MSc Cognitive Science

These entry requirements are for the 2026-27 academic year and requirements for future academic years may differ. Entry requirements for the 2027-28 academic year will be published on 1 Oct 2026.

A UK 2:1 honours degree, or its international equivalent, in informatics, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, computer science, electrical engineering, linguistics, mathematics, philosophy, physics or psychology, plus experience in computer programming.

Entry to this programme is competitive. A typical offer will normally require a UK first class honours degree.

You must have a sufficient mathematical and informatics background for your chosen area of study.

This should include experience of computer programming equivalent to an introductory programming course and completion of the equivalent of 60

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All students on the programme take core courses in cognitive science.

In addition to that, students typically follow one of two tracks, either focusing on:

speech and language processing in humans and machines
more broadly on models of cognition, mind and brain
Example courses offered recently in these areas include:

Accelerated Natural Language Processing
Advanced Topics in Natural Language Processing
Automatic Speech Recognition
Computational Cognitive Neuroscience
Computational Cognitive Science
Computational Neuroscience
Option courses
You will round out your degree with courses in related areas from the School of Informatics and the School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences (PPLS). Example courses offered recently include:

Human Computer Interaction
The Human Factor: Working with Users
Computer Vision
Applied Machine Learning
Reinforcement Learning
Simulating Language (PPLS)
Speech Processing (PPLS)