Program Outline

The Research Master Business Data Science at Tinbergen Institute is a two-year program (120 EC) with three tracks: Management Science (Strategy & Market Analytics or Digital Business & Innovation), Operations Analytics and Quantitative Finance.

The program is tailored for recent Bachelor's degree graduates, or those currently still enrolled in an undergraduate degree program, who are looking to pursue a solid course of training leading to a doctoral degree.

Curriculum

The learning objectives of the program are achieved through a curriculum designed around a Data Science foundation, a Business foundation and Research practice. 

Data Science Foundation - Acquiring skills

In the first year, the primary objective is to build a solid data science foundation and expose students to a variety of methodological approaches. These skills are applied to various business disciplines in the field courses.

Business Foundation - Building knowledge

Students specialize in one of three tracks: Management Science, with a specialization in either Strategy & Market Analytics or Digital Business & Innovation; Operations Analytics; or Quantitative Finance. Students choose their track before Block III of the first year, take track-specific field courses in Blocks III and V, and continue with field courses, electives, a research internship and a thesis in their track in the second year.

Research practice - Aligning skills and knowledge

The curriculum starts with an overview of the business problems that data science can address, which also exposes students to fundamental components of multiple fields in business. This early exposure helps students to absorb and process materials presented later in courses on methodology, with respect to the various business perspectives. Students become further acquainted with research topics in business during seminars held throughout the first year and internships, as well as during the research hackathon. The hackathon makes students think about how to approach the problems that arise in the various disciplines and puts their knowledge to the test.

First year students will address problems in all of the different business fields; second year students will focus on addressing the problems linked to their field of specialization. The Research Master thesis represent students’ final moments of integrating business and data science, and will showcase their ability to identify relevant problems and address them using cutting-edge techniques to make a substantive contribution to the field.

Study Guide

Academic and Examination Regulations

Academic Calendar 2026-2027

Courses are taught in eight-week blocks. The final week of each block typically serves as the exam week.

> Study Schedule