Human-Computer Interaction (2014 entry)

MSc, 1 year full time/2 years part time

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Computing at Sussex was ranked in the top 15 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 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, e-business, human-computer interaction, adaptive systems and artificial life, cognitive systems, natural language processing, and artistic and creative systems. 

The University of Sussex and American Express

AMEX

The University of Sussex and American Express have joined forces to offer an exciting way to study and gain work experience. You will work for two years part time in the Technologies Division of American Express, based in the Sussex Innovation Centre on the University of Sussex campus, while also studying in the Department of Informatics for an MSc in Human-Computer Interaction.* 

Your tuition fees for the course will be paid at the home/EU level by American Express and you will receive a competitive salary based on a working week of 30 hours. At the end of the two years, the highest-performing students will have an opportunity to gain a full-time job with American Express. 

You must be entitled to study part time and work 30 hours per week in the UK to be eligible for consideration. 

You must apply for, and gain, a position at American Express before applying for a place at Sussex. Applications are usually only accepted in December and January. For details, contact pg.applicants@sussex.ac.uk

*Note that it is possible to study for the MSc in Human-Computer Interaction full time or part time, without undertaking the work experience component with American Express.

Programme outline

This course explores how to apply techniques from cognitive science, psychology and software engineering to the design, implementation and evaluation of computing systems from a human-centred perspective. This MSc encompasses user experience and interaction design. 

Under a scheme between the University of Sussex and American Express, it is also possible to study for this MSc part time while working part time for American Express for two years.  

Assessment 

You are assessed by coursework, examinations, essays, programming projects, group projects, presentations and a 12,000-word dissertation. 

We continue to develop and update our modules for 2014 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.

Full-time course structure

Autumn term: Human-Computer Interaction • Object-Oriented Programming • Real-World Cognition (students with a high level of programming experience may take Advanced Software Engineering). You also choose one option from Applied Natural Language Processing • E-Business and E-Commerce Systems. 

Spring term: HCI Advanced Topics • Psychological Methods for Systems Evaluation • Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments. You also take one option from modules such as Generative Creativity • Multimedia Design and Applications • Pervasive Computing. 

Summer term: you undertake supervised work for the MSc dissertation, a project in which you either design and evaluate a human-centred computer system or investigate an aspect of interactivity. 

Part-time course structure

The part-time structure for each 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. 

Back to module list

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

Applied Natural Language Processing

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

Applied Natural Language Processing concerns the theory and practice of automatic text processing technologies. Topics covered on the module will include core, generic text processing models (e.g. , tokenisation, segmentation, stemming, lemmatisation, part-of-speech tagging, named entity recognition, phrasal chunking and dependency parsing) as well as problems and application areas (e.g. document classification, information retrieval and information extraction).

Hands-on experience with the practical aspects of this module will be gained through the weekly laboratory sessions will make extensive use of the Natural Language Toolkit which is a collection of natural language processing tools written in the Python programming language.

The seminars will provide in-depth discussion of a number of important issues that arise when developing natural language processing tools, including: experimentation and hypothesis testing; advanced data smoothing techniques; domain adaptation; topic modelling; active learning; generative versus discriminative learning; and semi-supervised learning.

E-Business and E-Commerce Systems

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module will give you a theoretical and technical understanding of the major issues for all large­-scale e­-business and e­-commerce systems. The theoretical component includes: alternative e-business strategies; marketing; branding; customer relationship issues; and commercial website management. The technical component covers the standard methods for large­-scale data storage, data movement, transformation, and application integration, together with the fundamentals of application architecture. Examples focus on the most recent developments in e­-business and e-commerce distributed systems. 

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.

HCI Advanced Topics

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module will explore advanced topics in Human Centred Computing Systems, by providing opportunities to reflect on, synthesise and gain a deeper understanding of the concerns, perspectives and interdisciplinary nature of this area.

The module also aims to support the development of research, design and study skills through literature reviews, case studies involving the critique of systems, presentations, group discussion of research and hands-on experiences.

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.

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.

Pervasive Computing

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module provides you with an understanding of the issues, technologies and concepts underlying the vision of pervasive computing infrastructure, particularly in wireless networks, context-awareness, sensors and programming for limited and mobile devices. The module also provides you with experience of scientific and engineering techniques of design, experimentation, writing and critical review of literature. This is achieved through a combination of lectures on basic concepts and theory, seminars discussing literature and design, lab exercises in implementing systems with these technologies, and independent study building on this class work. Through examination of the various topics we will discuss appropriate experimental methods, including simulation and experimentation, and forms for the analysis of results.

Topics to be covered include: concepts in mobile and ad-hoc networks (including principles in wireless communications, addressing and routing in the mobile internet, identity and routing in ad-hoc networks and identity, routing and in-network processing in sensor networks); research and practise in context awareness ( including classification of context and uses of context; interfacing to sensors; resource discovery and system configuration, and location aware computing); design of pervasive computing systems (including programming with memory, CPU and power limitations for mobile devices and sensors; responding to context and resources, and mobile and pervasive user interfaces); and design and reporting of experiments (including research and engineering questions, and running experiments and reporting results).

Psychological Methods for System Evaluation

15 credits
Spring teaching, year 1

This module introduces you to some of the methods and statistical analysis that psychologists use. You will consider a range of methods including interview, observational methods, questionnaires and laboratory methods used by system emulators. The module is aimed at helping you design a scientific method of comparing the effectiveness of different technologies or devices. You will work in small groups to design an experiment and test a piece of equipment/gather opinions about a piece of technology.

Likely topics include the evaluation of computer input devices to assess their efficiency and user preference; a comparison of two types of media and the way users interact with them; or a questionnaire study designed to elicit users’ mental models of how a selected piece of technology works. You will learn the format of writing reports and technical specifications used in industry, suitable for publication.

Real-World Cognition

15 credits
Autumn teaching, year 1

This module aims to enable you to recognise the achievements and utility of cognitive science and to apply its models and methods to real-world problems. Applications of cognitive science abound in the real world.

For example, principles derived from cognitive science are applied to the design of information displays, educational technologies and safety equipment, amongst other things. The module provides a framework for characterising different types of problem. Knowledge of research findings from cognitive studies of language, decision making, reasoning and problem solving can help people make better decisions, make them less susceptible to the bogus claims of some advertisements and to help them adopt a more rational stance in their perceptions of risk (e.g. in the context of gambling, `stranger danger' and medical screening programmes).

Studies of complex problem solving give us insight into how expert performance differs from that of novices and how, for example, 'everyday' calculations in shops, markets and other real-world contexts differ from similar activities in formal educational settings. Understanding how language and cognition interact shows why some kinds of knowledge is difficult to acquire. Studies of human error show how everyday mistakes and slips occur and how they may be avoided or lessened. These are examples of the kinds of topics that can be approached from a cognitive science perspective.

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.

Back to module list

Entry requirements

UK entrance requirements

A first- or upper second-class undergraduate honours degree. Applicants should have an interest in computing systems from a human perspective and should have an undergraduate background in computing, or psychology, or a degree with substantial computing or social science content. Mature applicants with relevant experience will also be considered on an individual basis.

Overseas entrance requirements

Overseas qualifications

If your country is not listed below, please contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

CountryOverseas qualification
Australia Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class upper division
Brazil Bacharel, Licenciado or professional title with a final mark of at least 8
Canada Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.3/4.0 (grade B+)
China Bachelor degree from a leading university with overall mark of 75%-85% depending on your university
Cyprus Bachelor degree or Ptychion with a final mark of at least 7.5
France Licence with mention bien or Maîtrise with final mark of at least 13
Germany Bachelor degree or Magister Artium with a final mark of 2.4 or better
Ghana Bachelor degree from a public university with second-class upper division
Greece Ptychion from an AEI with a final mark of at least 7.5
Hong Kong Bachelor (Honours) degree with second-class upper division
India Bachelor degree from a leading institution with overall mark of at least 60% or equivalent
Iran Bachelor degree (Licence or Karshenasi) with a final mark of at least 15
Italy Diploma di Laurea with an overall mark of at least 105
Japan Bachelor degree from a leading university with a minumum average of B+ or equivalent
Malaysia Bachelor degree with class 2 division 1
Mexico Licenciado with a final mark of at least 8
Nigeria Bachelor degree with second-class upper division or CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0
Pakistan Four-year bachelor degree, normally with a GPA of at least 3.3
Russia Magistr or Specialist Diploma with a minimum average mark of at least 4
South Africa Bachelor (Honours) degree or Bachelor degree in Technology with an overall mark of at least 70%
Saudi Arabia Bachelor degree with an overall mark of at least 70% or CGPA 3.5/5.0 or equivalent
South Korea Bachelor degree from a leading university with CGPA of at least 3.5/4.0 or equivalent
Spain Licenciado with a final mark of at least 2/4
Taiwan Bachelor degree with overall mark of 70%-85% depending on your university
Thailand Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 or equivalent
Turkey Lisans Diplomasi with CGPA of at least 3.0/4.0 depending on your university
United Arab Emirates Bachelor degree with CGPA of at least 3.5/4.0 or equivalent
USA Bachelor degree with CGPA 3.3-3.5/4.0 depending on your university
Vietnam Masters degree with CGPA 3.5/4.0 or equivalent

If you have any questions about your qualifications after consulting our overseas qualifications, contact the University at E pg.enquiries@sussex.ac.uk

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.

Visas and immigration

Find out more about Visas and immigration.

Additional admissions information

Applicants interested in the part-time degree scheme with American Express must apply for a position at American Express (usually between December and January) in addition to a place at Sussex - please see the American Express Student Opportunities web pages.

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 

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.

Chancellor's International Scholarship (2014)

Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 1 May 2014

25 scholarships of a 50% tuition fee waiver

Fulbright-Sussex University Award (2014)

Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 15 October 2013

Each year, one award is offered to a US citizen for the first year of a postgraduate degree in any field at the University of Sussex.

Leverhulme Trade Charities Trust for Postgraduate Study (2014)

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.

Santander Scholarship (2014)

Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 1 May 2014

Two scholarships of £5000 fee waiver for students studying any postgraduate taught course.

USA Friends Scholarships (2014)

Region: International (Non UK/EU)
Level: PG (taught)
Application deadline: 3 April 2014

Two scholarships of an amount equivalent to $10,000 are available to nationals or residents of the USA on a one year taught Master's degree course.

Faculty interests

Research groups 

Research is a core activity of the Department of Informatics and is organised around our interdisciplinary research groups. Our research often entails collaborations between the groups, as well as with other academic schools at Sussex and external academic, institutional and commercial partners. The research groups are briefly described below, for more details, visit the Department of Informatics.

Cognitive and Language Processing Systems

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 Natural language parsing, acquiring knowledge about words from text, sentiment analysis, clinical text mining. 

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) 

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 Sussex Neuroscience 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. 

Professor 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

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

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 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. 

Interdisciplinary research centres 

The Department of Informatics plays a central role in the following major interdisciplinary 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 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

Our graduates work for a diverse range of organisations from small companies to multinationals such as Kineo, Stream Media, HP, Eurotherm and American Express. Their roles include customer experience executive, senior application consultant, product development executive and principal software engineer. Others have set up web design, human factors consultancy and new media businesses. Some continue with doctoral study leading to research and academic careers. 

For more information, visit Careers and alumni.

School and contacts

School of Engineering and Informatics

The School of Engineering and Informatics brings together the areas of mechanical and electrical engineering with informatics, in particular computer science and artificial intelligence, and product design.

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, Postgraduate 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

Postgraduate Open Day 2013

4 December 2013, 1pm-4pm
Bramber House, University of Sussex

  • talk to academic faculty and current postgraduate students
  • subject talks and presentations on postgraduate study, research and funding
  • choose from our exciting range of taught Masters and research degrees
  • find out how postgraduate study can improve your career prospects
  • get details of our excellent funding schemes for taught postgraduate study.

To register your interest in attending, visit Postgraduate Open Day.

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Visit Discover Postgraduate study to book your place.

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