University of Cambridge · Faculty of Economics

Courses

Teaching at the intersection of economics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence
Dr. Melvyn Weeks
Associate Professor of Economics
Faculty of Economics and Clare College, University of Cambridge

Cambridge

Graduate and postgraduate courses taught at the Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.

MPhil · Lent Term
DS300: Causal Inference and Machine Learning
MPhil in Economics and Data Science · Faculty of Economics

Core module at the intersection of econometrics and machine learning. Covers Double Machine Learning, causal forests, and double-robust estimators with applications in labour, finance, and policy evaluation. Based on Breiman's two statistical cultures — reconciling prediction and causal identification.

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Summer 2026
Summer School 2026
Cambridge · Summer Term 2026

A five-day in-person school at Churchill College, Cambridge — jointly taught with Professor Jeffrey Wooldridge (Michigan State University). Course 1: Causal Inference and Difference-in-Differences (Wooldridge). Course 2: Causal Inference and Machine Learning (Weeks). 20–24 July 2026. Register individually or for the full school.

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Executive Programme · Autumn 2026
AI for Strategic Decision-Making
Møller Centre, Churchill College · Three-day residential · £6,500

A Cambridge executive programme for board members and senior leaders — organised around the decision, not the technology. Delegates leave with six concrete artefacts including a Causal Decision Canvas and a working AI agent, each tied to a real decision in their own organisation.

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Applied & Executive

Applied AI and economics courses for practitioners, regulators, and executive audiences.

Applied · Ofcom EAG · 2026
Agentic AI for Regulatory Workflows
Ofcom Economics and Analytics Group · March 2026

Demonstration of agentic AI capability in a regulatory economics context — end-to-end analysis of 143,726 DSA moderation records using multi-model orchestration. A template for applied AI training in regulatory and policy organisations.

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Public Lecture · Festival of Ideas 2026
The Learning Machine
Judge Business School · University of Cambridge · March 2026

Public lecture on the economics of AI, labour, and expertise. The Three Tiers framework — from explicit knowledge to tacit inference to beyond-human discovery — and its implications for wages, skills, and policy. Presented at the Cambridge Festival of Ideas.

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Textbook

Course materials under development for Cambridge University Press.

Cambridge University Press · Under Proposal
Machine Learning for Causal Inference
Dr. Melvyn Weeks · April 2026

Proposal submitted to Cambridge University Press. Drawing on DS300 materials developed and tested at the Faculty of Economics. Covers Double Machine Learning, causal forests, double-robust estimators, and generalised random forests — with full R and Python implementations throughout.

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