Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences MSc

The Brunel Sport, Health and Exercise MSc is aimed at graduates with a background in sports science and related subjects who want to build on their existing knowledge with advanced study in the multidisciplinary area of elite sports performance.

Your course will include a series of compulsory modules focused on identifying how a high performance sport programme can be developed by exploring the determinants of elite performance and training interventions to develop these, and how to support athletes with competition demands and recovery strategies across a range of sports.

You will complete a module based entirely in the laboratory and field environment with students learning contemporary techniques to measure performance and training responses, as well as profile an athlete.

Finally, towards the end of the degree you will undertake a research methods module designed to provide you with data analysis skills and assist in the development of your research Dissertation.

Our programme also has optional modules that enable you to examine contemporary issues relating to physical activity and health, key psychological factors that impact on elite sports performance such as anxiety, motivation, concentration and confidence, or enrol in a module examining mental health and wellbeing in elite sport.

A professional development option module also exists for students who wish to pursue a specific area of interest, and/or work with one of our partners on a placement.

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.

From elite performance to personal fitness to community-based sport activity, sport is an ever-expanding, global industry. The expert knowledge and practical skills you’ll gain from your Brunel master’s will boost your employment prospects in the lab, on the training field or with sporting bodies.

Dean’s International Scholarship: This course is eligible for a £2,000 fee waiver, per academic year, subject to availability. This Scholarship is for full-time international students only. Find out more.

The course is designed to give graduates with sport and/or health backgrounds added insight and expertise in the specialist multidisciplinary field of human performance using biomechanical, physiological and psychological constructs.

The MSc consists of 180 credits, 120 credits are taught content, the final 60 credits are associated with the research project (dissertation).

Full-time students should complete four modules per term, excluding the dissertation. Part-time students should complete two modules per term, excluding the dissertation.

This course can be studied 1 year full-time or 2 years part-time, starting in September.

Sport is a competitive world and an expanding global industry. The expert skills you’ll gain on this course will give you a head start in your career.

You may wish to go into performance science, coaching, consultancy, fitness testing and training, sport development or sport management.

The course will also prepare you for formal accreditation through the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (https://www.bases.org.uk/sspage-professional_development-accreditation_and_endorsement-bases_accreditation.html (BASES) or to progress on to further research such as PhD study.

• A 2:2 (or above) UK Honours degree or equivalent internationally recognised qualification in Sports Science.

Other subjects including Medicine, Veterinary Science/medicine, Physiotherapy or any Biological Science will also be considered on an individual basis provided applicants can show evidence of at least one year’s experience of working in science or an area allied to medicine and/or sport.

Hepatitis B immunisation will be required as students on this pathway will be involved in taking capillary blood samples.

• IELTS: 7 (min 6 in all areas)
• Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
• BrunELT: 68% (58% in all areas)
• TOEFL: 98 overall (min 20) 

Modules are assessed by combinations of essays, case studies, presentations, and report writing. In the final year you must submit, and pass, a research dissertation which can be formatting in the style of a traditional written thesis, a scientific paper, a technical report, or a coaching resource.