Artificial Intelligence for Life Sciences Master of Science - MSc (UG)

Master the knowledge and computational skills behind artificial intelligence models and their application to biological datasets, ready to play your part accelerating research discoveries in the life sciences.

Course description

Combining theoretical teaching with hands-on computational practice, this MSc will train you in the knowledge and techniques you’ll need to apply artificial intelligence (AI) successfully, ethically, and in a robust way to research challenges in the life sciences.

You’ll explore the links between biological brains and artificial agents, understand AI’s current role in life sciences research, and master the fundamental computational skills needed to accelerate scientific discovery.

This interdisciplinary course brings together perspectives from biosciences, psychology, health, engineering and beyond. You’ll cover programming languages R and Python, machine learning techniques, and statistical and mathematical principles, before learning about applications of AI that are revolutionising life sciences, from natural language processing for text analysis, to the review of medical images.

The biggest part of the course is the research project in artificial intelligence for life sciences. Here you’ll apply the knowledge and computational skills you’ve gained to work on a project that contributes to a bigger research challenge, either independently or part of a small team under the supervision of one of our leading academics.

Example research project topics could include:

* Automated segmentation and 3D volume reconstruction of skin tissues imaged using optical coherence tomography

* Predicting Readiness to Engage in Psychotherapy from Self-Referral Forms: A Natural Language Processing Analysis of Clinical Documents

Who should study this course?

Whether your background stems from biology, chemistry, engineering, physics, mathematics, psychology or neuroscience, this interdisciplinary course will nurture your passion for understanding how AI can be used for good in life sciences research, ready for an exciting career.

Why Sheffield?

We’re home to the Centre of Machine Intelligence, one of the University of Sheffield’s Centres of Excellence. Here, we’re supporting world-class AI research, addressing global challenges and social harms associated with AI.

Please see our University website for the most up-to-date course information.