This course was the first Professional Doctorate in Sport and Exercise Psychology to be approved by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC). On completion of this course you will hold a doctoral degree and be eligible to apply to register with the Health and Care Professions Council as a Practitioner Psychologist.
The course offers a unique blended learning opportunity for those who wish to achieve both the highest level of academic degree and vocational qualification to practice as a psychologist within the sport and exercise domain. Holding these dual qualifications is increasingly important for both career and professional development in the field of sport and exercise psychology.
What you'll experience
Specific careers directly related to this qualification include becoming an applied practitioner, researcher, or lecturer in sport and/or exercise psychology. Applied practitioners tend to be self employed or employed by national governing bodies, sport institutes, or private sport organisations.
Researchers tend to be employed by commercial companies and academic institutions. Lecturers in this field are employed by further and higher educational establishments.
You will not only be qualified for a career in applied sport and exercise psychology, but also in sports and exercise science, and management roles within the world of sport, for example, national governing bodies. Alternatively, given the range of general employability skills developed throughout the course, you could also go on to a variety of careers in other sectors, for example, business, the police and the armed services.
Structure and teaching
This course contains three core units:
- Publication and Dissemination (30 credits)
- Proposal for Professional Research and Development Project and Professional Practice and Research (30 credits)
- Professional Research and Development Project in Sport and Exercise Psychology (360 credits).
These units are made up of component parts and are assessed through portfolio work, presentation, and viva voce examination.
We use the best and most current research and professional practice, alongside feedback from our students, to make sure course content is relevant to your future career or further studies.
Therefore, some course content may change over time to reflect changes in the discipline or industry and some optional units may not run every year. If a unit doesn't run, we'll let you know as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative unit.
Due to changing circumstances as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we may need to make changes to courses to ensure your safety and to ensure compliance with Government guidelines. We'll provide you with as much notice as possible of any such changes. Your course leader will inform you of these. Changes may include things such as modules being taught in teaching block 2 instead of teaching block 1 and teaching activities occurring in smaller group sizes.
Teaching and assessment
You will be assigned a main supervisor who will be supported by team of up to three additional supervisors. Supervisors will be aligned with your area of research and professional development needs. There are further opportunities to attend research seminars and workshops organised by the University's Graduate School.
How you're assessed
The Professional Doctorate consists of coursework and research and is credit based. The coursework component is designed to help build on professional expertise by exposing students to challenging and innovative ideas in their field.
Assessment is by coursework (including preparation of manuscripts for publication and documents for review and oral presentations. This should normally take 36 months to complete.
Entry requirements
2020/21 (part time)
- Home/EU/CI part-time students: £4,600 p/a*
- International part-time students: £7,150 p/a*
*All fees are subject to annual increase
This course is eligible for the Government Doctoral Loan.
Tuition fees terms and conditions
Apply
Before you start your application, you'll need to have the following documentation ready:
- A personal statement
- Proof of your first degree and grades (officially certified and translated copies if not in English)
- Proof of a relevant postgraduate degree with at least 60 credits having been completed
- Details of 2 referees or 2 references on official headed paper, one of which should ideally be an academic reference
- Proof of your English language proficiency (if English is not your first language)
- An up-to-date copy of your CV
Accredited: Yes
