We've put together information and resources to guide your application journey as a student from Hong Kong.
Hong KongA powerful combination of psychological tools applied to data analysis
Placement-based dissertation, graduating with demonstrable experience on your CV
Approved as postgraduate research training by the Economic and Social Research Council
Digital data now dominates all aspects of our lives. Every action we take – from smartphone use to social media activity, public surveillance and even our online purchases – leaves a digital trace. Analysing digital data tells one story, but it isn’t enough to fully understand human behaviour. To do that, you need the insights that psychology provides.
The MSc Psychology and Behavioural Analytics integrates psychological insights with an understanding of digital data. You will develop a specialised skill set highly sought after in today’s data-driven world, which will set you apart in the job market, opening new career opportunities.
Anyone who wants to understand digital data through human psychology. We welcome individuals from diverse backgrounds, including computer science, business, sociology, criminology and many more. You don’t need a psychology degree to apply.
Taught by world-leading academics, you will develop a rare combination of technical data analysis and psychological expertise, providing a broader perspective to tackle a wide range of professional challenges. We hone your practical skills to put your knowledge into action, allowing you to make meaningful contributions across rapidly evolving fields. You will also:
Through a dynamic mix of data science and psychology-focused modules, you will gain hands-on experience with various types of digital data. For example:
You will build a strong foundation in key psychological concepts related to behaviour, including identity, personality and cognitive decision-making. Important topics are covered, such as data limitations, bias and the principles of responsible research, ensuring that you’re equipped to navigate the complexities of real-world digital data.
The final term is where everything comes together with your dissertation. Gain valuable, practical experience working on a project with either a partner organisation or within the Department of Psychology. We provide dedicated support to guide you through the process, ensuring you gain the relevant experience that will make you stand out to employers.
Interested in master's-level study with us? Fill in our form and we will keep you up to date with course information, events and open days.
Our master’s in Psychology and Behavioural Analytics opens the door to a wide range of career paths to match your interests and passions. The qualitative and quantitative insights you will be able to provide make you a valuable asset to any employer. Roles of interest may include:
Additionally, you may wish to use this master’s as a stepping stone for further study, including a career in academia as either a lecturer or researcher.
We are delighted to offer a selection of scholarships for taught master’s programmes in the Faculty of Science and Technology for 2026 entry. These scholarships are awarded to students studying the programme on a full-time basis.
Students from Bangladesh, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey or Vietnam
| Your qualifications | Programme cost without scholarship | International Regional Scholarship or India Scholarship | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st class degree | £30,000 | £10,000 | £20,000 |
| 2:1 degree | £30,000 | £10,000 | £20,000 |
International students from other countries
| Your qualifications | Programme cost without scholarship | Science and Technology Excellence Scholarship | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st class degree | £30,000 | £9,000 | £21,000 |
| 2:1 degree | £30,000 | £4,500 | £25,500 |
Scholarships will be applied automatically if you meet the criteria. Find out more about the scholarship terms and conditions. We also offer an additional 10% discount on fees for Lancaster University Alumni.
| Your qualifications | Programme cost without scholarship | Science and Technology Excellence Scholarship | You pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st class degree | £14,140 | £4,242 | £9,898 |
Scholarships will be applied automatically if you meet the criteria. Find out more about the scholarship terms and conditions. We also offer an additional 10% discount on fees for Lancaster University Alumni.
“I chose Psychology and Behavioural Analysis at Lancaster because the course offers a perfect balance of research-focused learning and practical application. The modules are engaging and well-structured, covering topics that directly relate to understanding and influencing human behaviour. What stood out most was the opportunity to work with passionate, approachable lecturers, while accessing excellent on-campus labs for hands-on experience. I have most enjoyed the practical work in the labs, where I can apply what I’ve learned. The workshops and seminars are also great, as they allow for open discussion and hands-on learning – making complex concepts easier to understand and more engaging.
Through the Psychology Employability Programme (PEP), I gained practical experience by applying psychology in real-world projects, including social media promotion for research panels. This helped me develop professional skills and see how theory is used in practice.
My goal is to work in an organisation using behavioural data, applying insights from psychology to improve decision-making and drive positive change. My studies have helped me develop strong skills in research, data analysis and practical application. Placements, workshops and my role as a student ambassador have given me valuable real-world experience that will support my future career.”
Swatirna Sharma – MSc Psychology and Behavioural Analytics
“After completing an undergraduate degree in Psychology at Lancaster, I knew that I wanted to continue onto a master’s degree that had been newly introduced that year, Psychology and Behavioural Analytics. I felt that it was a great opportunity to continue studying in an area of psychology I was passionate about, gain skills in coding that would give me an advantage in the job market and spend another year living and studying alongside close friends. The behavioural analytics and psychology department were exceedingly helpful throughout, always being available to give advice on the course and make it as accessible as possible.
My postgraduate course taught me skills in coding behavioural data, creating my own research proposals and how to apply our data to the world. The placement working alongside the police to analyse data and research the behavioural psychology behind police work was perfect for my future, as it gave me direct experience in the field of work that I was most interested in.
Upon completion of my postgraduate degree, I already had interviews lined up, one of which was with the police. They were very impressed by the placement I had completed for my degree, alongside the research I had undertaken. All this experience gave me the brilliant opportunity to further work in behavioural analytics with the police by applying my psychological research."
Thomas Dobson – MSc Psychology and Behavioural Analytics
Our students have the possibility to undertake a number of exciting and rewarding placements, both locally and further afield. As well as the examples below, the Psychology Employability Programme includes details on partnerships with local and national organisations to provide current Psychology students with volunteering opportunities.
“At The Birchall Trust, we have found our partnership with Lancaster University’s Psychology and Behavioural Analytics programme to be highly valuable for both the organisation and the student experience.
A Lancaster student recently joined us on placement. They completed an impact assessment of our services, which provided meaningful, evidence-based insight into how survivors engage with and benefit from our support. The student approached this work with professionalism, sensitivity, and a clear understanding of the ethical considerations required when working within a trauma-informed service.
Our students work on a number of exciting, challenging and rewarding projects throughout their time studying. From first assignments to final dissertations, student projects are an excellent way of celebrating success within a professional research-led community.
Recognition of AI writing – An Undergraduate Alumni Project in the field of Psychology and Behavioural Analytics
“I wanted to see whether undergraduate students could tell the difference between AI generated and human written descriptions of simple objects and locations.
A setback for me was definitely when I finished my data collection. I have dyscalculia and was collecting quantitative data and coding using R. I think that that realisation made me procrastinate for a long time. I obviously find numbers quite daunting, and knowing that I had coding to complete but not being able to bring myself to complete it was extra stressful.
On the flip side, my biggest milestone was generating my last graph at the end of my coding. The feeling of finally completing it after so much trial and error with coding was euphoric.
2:2 Hons degree (UK or equivalent) in Psychology, Data Science, Computer Science, Sociology, Criminology, Human Geography, Politics, Law, Management and Marketing, Linguistics. Your degree needs to have covered some Research Methods and Data Analysis modules.
We require an IELTS (Academic) Test with an overall score of at least 6.5, and a minimum of 6.0 in each element of the test.
We also consider other English language qualifications and if your score is below our requirements, you may be eligible for one of our pre-sessional English language programmes.
If you are thinking of applying to Lancaster and you would like to ask us a question, complete our?enquiry form?and one of the team will get back to you.
We also have more details on our website about:
Delivered in partnership with Lancaster International 羞羞视频 Centre, our one-year tailored pre-master's pathways are designed to improve your subject knowledge and English language skills to the level required by a range of Lancaster University master's degrees. Visit for more details and a list of eligible degrees you can progress onto.
We continually review and enhance our curriculum to ensure we are delivering the best possible learning experience, and to make sure that the subject knowledge and transferable skills you develop will prepare you for your future. The University will make every reasonable effort to offer programmes and modules as advertised. In some cases, changes may be necessary and may result in new modules or some modules and combinations being unavailable, for example as a result of student feedback, timetabling, Professional Statutory and Regulatory Bodies' (PSRB) requirements, staff changes and new research. Where the course offers optional modules, they may not all be available every year.
Develop your ability to apply advanced analysis methods to psychological data. In this module, you will build the skills needed to be effective at every stage of the modern data analysis workflow, from handling large-scale, rich and sometimes messy real-life datasets, to constructing insightful models, to presenting high-impact evidence-based visualisations. At every stage, we will develop your coding skills in R and gain experience working in a team. Throughout, you will develop the critical reflective thinking skills you need to independently make decisions in the workplace. You will be introduced to popular, modern data modelling techniques through a combination of lectures and practical workshops. Emphasis will be on developing your understanding and capacity for critical evaluation to enable you to choose and effectively apply cutting-edge techniques in a variety of contexts.
This introduction to both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the analysis of talk and text is structured around the process of conducting a research project. You will develop the practical skills involved in conducting insightful interviews and focus group-based research. You will demonstrate an understanding of the fundamental ideas and practices involved in:
By the end of the module, you will be able to formulate a research question, engage with research ethics questions, and plan to sample and analyse talk and text.
Embrace a fresh interdisciplinary approach that fuses psychology and computer science. In a laboratory environment, you will master the art of analysing emerging forms of digital data and extract meaningful insights through hands-on experiences with cutting-edge tools such as R, Python, Java MakeCode, BORIS and Netlogo. You will be exposed to several digital data types (e.g., video, sensor data and digital trace data) and will explore how to create meaningful psychological knowledge from this data. As part of this, you will learn a variety of data-driven and theoretically driven analysis methods (e.g., data cleaning, predictive modelling, behavioural coding, data visualisation). By the end of this module, you will understand how psychology and new digital methods synthesise and will have enhanced your practical research and analytical skills, allowing you to seek solutions to real-world issues.
The module will teach the fundamentals of computing: historical development of computational machines, data storage, computational processing, and the development of computer science. This will be done using the R language for programming with focus on: simple calculations; structured programming with loops and conditions; data structures; writing functions. The students will be taught how to handle the R language for data file input/output; selection and filtering; exploratory graphics. Throughout the module, the students will also learn how to develop good computational research practice: project management for data and code; dynamic documents for reproducible research; source code management. In the second part of the module the students will learn the Python language basics: fundamentals for calculation and programming; writing functions and modules for code re-use; creating new classes and programming with objects; Python including command line and notebooks. The module will conclude with an introduction to numerical Python: using NumPy and Pandas for data analysis; plotting basic graphics.
Explore meta-level issues that are important for work on psychology and behavioural analytics. Here, you will learn a theoretical toolkit and understand the implications for how you might use these concepts to explore or refine psychologically relevant questions using digital data.
To this end, the module discusses the current state of psychological science and the key tensions that exist as psychologists embrace new forms of digital data.
You will be introduced to key psychological theories and explore which theories are best supported ‘outside of the lab’ by new forms of digital data. Beyond positioning psychology across this new digital plane, this module deals with issues of research ethics, morality, and scientific practice.
Through a three-month dissertation project, you will complete a substantial research project intended to tackle a real-world challenge. This is an opportunity to consolidate, integrate and further develop the behaviour analytics skills gained throughout prior modules. You have the option to undertake a project through an external placement, facilitated by an industrial or research organisation working in partnership with the University, or carry out an academic project (a traditional dissertation without an external partner). The aim of the dissertation is to allow you to synthesise, refine and extend your own scientific reflection and practice and to apply and refine your technical skills, knowledge, and behavioural analytical skillset.
Through the project, you will:
Gain the understanding and skills needed to apply core analytic methods across a range of psychological research and practice settings. You will develop your knowledge and skills through a combination of lectures and practical workshops and build your capacity to code using R, a modern statistical programming language.
You will learn about the application of key statistical tests in a variety of real-life contexts that will enable you to confidently identify the appropriate technique for analysing data in diverse environments. By the end of this module, you will be able to:
| Location | Full Time (per year) | Part Time (per year) |
|---|---|---|
| Home | £14,140 | n/a |
| International | £30,000 | n/a |
There may be extra costs related to your course for items such as books, stationery, printing, photocopying, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits. Following graduation, you may need to pay a subscription to a professional body for some chosen careers.
Specific additional costs for studying at Lancaster are listed below.
Lancaster is proud to be one of only a handful of UK universities to have a collegiate system. Every student belongs to a college, and all students pay a small College Membership Fee which supports the running of college events and activities. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
For students starting in 2026 or 2027, the fee is £40 for undergraduates and research students and £15 for students on one-year courses. Students on some distance-learning courses are not liable to pay a college fee.
To support your studies, you will also require access to a computer, along with reliable internet access. You will be able to access a range of software and services from a Windows, Mac, Chromebook or Linux device. For certain degree programmes, you may need a specific device, or we may provide you with a laptop and appropriate software - details of which will be available on relevant programme pages. A dedicated IT support helpdesk is available in the event of any problems.
The University provides limited financial support to assist students who do not have the required IT equipment or broadband support in place.
There is no application fee if you are applying for postgraduate study starting in 2026 or 2027.
For some of our courses you will need to pay a deposit to accept your offer and secure your place. We will let you know in your offer letter if a deposit is required and you will be given a deadline date when this is due to be paid.
The fee that you pay will depend on whether you are considered to be a home or international student. Read more about how we assign your fee status.
If you are studying on a programme of more than one year’s duration, tuition fees are reviewed annually and are not fixed for the duration of your studies. Read more about fees in subsequent years.
Find all fees and funding information for students at Lancaster University.
You may be eligible for the following funding opportunities, depending on your fee status and course. You will be automatically considered for our main scholarships and bursaries when you apply, so there's nothing extra that you need to do.
Unfortunately no scholarships and bursaries match your selection, but there are more listed on scholarships and bursaries page.
If you're considering postgraduate research you should look at our funded PhD opportunities.
| Scheme | Based on | Amount |
|---|---|---|
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We also have other, more specialised scholarships and bursaries - such as those for students from specific countries.
Browse Lancaster University's scholarships and bursaries.
The information on this site relates primarily to the stated entry year and every effort has been taken to ensure the information is correct at the time of publication.
The University will use all reasonable effort to deliver the courses as described, but the University reserves the right to make changes to advertised courses. In exceptional circumstances that are beyond the University’s reasonable control (Force Majeure Events), we may need to amend the programmes and provision advertised. In this event, the University will take reasonable steps to minimise the disruption to your studies. If a course is withdrawn or if there are any fundamental changes to your course, we will give you reasonable notice and you will be entitled to request that you are considered for an alternative course or withdraw your application. You are advised to revisit our website for up-to-date course information before you submit your application.
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