MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology

Our MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology offers plenty of variety, covering a broad range of topics and experiences. This masters gives both a strong general overview and the opportunity to specialise by tailoring the course to your own interests through an in-depth research project. 

Throughout this British Psychological Society accredited course, you’ll gain the professional knowledge to build and progress a sustainable career. Whether it’s about supporting recovery from injury or enhancing performance – for elite athletes or for public health and wellbeing – you’ll explore where sport and exercise psychology can take you. 
 
You’ll learn how emotions such as anxiety and fear impact performance, as well as covering social factors that may affect behaviour, such as the group’s impact on an individual’s motivation and performance in a team. 

There’s a focus on neuroscience, drawing on the expertise of our teaching staff to explore central and peripheral psychophysiological systems and critically examine their application to sport and exercise psychology. Through using clinical equipment such as eye tracking and the MRI scanner, you’ll gain practical experience of measurement techniques and learn how they can help our understanding and contribute to recovery from injury.   

We offer face-to-face teaching through seminars, workshops and working in labs. Classes take place in two outstanding sporting facilities – the Institute of Sport and Manchester Met’s Platt Lane Sports Complex. The Institute unites expertise from across the University, including our Department of Psychology, creating a wealth of opportunities to harness knowledge and collaborate beyond any one academic or sporting field. Our Sports Complex offers top-quality sporting facilities, including an indoor dome, outdoor pitches, a fully equipped gym and a laboratory used by professional sportspeople and coaches. The complex is home to sports clubs, including football, rugby union, rugby league and American football. 

During the course you’ll gain an understanding of the research process and develop the ability to carry out ethically sound, independent research. Throughout, we’ll help you to critically appraise your research, understanding key analytical methods that are used. 

On one of your core modules, you’ll be getting to grips with the law, sporting regulations and ethical issues associated with working as a sport and exercise psychologist. By exploring multidisciplinary considerations, you’ll gain valuable knowledge about diversity and inclusion in sport, an area that has become an increasing priority across the field.

This is a course built on solid scientific and practical foundations, giving you a range of transferable skills and a broad subject knowledge to help you succeed in either further study or employment in this fast-moving and growing sector. 

At least a 2.2 – typically in a related area or in an area of study accompanied by professional or personal experience. Applicants with relevant extensive professional experience in this field will be considered for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) and Accredited Prior Experience (APE) entrance, even if they do not have the required qualifications .

IELTS score required for international students 6.5 with no element below 5.5.

Further information for international students is available for applicants with non-UK qualifications is available at mmu.ac.uk/international