Data Science and Society

Data is neither good, nor bad, nor neutral. In the future-oriented Bachelor's Data Science & Society, you’ll explore the social aspects of data and data-driven decisions while gaining essential technical skills. Data Science is an interdisciplinary field that uses scientific methods, statistics, and computing to extract knowledge and gain insights from data. However, in order to lead to useful, fair, sustainable, and inclusive outcomes an update to Data Science is required; this new approach embeds ethics, human rights, sociology, politics, history, and insights from other relevant fields.

This four-week web class offers an introduction to the field of Data Science & Society. You will explore the interactions between data and its ethical considerations through the example of Facial recognition. During the first week, you receive an introduction to the field by diving into the relevance of facial recognition. The second week will allow you to explore the technical aspects of facial recognition. These technical aspects will be connected to the ethical and societal impacts of facial recognition in the third week. The final week will explore the field of data governance and regulation, to showcase how facial recognition can be used in a controlled way.  

Spring edition

The spring edition of the web classes will take place from 9 March - 2 April 2026.

Registration via this site starts on Monday 2 February 2026 at 10:00 (CET). Registration closes on Wednesday 4 March 2026 at 23:55 (CET).

Note: Registration for the autumn edition 2025 is now closed.

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Contact

Do you have questions about the web classes? Have a look at the frequently asked questions or send an email to webklassen rug.nl.