MSc, 1 year full time/2 years part time
Subject overview
Computing at Sussex was ranked in the top third of UK universities for research in the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise (RAE). 95 per cent of our research was rated as internationally recognised or higher, with 70 per cent rated as internationally excellent or higher, and one-fifth rated as world leading.
Computing at Sussex has excellent teaching and facilities and was ranked 21st in the UK in The Guardian University Guide 2014, 22nd in the UK in The Times Good University Guide 2013 and 30th in the UK in The Complete University Guide 2014.
We have many successful business collaborations, enabling our taught courses to be informed by industry and facilitating exciting research.
Our graduates are highly employable with over 85 per cent entering employment in IT and related industries. Our American Express-sponsored Masters courses have a strong record of employment opportunities and many graduates go on to work with American Express.
Our portfolio of postgraduate degrees is designed to meet the needs of students who want to develop a career in the IT industry and those wishing to move into academia or a research career.
We provide an intellectually stimulating environment with research in areas including pervasive computing technology, digital media and graphics, human-computer interaction, adaptive systems and artificial life, cognitive systems, natural language processing, and artistic and creative systems.
Programme outline
Industries such as computer entertainment, television, film and video production are relying increasingly on computer-generated digital media and virtual content. It is now commonplace to use interactive digital media in anything from teaching environments to games and from websites to engineering design. This involves not only the creation of digital content but its implementation in an interactive environment and its distribution over the numerous networks available in today’s world.
This MSc will enable you to build web-based distributed multimedia applications, computer-generated animations and interactive virtual environments, emphasising the need to adopt a human-centred approach.
The degree is supported by the Media Technology Laboratory, which provides state-of-the-art digital facilities, software development tools, multimedia content creation tools, studio facilities and professional video-editing systems. The Laboratory enables you to undertake practical work assignments using facilities that you would find in the modern digital media industry.
We continue to develop and update our modules for 2013 entry to ensure you have the best student experience. In addition to the course structure below, you may find it helpful to refer to the 2012 modules tab.
Autumn term: 3D Animation • 3D Modelling and Rendering • Human-Computer Interaction • Object-Oriented Programming.
Spring term: Multimedia Design and Applications • Programming for 3D • Web 3D Applications. You also choose one option from Generative Creativity • Live Video Production • Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments.
Summer term: you undertake supervised work for the MSc dissertation, which should usually be based on a multimedia programming project.
Assessment
You are assessed by coursework, group projects, essays, software projects, programming projects and a 12,000-word dissertation.
Part-time structure
The part-time structure for this degree is as follows:
Year 1: in each of the autumn and spring terms you take two modules. In the summer term you undertake work on the dissertation.
Year 2: you take two modules in the autumn term. In the spring and summer terms you complete work on the dissertation.
Current modules
Please note that these are the core modules and options (subject to availability) for students starting in the academic year 2012.
3D Animation
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This is an advanced module in 3D animation. It includes computer graphics fundamentals for character and object animation, such as transformations, tweening, mesh descriptions and character rigging. You will look at industry standard software for modeling, rendering and animating geometry.
3D Modelling and Rendering
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
You will be introduced to computer graphics modelling and rendering, including computer graphics fundamentals such as basic 3D geometry transformation, mesh descriptions, shading and lighting. You will also cover industry standard software for modelling and rendering geometry.
Advanced Software Engineering
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This course will revise project management skills, waterfall and agile models for software development, and UML. You will also be introduced to modern software development practices for use in the group project; software architectures, including component based, service based and aspect oriented software; development approaches for concurrency; and Domain Specific Languages
Generative Creativity
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
The module will introduce the use of generative creativity (GC) in a variety of areas selected from music, art, architecture, design, engineering and literature. The majority of the module will focus on examining a number of case studies that demonstrate the variety of approaches taken by existing GC systems. The module teaching is very much hands-on and programming is required. Although the module is not primarily philosophical in orientation, it will involve discussion on the nature of creativity, its definition and evaluation, by referring to the work of creativity researchers in a variety of disciplines from cognitive science to psychology.
Human-Computer Interaction
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
This module introduces you to some of the basic concepts and properties of topological spaces. The subject of topology has a central role in all of Mathematics and having a proper understanding of its concepts and main theorem is essential as part of the mathematics curriculum.
Topics that will be covered in this module include: topological spaces; separation axioms; metric spaces; convergence and completeness; compactness versus sequential compactness; total boundedness and E-nets; Arzela-Ascoli theorem; Tychonov theorem and applications.
Interactive 3D Programming
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module will cover the fundamentals of using high-level development languages to produce interactive 3D graphics. It will include all stages of 3D game development and interactive 3D code production.
Live Video Production
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module explores the tools and techniques used in live video production, and the tools and techniques for producing pre-recorded packages for integration in to live programming.
Multimedia Design and Applications
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
You will examine how modern computing systems manage, deliver and present multimedia such as audio, video, and interactive grapics. Topics that you will study include: information coding, multimedia hardware, networked multimedia, ergonomics, interface design, and multimedia applications.
Object Oriented Programming
15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1
You will be introduced to object-oriented programming, and in particular to understanding, writing, modifying, debugging and assessing the design quality of simple Java applications.
You do not need any previous programming experience to take this module, as it is suitable for absolute beginners.
Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
This module emphasises learner-centred approaches to the design of educational and training systems. The module content will reflect current developments in learning theory, skill development, information representation and how individuals differ in terms of learning style. The module has a practical component, which will relate theories of learning and knowledge representation to design and evaluation. You will explore the history of educational systems, as well as issues relating to: intelligent tutoring systems; computer-based training; simulation and modelling environments; programming languages for learners; virtual reality in education and training; training agents; and computer-supported collaborative learning.
Web 3D Applications
15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1
Through seminars, self directed e-learning and lab-based tuition, you will explore web 3D technologies including, but not limited to, 3D methods and tools, navigation and interaction, and web programming as applied to the implementation of web 3D applications.
This module will give you practical experience of web 3D modelling and programming, for example VRML/X3D, XHTML, and XML; building a web 3D environment, a small set of web pages with some 3D content; and creating an online application, such as a virtual museum, car simulation, 3D products, burglary simulation, or simple web game.
Entry requirements
UK entrance requirements
A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree. This course is for applicants intending to deepen their understanding of technical digital media. It is suited to those with a previous degree in computer science, mathematics or the natural sciences. Applicants with media degrees who can demonstrate practical computing knowledge will also be considered. Mature applicants with relevant experience will also be considered on an individual basis.
Overseas entrance requirements
Please refer to column A on the Overseas qualifications.
If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas
qualifications table, contact the University.
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
Visas and immigration
Find out more about Visas and immigration.
English language requirements
IELTS 6.5, with not less than 6.5 in Writing and 6.0 in the other sections. Internet TOEFL with 88 overall, with at least 20 in Listening, 20 in Reading, 22 in Speaking and 24 in Writing.
For more information, refer to English language requirements.
Additional admissions information
If you are a non-EU student and your qualifications (including English language) do not yet meet our entry requirements for admission directly to this degree, we offer a Pre-Masters entry route. For more information, refer to Pre-Masters.
For more information about the admissions process at Sussex
For pre-application enquiries:
Student Recruitment Services
T +44 (0)1273 876787
E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk
For post-application enquiries:
Postgraduate Admissions,
University of Sussex,
Sussex House, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9RH, UK
T +44 (0)1273 877773
F +44 (0)1273 678545
E pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk
Related programme
Fees and funding
Fees
Home UK/EU students: £5,5001
Channel Island and Isle of Man students: £5,5002
Overseas students: £16,2003
1
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
2
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
3
The fee shown is for the academic year 2013.
To find out about your fee status, living expenses and other costs, visit further financial information.
Funding
The funding sources listed below are for the subject area you are viewing and may not apply to all degrees listed within it. Please check the description of the individual funding source to make sure it is relevant to your chosen degree.
To find out more about funding and part-time work, visit further financial information.
Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2013)
Region: UK
Level: PG (taught), PG (research)
Application deadline: 1 October 2013
The Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust are offering bursaries to Postgraduate students following any postgraduate degree courses in any subject.
Pegge Scholarship for MSc Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (2013)
Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 1 September 2013
The Pegge Scholarship is awarded annually to postgraduate students taking the MSc Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems.
Studentship for MSc Intelligent Systems (2013)
Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
A studentship is available to support a student on the MSc in Intelligent Systems
Sussex Graduate Scholarship (2013)
Region: UK, Europe (Non UK), International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 16 August 2013
Open to final year Sussex students who graduate with a 1st or 2:1 degree and who are offered a F/T place on an eligible Masters course in 2013.
Faculty interests
Research groups
Research is a core activity of the Department of Informatics often entails collaborations between our groups, as well as with other academic schools at Sussex and external academic, institutional and commercial partners. The research groups are briefly described below.
- Cognitive and Language Processing Systems
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The research of this group addresses the science and engineering of complex systems for cognitively demanding and language-intensive domains, including the application of methods from cognitive science and natural-language engineering. The group focuses on searching and classifying free text (eg medical records) in large quantities, cognitive processes of writing and drawing, cognitive modelling of processes such as attention and graphical production, and
cognitively informed interactive tools for complex problem-solving, decision-making, instruction and learning.Faculty research interests include:
Professor John Carroll Hybrid linguistic/statistical approaches to disambiguation of text, efficient parsing, tools for natural language grammar and lexicon development.
Professor Peter Cheng The nature of representational systems (diagrams for complex problem-solving, discovery and conceptual learning); processes of writing and drawing.
Dr Bill Keller The use of language technology to support communication and interaction, language-aware technology, applications of distributional models of natural language semantics.
Dr David Weir Controlling non-determinism in natural language generation, language in pervasive computing environments, efficient parsing, inferring knowledge about words from raw text.
Dr Sharon Wood Multi-agent systems. Cognitive modelling, in particular information acquisition through cognitively plausible visual attention processes, and knowledge-based reasoning.
- Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems (EASy)
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The EASy group has been internationally prominent since it was established in the early 1990s. It is concerned with the interfaces between the biological and computational sciences, particularly with reference to furthering understanding of brains and minds. The group’s research is highly interdisciplinary and involves many strong links with other departments at Sussex. Research foci include adaptive and cognitive robotics, artificial life, bio-inspired computational methods, computational neuroscience, creative systems, history and philosophy of AI and ALife, clinical applications of neural modelling, machine learning, scientific studies of consciousness, and synthetic neuroethology. It runs the highly successful Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR) jointly with the Neuroscience group in the School of Life Sciences. Members of the group also direct the Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS) and the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS), both important cross-campus initiatives.
Faculty research interests include:
Dr Luc Berthouze Motor development in infants and in machines; EEG-based brain-machine interfaces; epigenetic robotics; and modelling cognitive development with robotic systems.
Professor Margaret Boden Computational approaches in the philosophy of mind and psychology; purpose and creativity; philosophy of AI and ALife; and social implications of AI.
Dr Ron Chrisley Non-conceptual representation; philosophy of cognitive science, AI, mind, consciousness, computation; computer/robotic models of visual experience, emotion, creativity.
Professor Phil Husbands Evolutionary and adaptive robotics; evolutionary computation; ALife; computational neuroscience; adaptive systems; neuromodulation; history of AI; creative systems.
Dr Thomas Nowotny Information processing in nervous systems; sequence learning in neuronal systems; accurate conductance-based neuron models; and hybrid systems.
Dr Andy Philippides Computational neuroscience and neuroethology; evolutionary robotics; insect visual homing strategies; and gaseous neuromodulators in neural networks.
Dr Anil Seth Theoretical neuroscience and evolutionary and adaptive systems; time-series analysis of neural dynamics, neurorobotics; and evolutionary theory and ecological modelling.
Dr Chris Thornton Computational learning using symbolic algorithms and connectionist mechanisms; and theories of creativity.
- Foundations of Software Systems
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This group is interested in the theory and practice of future computation and communication. We build mathematical theories of computation and use such models to inform the design of programming languages and compilers. We design and evaluate distributed applications and services that provide the foundations of the pervasive computing infrastructure and other software systems. We model and analyse data representing system configurations, social networks, trust, and provenance.
Faculty research interests include:
Dr Martin Berger Concurrency theory, semantics and pragmatics of programming languages, program logics, metaprogramming, computer science methods in theoretical biology.
Dr Dan Chalmers The design of pervasive computing systems, particularly those which process and consider emotion, social networks, trust and context to enable efficient and usable system behaviour.
Dr Ian Mackie Foundations of programming languages and models of computation. Applying techniques from mathematical logic and quantum mechanics to programming language implementation.
Dr Bernhard Reus Mathematical semantics of programming languages and their foundations; constructive logic; and techniques and tools supporting program analysis, design and verification.
Dr Ian Wakeman Networks and distributed systems, emphasis on design from the user perspective, pervasive computing, computational trust.
- Interactive Systems
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This research group operates at the intersection between people and digital technology. We are interested in interaction in the broadest sense and consider it in relation to both traditional desktop-based technologies and more novel digital technologies, including mobile, immersive, ubiquitous and pervasive technologies.
We are interested in users of all kinds, ranging from experts using technology in their work (such as medical professionals) and experts developing technology for their work (such as programmers) to novices of all kinds (from children using educational technology through to adults using social technology).
Our research focuses on human-computer interaction, accessibility, music informatics, learning with and through technology (including social networks), technology-enhanced social interaction, new models of e-business, e-government and e-citizenship, tangible and embodied interaction, motion capture techniques, building virtual worlds for digital heritage and other applications, real-time animation, digital content creation and digital video.
Faculty research interests include:
Dr Natalia Beloff New models of e-business, business models for small and medium digital enterprises, adver-gaming, advertising for social networks, education and social networks.
Dr Nick Collins Electronic and computer music including interactive music systems; sound analysis/synthesis; performance, composition and modelling of music.
Dr Judith Good Constructivist learning environments, game-based learning, technology toolkits for learning, visual programming languages, learner-centred and participatory design methodologies.
Dr Paul Newbury Multimedia systems, in particular virtual prototyping, ubiquitous systems and digital content creation. Technology-enhanced learning and video techniques for distance learning.
Dr Phil Watten Software development; virtual prototyping; high-level design; system modelling; display systems; interface design; and media production, new media and web broadcasting.
Dr Martin White 3D graphics; virtual, augmented and mixed reality; animation; motion sensing; motion gaming; digital heritage systems; interaction; work flows.
- Crossdisciplinary research centres
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The Department of Informatics plays a central role in the following major crossdisciplinary research centres:
Centre for Computational Neuroscience and Robotics (CCNR)
CCNR is a collaboration between the Department of Informatics and the School of Life Sciences. This thriving centre seeks to explore and exploit the interfaces between the biological and computational sciences. CCNR is jointly run with the Evolutionary and Adaptive Systems group.
Centre for Research in Cognitive Science (COGS)
COGS is an internationally recognised centre for interdisciplinary investigation into the nature of cognition, be it natural or artificial. Staff in Informatics and Psychology, as well as Sussex linguists, focus on teaching and research.
Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science (SCCS)
SCCS is a new venture between the Department of Informatics, the School of Psychology, and the Brighton and Sussex Medical School. The Centre’s aim is to unravel the complex neural mechanisms underlying conscious experience by bringing together computational modelling, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical applications.
Careers and profiles
Brighton has a thriving digital media sector that has grown by over 22 per cent in the past 10 years. Our graduates have gone on to pursue careers in web development, games programming, e-learning production and 3D modelling, and hold posts in digital media both in Brighton and further afield. This MSc is also an ideal entry point for PhD research in the field of digital media.
Marco's career perspective
‘I completed a postgraduate degree in mathematics in Italy before starting the MSc in Computing with Digital Media at Sussex. I chose Sussex for its excellent Informatics Department and magnificent campus.
‘The MSc taught me critical thinking in respect to digital media, together with a vast variety of technical skills such as 3D modelling, 3D animation, programming and software engineering.
‘After completing my MSc I went back to Italy where I was employed at the University of Cagliari as a research assistant in the Department of Mathematics, and as a lecturer in modelling and rendering in the Department of Informatics. I used the skills I gained at Sussex on a daily basis in these roles, and I’ve also been able to use them outside the academic world, as I was involved as 3D generalist for a video used in a theatre show in Cagliari.
‘I’ve now returned to Sussex to do a PhD in Computer Graphics. In my research I’m able to mix my mathematical skills with the computer science and digital media knowledge that I gained during my MSc.’
Marco Gilardi
MSc in Computing with Digital Media
For more information, visit Careers and alumni.
School and contacts
Department of Informatics
The Department of Informatics is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in computer science, and provides the skills and knowledge required for a future in this dynamic field.
Informatics, PG Admissions,
University of Sussex, Falmer,
Brighton BN1 9QJ, UK
T +44 (0)1273 678195
F +44 (0)1273 877873
E informaticsoffice@sussex.ac.uk
Department of Informatics
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