MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology

This course provides graduates the first stage of training towards becoming a British Psychological Society (BPS) accredited sport and exercise psychologist. You’ll examine the key psychological factors that affect both sports performance and exercise participation and learn how to assess client needs and formulate tailored programmes for them. In your sport specialisation, you’ll learn techniques and strategies to help athletes of all levels, ages and genders develop the mental skills needed to tackle inhibitions and achieve peak performance, as well as to overcome the emotional consequences of serious injury or prolonged loss of form. These mental skills are equally applicable to coaches wanting to build positive team dynamics and referees dealing with the stresses of the job. In your exercise specialisation, you’ll focus on applying psychology to increase exercise participation and motivational levels among the public, and to encourage people to adopt more active lifestyles. On completion of the course, you can progress to Stage 2 training which leads to chartered psychologist status with the BPS and registered practitioner status with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). Throughout your studies, you’ll be able to take advantage of our modern physiology and biomechanics laboratories and some of the best sports facilities in the UK. With sport and exercise participation growing at a healthy pace, employment opportunities in the field of sport and exercise psychology are on the rise too. The expert knowledge and skills you’ll gain from your Brunel master's, including those highly transferable skills related to implementing goal-setting strategies, will stand you in good stead for a range of rewarding jobs. As the course is BPS accredited, this could be your next step on the way to becoming a psychologist, be it in sport and exercise or otherwise. In addition, this course will prepare you for BASES accreditation as a Sport and Exercise Scientist (Sport Psychologist), should you wish to take the BASES route. You’ll also have the skills and expertise for a wide range of other careers. For example you may wish to become a university lecturer, a consultant in elite sport or maybe lead a national sport psychology service for an organisation such as the English Institute of Sport.