Overview
Please note the course details apply to 2026 entry.
Please note, this course is only available to students based in South East Asia.
This MSc Digital Economies (South East Asia) is an interdisciplinary programme that critically analyses how digital technologies are changing the ways we work, produce, exchange, and collaborate. The programme aims to approach and analyse the big questions facing global society today. With a global focus on labour, markets, platforms, and institutions, you'll gain a big picture perspective on the transformations being brought about through digital technologies and you'll gain the tools needed to respond to the challenges facing our world. The programme content will in part be focused on the digital economies of South East Asia.
Key benefits
- Learn from one of the only programmes that focuses on a critical perspective on the digital economy
- Discover the global impact of new technologies, including topics such as emerging digital divides, global labour markets, digital development and its discontents, and digital colonialism
- Gain a detailed understanding of how platforms and other digital technologies are influencing the culture industries
- Discover how to critically evaluate the strength and value of innovative business models in the private and public sectors
- Engage with a variety of optional modules that cover subjects including artificial intelligence, social media, digital assets, data journalism
- Learn from a uniquely interdisciplinary curriculum that combines insights from areas including economics, sociology, anthropology, management
- Join a Digital Humanities Department that’s the largest in the UK and a global leader in researching digital and culture
Course essentials
Please note this course is only available to students in Southeast Asia.
This programme is designed to teach you a solid knowledge and understanding of how digital artefacts are unique, how they lead to innovation, and their effects on contemporary society. You’ll learn about the main critical and theoretical approaches to the analysis of the digital at macro and micro levels, and discover how to apply this to the management of digital artefacts.
The first core module tackles the subject from a micro perspective, focusing on digital artefacts, like open-source software, to discuss their implications on communities, companies, and ecosystems. You will consider theories that address commons-based peer production, transaction cost theory, and beyond. At the same time, you’ll learn how to establish and apply digital initiatives, critically analyse existing innovation strategies, and scrutinise the ethics of digital creation.
The second core module will shift your perspective to the macro and teach a systematic and critical reflection on the digital economy on a broader level. You’ll consider the challenges of rising tech companies and contemplate their political economy when debating major topics. You will be able to discuss topics such as addiction and attention, surveillance capitalism, and data colonialism while exploring the role of power in the digital economy and how new inequalities of power are emerging. By the end, you’ll be prepared to explain these changes and outline systematic connections across the digital economy as a whole.
The specialist modules will allow you to deepen your understanding of the digital economy by specializing in key areas that intersect with the digital.
Your digital economies MSc will conclude with your final research project. This gives you the opportunity to gather your own research and become an expert in a topic that interests you.
Key Information
Course type:
Master's
Delivery mode:
Classroom & Online
Study mode:
Blended learning
Duration:
2 years
Application status:
Open
Start date:
September 2026