MSc Financial Investigation and Digital Intelligence

This MSc fosters critical insights into the application of these techniques to contemporary challenges in the field of professional practice.

Course description

• Advance your investigative career in the public or private sector
• Develop the skills you need to apply modern investigative techniques, both financial and digital
• Respond to the diversity of crime and victimisation with evidence-based policy, research and investigative strategy and tactics
• Use our practitioner-focused platform to pursue your interests and develop your chosen topic area to produce a novel contribution to the literature and field of practice
• Engage with a programme that has been designed by practitioners, for practitioners

Key focuses

This course will place a consistent focus on the study of professional investigative practice across the following themes:

• Focusing on financial and digital investigation and intelligence in the context of the discipline of criminology, whilst drawing upon selected insights from specialist fields
• The theoretical and conceptual challenge of what investigation should look like, and the challenges of implementation in practice
• A shift in mind-set and the use of lateral thinking to disentangle and critically assess problems to identify opportunities for effective practice using financial and digital techniques
• Assess criminality and victimisation through the medium of financial and digital techniques, and the footprint that these create for investigative purposes.

Each of these fields provide a base of principles, knowledge and intellectual skills, subject specific skills and transferable skills that underpins the expectation level for the professional practitioner and the postgraduate student.

The MSc Financial Investigation and Digital Intelligence is based on the specific context of practitioners operating under UK legislation, policy and regulation. Most of the principles will be generically applicable to many countries, and the programme will include selected reference to benchmarks for international standards and frameworks for cross-border collaboration between the public sector (law enforcement) and private sector.

Alongside the 18 month full-time route to the MSc which is spread across 3 semesters (autumn and spring semester in year 1, and autumn semester in year 2), we also offer a 36 month part-time route so that you can study at a time and pace to suit you.

Careers

The MSc Financial and Digital Intelligence has been designed to relate skills and application in professional investigative practice within law enforcement and the private sector. The success of candidates in potentially securing employment or further educational opportunities is embedded in the self-directed nature of the programme. Our masters-level candidates are encouraged to pursue (where they are not already employed in a related field) institutional access and collaboration for research as well as possible placement and internship opportunities. The integration between research and practical experience is very important for candidates to express and pursue their interests, whilst developing their skills and access to networks which may facilitate career opportunities.