School of Mathematics Teaching

Programme variants

Variants for the Operational Research programmes.

In addition to the general MSc in Operational Research, you may choose a themed degree programme. 

To be awarded a degree in one of the themes, your choice of optional courses must satisfy the requirements of the programme and your dissertation topic must be within the theme.

The decision to do one of the themes will influence your choice of optional courses. However, any change of degree registration will not take place until June, when the topic of your dissertation is known.

Operational Research

The MSc in Operational Research has no restrictions on optional courses and a dissertation topic.

To be awarded an MSc in OR, you must satisfy the conditions in the degree programme table.

Degree Programme Table for Operational Research

Operational Research with Risk

This programme will give an Operational Research perspective on risk and its management.

Risk analysis deals with the assessment and management of risk from unlikely but costly or distressing events. Risk management is becoming an increasingly important subject, partly due to the focus of the media on large disasters and the resulting threat of lawsuits. As a result, most large organisations are now active in producing and maintaining formal risk management strategies. This provides significant employment opportunities.

To be awarded an MSc in OR with Risk, you must satisfy the conditions in its Degree Programme Table.

Degree Programme Table for Operational Research with Risk

Operational Research with Computational Optimization

Studying Operational Research with Computational Optimization will give you the opportunity to develop skills in the mathematical theory of methods for optimization. You will also learn about their implementation using techniques of formal programming and high-performance computing. A student with an Edinburgh MSc in OR with Computational Optimization would be attractive to companies who develop high-performance optimization software or are embedding optimization methods into their products. The MSc would also provide an ideal background for PhD studies in this area.

The School of Mathematics at the University of Edinburgh has a very strong Computational Optimization group. It contains world-class experts in all aspects of interior point methods and the simplex method for linear programming, as well as their application to practical problems.

To be awarded an MSc in OR with Computational Optimization, you must satisfy the conditions in its Degree Programme Table.

Note that you must do some computer programming as part of the dissertation project.

Degree Programme Table for Operational Research with Computational Optimization

Operational Research with Data Science

There is a growing demand for novel techniques in data analysis and the ability to handle ever larger datasets. Many existing techniques lie within areas of computational optimization and operational research.

The Operational Research with Data Science programme gives an opportunity to study these areas through the fundamentals of operational research and a range of optional courses in optimization, statistics and data science.

The School's Optimization group has worked on data science applications for many years and this is expected to develop with the School's role in the Alan Turing Institute and the increasingly data-driven world at large. Students of the OR with Data Science degree will benefit from being part of this rich environment.

Information about the Alan Turing Institute

To be awarded an MSc in OR with Data Science, you must satisfy the conditions in its Degree Programme Table.

Degree Programme Table for Operational Research with Data Science