数据科学被定位为21世纪科学发现的主要新领域。正如Google首席执行官埃里克·希姆特（Eric Sc​​himdt）所指出的那样，从人类文明诞生之初到2003年，我们现在每隔两天就会生成尽可能多的信息。为了应对如此大量的数据，迫切需要从庞大而多样的数据源中得出有意义的见解：所谓的“大数据挑战”。安全地识别个人身份，准确的财务预测和可靠的癌症诊断都是支持数据科学的技术在市场上做出的革命性贡献，丰富了我们的生活，并使我们的未来更加健康，高效和安全的例子。研究（资料科学）理学硕士课程为希望从事个别现实世界大数
Data science is positioned to be the major new arena of scientific discovery in the 21st century. As Eric Schimdt, CEO of Google, has pointed out, we now generate as much information every two days as we did from the dawn of human civilisation up until the year 2003. To cope with this vast amount of data, there is an urgent requirement to derive meaningful insights from very large and diverse data sources: the so-called 'big data challenge'. Secure identification of individuals, accurate financial prediction and reliable cancer diagnosis are all examples of area in which the technologies underpinning data science are marketing revolutionary contributions, enriching our lives, and making our future healthier, more efficient and more secure.