Are you interested in human behaviour, psychology and empirical research? Do you love coming up with solutions to complex problems? And would you like to be the person people look to whenever a difficult decision has to be made? Then the master's programme in Human Decision Science is the perfect programme for you. It takes the clarity of economic and game-theoretic decision analysis, and combines it with the human factors of bounded rationality, biases and emotions from psychology. You'll study different facets of both fields, ranging from the neuropsychological basis of decision making to the mechanics behind decisions on a macro level. After completing the programme, you'll be able to work on complex decision-making problems and you'll be well equipped for a career in senior and executive positions.

We live in a highly complex, interdependent world, and the number of decisions we need to make is exploding. Due to increasing knowledge and scientific progress, we have a lot more information at our disposal that can be used to make these decisions. At the same time, we face growing uncertainties like financial crises, climate change, migration and international terrorism on the one hand, and more individual freedom and autonomy on the other.

Under these circumstances it is increasingly difficult yet also increasingly important to understand how to make smart individual and strategic decisions. Such decisions form the cornerstone of the proper functioning of institutions, organisations and markets, on which our very wellbeing depends. This programme gives you a thorough understanding of the cognitive and social aspects of human decision-making to understand what good decisions are and how we can make them.

Your future

This programme will give you a head start wherever human decisions are important, laying the groundwork for a career in senior and executive positions. You'll be equipped to work in interdisciplinary teams dealing with strategic issues (policy, company strategy, marketing strategy, etc.) and conflicts of all kinds between different decision makers.

You could pursue a career at:

• government institutions (policymaking and implementation)
• NGOs and non-profit organisations (agenda setting, campaigning)
• human resource departments (incentive schemes, performance assessment, conflict resolution)
• healthcare and health insurance companies (medical decision making)
• marketing (customer relations, consumer behaviour)
• consulting, management coaching
• academic research