Universities In Australia 
Universities In Canada 
Universities In Germany 
Universities In Ireland 
Universities In Jordan 
Universities In New Zealand 
Universities In Saudi Arabia 
Universities In United Kingdom 
Universities In United States Of America 
Our faculty comprises decision scientists who collaborate with organisations on designing behavioural interventions. We'll teach you the theory of behavioural science and how to apply it in practice.
What we offer
Our results speak for themselves - the MSc Behavioural Science earned 100% student satisfaction in the PTES survey in 2020, 2021 and 2022. Our graduates occupy senior roles in the Behavioural Insights Team, national governments, regulatory bodies, large corporations, charities and consultancy firms. Other graduates have gone on to PhDs and published assignments from our Masters in peer-reviewed journals.
You will join Stirling Behavioural Science Centre, where you will have an opportunity to chat with leading practitioners and researchers. Each year, we run a seminar series and host a conference focusing on an aspect of behavioural science.
Our assignments challenge you to apply behavioural science in practice – you’ll design your own experiment, write policy briefs and learn to moderate a Behavioural Challenge Workshop.
You will have the opportunity to apply what you learn. Our students have worked on projects with Siemens, Tesco, Keep Scotland Beautiful, Volunteer Scotland, Glasgow Film Theatre and Iceland's Cancer Detection Clinic. In addition, each year we award the Keep Scotland Beautiful Prize for Best Research in Behavioural Science relating to the Environment.
We are AACSB accredited
The University of Stirling is accredited by AACSB International in recognition of our excellence in business education. This puts the University of Stirling Management School among the top 6% of business schools globally.
Industry demand for skills in behavioural science
Demand for managers with behavioural science knowledge is growing in many different industries. With our MSc Behavioural Science you’ll be fully equipped to break new ground in industries such as:
- Marketing and market research: Key skills needed in marketing and market research include the ability to apply behavioural theory and methods to understand product pricings, promotion, and consumer perceptions. Part of this involves understanding the characteristics of customers, so that they can be grouped and targeted in customised ways.
- Human resources (HR): Organisations need leaders with skills in development and design, resourcing and talent development as well as employee engagement within the HR environment.
- Public opinion research: High-quality survey data is always needed by governments, state agencies and businesses. Companies delivering this service seek sophisticated survey operations skills, including knowledge of data collection modes, survey design, survey completion behaviour, formatting, quality control, and distribution.
- Business: Business and management careers place increasing value on the capacity to apply behavioural insights to business challenges and to gather evidence using experimental methods.
- Policy: Governments now have behavioural insight teams which draw on insights from the growing body of academic research in the fields of behavioural science and psychology.
Developing business leaders of the future
Postgraduate education at the University of Stirling Management School goes beyond text books and lecture rooms, we also focus on your personal and professional development. Our teaching and assignments will equip you with the skills you need to succeed in a variety of occupations.
Our unique Flying Start Leadership Programme equips you with the awareness, knowledge and techniques essential for building a successful career. These range from practical skills, like effective public speaking, to developing ways to work under pressure in difficult situations such as conflict management. Find out more about Flying Start.
Top reasons to study with us
Course objectives
This course will help you to develop key skills and gain practical experience in behavioural science including:
- core training in areas of psychological science most relevant to business and policy,
- in-depth knowledge of the key concepts of behavioural economics,
- how behavioural science can be applied to business and policy questions,
- sound understanding of growing areas such as experimental approaches to business and policy questions and strategies to enable behaviour change,
- approachable yet detailed statistical and methodological training,
- the design and analysis of surveys and survey data,
- using advanced experimental and empirical techniques,
- presenting research confidently, and
- conducting independent research projects that test hypotheses in applied settings.
Research overview
Our behavioural science students benefit from the vibrant research culture within the Stirling Behavioural Science Centre with a regular programme of visiting speakers, leading academics and policy and industry professionals. The centre holds grants from the Chief Scientist’s Office, UKRI, the EU commission, the Scottish Funding Council and the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In REF 2021, 80% of our research impact in Business and Management Studies was classed as world leading or internationally excellent.