Work & Organisational Psychology

Programme Flexibility

The blended nature of the MA in Work and Organisational Psychology programme (delivered partly online and partly on campus) offers students flexible access to pursue a Masters's qualification. In our experience, this combination supports all those students who are already in employment or are sponsored by their employer to attend this programme.

School Expertise

This programme is underpinned by three key themes that differentiate it from other programmes in Ireland. These themes are based on our school’s particular areas of expertise and address contemporary workplace concerns and challenges. Drawing on our digital futures research team we address themes around technology-mediated work and organisations; from our resilience and transition team we address themes of well-being, resilience and diversity at work; and finally, from our individual differences experts, we address themes of recognising and assessing individual abilities and potential in the workplace.

Knowledge Exchange - Your Experience Counts!

We welcome students from all walks of life. As a result, we tend to have a good mix of students with and without human resource/training/coaching/consulting experience in our cohorts. This combination usually supports knowledge exchange (e.g., research methods know-how in exchange for practical insights).

Practice-Oriented Dissertation

Dissertation supervision is managed by a number of faculty associated with this MA programme, but also other MA programmes in our Schools. This ensures that our students have access, via our faculty, to different areas of expertise and knowledge of different professional domains (e.g., mental health/healthcare, coaching, and guidance counselling).

Students are positively encouraged to select a dissertation topic that may pave the way for their envisioned future career goals. When students are already in employment, the option to study a topic close to their employers’ interest is supported as long as the dissertation requirements are met. Students are encouraged to seek out potential dissertation advisors within one month of starting the programme to facilitate a well-coordinated and timely delivery of the dissertation in the first (for part-time students' second) year.

The benefits of linking research to practice are apparent in a number of success stories, for example:

My dissertation supervisor emphasised the importance of making sure that my research was directly applicable to the workplace. Having a large piece of work, with findings and recommendations relevant to organisations really makes you stand out during the interview process. The organisation I worked with as part of my research actually asked me to interview for a position that became available during the year.

For full details of the non-EU application procedure visit our how to apply pages for international students.

• In UCC, we use the term programme and course interchangeably to describe what a person has registered to study in UCC and its constituent colleges, schools, and departments.
• Note that not all courses are open to international/non-EU applicants, please check the fact file above. For more information contact the International Office.

English Language Requirements

Applicants who are non-native speakers of the English language must meet the university-approved English language requirements. Visit our PG English Language Requirements page for more information.

Graduates of this programme can look forward to a wide range of career options across both the public and private sectors applying psychology at work. Graduates may enter careers as work and organisational psychologists, or may consider careers in human resource management, human resource development, consultancy, organizational research, or academic/research careers.

To date, a number of our alumni have been recruited nationally and internationally as an outcome of completing this MA in Work and Organisational Psychology. For alumni who were already in employment, a number of our former students were subsequently promoted to new roles. Examples of areas where alumni ended up working include Human Resources positions, organisers or facilitators of Organisational Development and Change/Community Development initiatives, occupational psychologists in training, and consultants (e.g., recruitment and selection).

Student Testimonials

The course emphasised the application of theory in the workplace and I found this to be very useful when going to interviews. Completing this course helps you to develop a diversity of thought that makes you stand out amongst other applicants at interview stage and has played a pivotal role in helping me secure my current job.

I am really delighted I decided to do this masters. From beginning to end the department and the staff supporting the course have been really helpful and supportive. I originally completed my undergrad in psychology in UCC and have found my experience in the department to be top-class on both occasions.

This MA gave me a whole new perspective and pushed me to develop my critical thinking.  In addition to self-directed learning, it challenged the class through engaging discussions, to look at everyday work-related issues, bringing a new open-minded perspective. 

Practice Opportunities - Supporting Employability

Where possible, we also support practical skills training. A number of our alumni have been introduced to practitioners in the field who offered internships and other training opportunities. We continue to support such initiatives to marry the academic with the practical aspects of this degree to support graduate employability. This is also confirmed by reports from our graduates:

The cross-over between theory and application has been fantastic and my experience of the masters has left me very confident in embarking on a career as an occupational psychologist. During the year we had many interesting guest speakers and I was lucky enough to be offered a paid internship in one of their companies. The experience of working alongside a fellow work and organizational psychologist was invaluable and my employer has since offered to be my supervisor as I begin the journey of becoming chartered.

For those students interested in research careers, our graduates may also consider progressing to doctoral studies in the area or engage in further specialisation in the area of work psychology. Our School offers both funded and self-funded PhD opportunities.