:
The course regularly attracts Spanish-speaking students and we have a strong network of contacts in the Spanish-speaking world. Previous students have undertaken projects based in Spain and some of the course material is also available in Spanish. Paul Bradshaw is even learning to speak the language!
We have a growing network of contacts in Nigeria: two members of staff – Paul Bradshaw and Yemisi Akinbobola – won the prestigious CNN African Journalist of the Year award for an investigation published in Nigeria, and the pair plan to do more in the region.
Canadian students have done particularly well on the course. Undertaking projects in Canada as part of their studies enabled them to build their reputation in that jobs market. One now teaches journalism in Canada.
International students who have a serious interest in studying with us but who perhaps cannot meet the direct entry requirements, academic or English, or who have been out of education for some time, can enter Birmingham City University International College (BCUIC) and begin their degree studies.
BCUIC is part of the global Navitas Group, an internationally recognised education provider, and the partnership allows students to access the University’s facilities and services and move seamlessly through to achieving a Bachelor’s degree from Birmingham City University.
When you join Birmingham City University, the first thing you will notice is the high standard of our campuses.
With an investment of £260 million across our buildings and facilities, we are committed to giving you the very best learning environment to help shape your experience.
You will learn in our state-of-the-art facilities - including the £62m fully-digital Media Centre - located on the City Centre Campus. You will enjoy access to extensive studio and workshop space including four TV studios, six radio studios and broadcast-standard edit suites, as well as cutting-edge equipment and software.
Facilities include the largest TV floor of any university in the UK, a ‘green screen’ and the MILO motion control camera - we are one of just two universities in Europe to offer MILO technology.
Our teaching staff comprises specialists in their respective fields, including academics and industry professionals, all of whom are perfectly placed to offer a wealth of experience and knowledge. Birmingham School of Media students also benefit from access to high-profile guest speakers from across the industry.
A dynamic community that is responsive to the changing face of the media industry, Birmingham School of Media is the perfect starting point to your media career.
Paul Bradshaw leads both the MA in Data Journalism and the MA in Multiplatform and Mobile Journalism at Birmingham City University, and works as a consultant data journalist in the BBC England data unit.
He is also the founder of the investigative journalism crowdsourcing site, Help Me Investigate, which was shortlisted in 2010 for Multimedia Publisher of the Year and won the Talk About Local Investigation of the Year award the same year. His other awards include the CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards 2016 for an investigation into Nigerian football agents, and the BBC England 2017 Data Journalism award for a story on discrimination in the housing sector.
Yemisi holds a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from Birmingham City University, and she is the Course Director for MA Global Media Management. Her research interest is in media entrepreneurship, digital journalism and African feminism. An award-winning journalist, she ran her news website, IQ4News, for four years. Her media work is Africa focused, covering stories from rape culture in Nigeria, to an investigative and data story on the trafficking of young West African football hopefuls by fake agents. The latter won her the CNN African Journalist Award 2016 (sports reporting). She has freelanced for publications including the United Nations Africa Renewal magazine, and has several years’ experience in communication management for charities.
Yemisi recently founded her second company, Stringers Africa, which connects freelance journalists in African countries with newsrooms worldwide, and organises the annual African Women in the Media (AWiM) conference and festival. Through AWiM, she aims to have a positive impact on the way media functions in relation to women, and to promote the economic empowerment of women.
Diane worked for BBC radio and television as a broadcaster, reporter and producer and for a number of commercial radio stations before joining the University. She is course director of several postgraduate broadcast journalism courses and is deputy chair of the UK’s national accreditation organisation, the BJTC.
Bob has more than four decades of journalistic experience, including 18 years as a reporter, producer and editor with the BBC. He has worked in regional newspapers, for online news sites and for magazines. Alongside his role at the University, where he teaches broadcast journalism and media law to postgraduate students, he edits two magazines - one of which he also owns and publishes. This work forms the basis of his current PhD by practice research.
