NOTE: Each course is offered individually, or as part of the three-course Data Analytics for Behavioural Insights certificate
program. You will receive a certificate for each individual course you successfully
complete, and then a certificate upon successful completion of the entire program.
Basics of Modern Statistics and Analysis
Want to learn R? Start here!
Python and Public Data
Want to learn Python? Start here!
Behavioural Insights, Modelling, and Predictive Analytics
Some prior knowledge of R and statistics is recommended before taking this course.
Get a sample of what you'll learn in week two of Python and Public Data!
Receive a certificate from the University of Waterloo
Upon successful completion of all three courses, you will receive a professional education
program certificate from the University of Waterloo.
- Policymakers: Do you develop policies for any public service sector (e.g., health care or municipalities)?
Understand how modern data analytics techniques can better inform your decisions.
- Public servants, non-profit and community leaders: Are you working in public service or leading a business improvement area, non-profit,
or public office? Gain behavioural insights that can be used to inform your work, improve
your community, and increase your chances of success when competing for funding.
- Public service organizations: Do you primarily serve the public sector or the general public? Elevate your understanding
about your customers and partners and learn to make more informed decisions that better
serve public interest.
- Draw behavioural insights to tell effective stories that support decision-making.
- Draw conclusions that have the power to impact your decision-making and policy development.
- Analyze data with the statistical methods used by social scientists.
- Use basic methods of coding to conduct increasingly sophisticated statistical analysis
with R and Python.
Access case studies based on Canadian public data
Review unique case studies, based on publicly available Canadian data, and conduct
analysis that can be used to draw behavioural insights. Use your learning to analyze
data sets for your own organization and inform decision-making and policy development.
Anindya Sen, PhD
Director, Master of Public Service (MPS)
Professor, Department of Economics
Anindya Sen is the lead author of the Data Analytics for Behavioural Insights Program. Sen is
professor of economics, director of the Master of Public Service (MPS) program, and acting
associate dean of co-operative education and planning at the University of Waterloo.
He is also the director of Computational Data Analytics for the Social Sciences and
Humanities (CDASH). Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, Sen was an economist
at the Competition Bureau of Canada.
His research focuses on the economics of public policy, with an emphasis on estimating
the statistical effects of government intervention and imperfectly competitive market
structures. He has published research on the effects of government policies on COVID-19
cases, the relationship between market concentration and gasoline prices, the impacts
of higher cigarette taxes on smoking, the effects of higher minimum wages on employment
and poverty, and the consequences of incentive programs on electricity usage. These
papers have been published in peer reviewed journals such as the Canadian Journal
of Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Health Economics, Journal of
Regulatory Economics, International Review of Law and Economics, Labour Economics,
and Canadian Public Policy. His work has been extensively covered by the Globe and
Mail, the Financial Post, CBC, and the Toronto Star.