Overview
We’ll shortly be launching a series of full-time Advanced Professional Practice courses for September 2023 entry, if you would like to express your interest in these courses please complete this form.
Are you an experienced occupational therapist? Do you want to take your career to the next level, perhaps in academic research or a leadership role? This course will provide you with the practical skills and the knowledge to really make a difference in a holistic, multidisciplinary team.
You’ll advance your clinical expertise, enabling you to become an effective leader and practitioner. You’ll graduate with the skills to lead a team, helping to improve the lives of patients through rehabilitation in healthcare settings or in the community.
The full master's course can be studied 1 year full-time or 3 years part-time starting in September. If you don’t want to commit to full or part-time study of the entire master's, you can develop your educational portfolio over a longer period of time by undertaking staged study that leads to the award of Postgraduate Certificate (PgCert), Postgraduate Diploma (PgDip) and MSc in separate stages. Each stage can be studied 1 year part-time starting in September.
You can explore our campus and facilities for yourself by taking our virtual tour.
Course content
You’ll benefit from a course designed to incorporate a multidisciplinary perspective that fulfils the Advanced Clinical Practice framework as set out by Health Education England. You’ll study key modules in advanced clinical practice, clinical leadership, evidence-based practice and research. Alongside this, your specialist modules will cover areas specific to occupational therapy. You'll explore the unique and individual client-centred dynamic of ‘person-environment-occupation-wellbeing’ to help you understand the changing needs of the lifecycle from premature neonates to older adults with physical, mental, behavioural, emotional, and end-of-life health issues.
The specialised modules will support you to understand people as occupational beings, develop complex decision-making skills, apply evidence-based practice and develop innovative solutions that will enhance patient, family, and carer experience and improve clinical outcomes.
You'll also be able to support your study learning portfolio by choosing from a range of optional modules from our Advanced Clinical Practice named specialist pathways; Cardiovascular Health, Critical Care, Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation, Neurological Rehabilitation and Pelvic Health.
At Brunel, we understand the challenges of fitting study around work and family life. For this reason, we have designed this course to be flexible, so that it can fit around your current commitments. You can study full-time, part-time, or even just take one or more CPPD modules for your professional development and return to complete your course at a later date.
Compulsory
- PH5612 - Advanced Clinical Leadership
Module dates
- Wednesday, 27 January 2027
- Wednesday, 10 February 2027
- Wednesday, 24 February 2027
- Wednesday, 10 March 2027
You can choose to attend the sessions face-to-face at Brunel or study online for a live session.
- PH5604 - Qualitative Research in Health and Social Care
This module aims to critically explore, reflect upon and develop qualitative research skills and knowledge in health, and to explore qualitative approaches in research in the context of their philosophical, societal, and cultural underpinnings and use in clinical settings.
In additional to theoretical perspectives, through online lectures and interactive workshops you will be introduced to and practice different methods of collecting data and data analysis.
You will learn how to evaluate the quality of qualitative research and consider aspects such as ethics, power, reflexivity and the role of co-construction. This is made relevant to research projects but also service evaluations, quality improvement projects and practice.
- Study mode: Part-time.
Module dates
Seminar times are 9am - 12pm on campus or 1pm - 4pm online on the following days:
- Wednesday, 30 September 2026
- Wednesday, 14 October 2026
- Wednesday, 28 October 2026
- Wednesday, 11 November 2026
- Wednesday, 25 November 2026
You can choose to attend the sessions face-to-face at Brunel or study online for a live session.
- PH5603 - Quantitative Methods and Design for Health Science Research
In this module we aim to develop your critical understanding of quantitative clinical research methodology and the principles of how to use clinical evidence to constructively inform your practice. This means developing skills and knowledge of quantitative research methods and design, understanding data and how to analyse and interpret it and learning how to critically appraise published research.
Indicative content includes consideration of research ethics, governance and integrity alongside theoretical underpinnings of scientific method. Different research designs will be examined alongside common sampling and approaches to statistics.
- Study mode: Part-time
- Credits: 15
Module dates
Seminar times are 9am - 1pm on campus or 1pm - 5pm online on the following days:
- Wednesday, 7 October 2026
- Wednesday, 21 October 2026
- Wednesday, 4 November 2026
- Wednesday, 18 November 2026
- Wednesday, 2 December 2026
You can choose to attend the sessions face-to-face at Brunel or study online for a live session.
- PH5611 - Dissertation
On the dissertation module, students will learn about research by working with an academic supervisor on a topic relevant to their advanced clinical specialist practice. Students will demonstrate their ability to integrate conceptual and theoretical issues, and learn how to design and conduct an original piece of research in an area relevant to their clinical specialist practice or discipline. They will also show their ability to communicate the research process and outcomes in writing and verbally, in a manner appropriate for professional and academic consumption.
Monday 9am - 12pm dual delivery.
Optional
- PH5636 - Assessment and Management of Challenging Behaviours across the Lifespan
This module aims to develop advanced and critical understanding of the factors underlying challenging behaviours from early childhood to older age.
This knowledge will encourage the development of advanced skills in conducting individualised, functionally-based assessments of challenging behaviours for successful monitoring and management of a person-centred and evidence-based professional practice.
Start date: September 29th 2023
Thursday each fortnight. Dual teaching (online and face to face)
- PH5633 - Children, Young People, Families and Carers’ Practices
This module will advance practitioners' existing knowledge and skills in employed multifactorial intra- and inter-personal processes in the promotion of health and wellbeing of children, young people and their families/carers.
Current working practices, nationally and internationally, will be reviewed with a focus on improving service provision for these populations.
Indicative content includes analysis of child and youth development and common disorders, research based evidence on health and social care practices, and exploration of inclusive practice.
Start date: January 23rd 2024
Tuesday fortnightly. Dual teaching (face to face and online)
- PH5637 - Palliative and End of Life Care
The aim of this module is to provide knowledge and skills in palliative and end-of-life care from an interdisciplinary perspective.
Key module aims include:
• Developing specialist knowledge in the state of the art for palliative and end-of-life care to enable working in multiple healthcare settings, meeting a range of patient/service user needs.
• Developing an understanding of the dynamics of inter-professional practice and learn skills to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams.
• Developing the ability to monitor and assess care delivery and outcomes together with professional colleagues, service users, and carers.
• Applying evidence-based approaches to care and evaluation of that care.
• Building leadership skills to advance policy and practice and to contribute to ongoing improvement in health care at the end-of-life.
Start date: January 18th 2024
Thursday fortnightly. Dual teaching (online and face to face)
This course can be studied undefined undefined, starting in undefined.
Please note that all modules are subject to change.
Read more about the structure of postgraduate degrees at Brunel
Careers and your future
On this course you'll extend your knowledge base and skills. You'll develop personally and professionally, enabling you to manage and lead clinical services for children, adults and older adults. This course is also ideal if you're looking to progress into an academic research role.
UK entry requirements
2025/6 entry
Hold a pre-registration degree in a relevant allied health profession, be currently employed in the clinical speciality you wish to apply for and have the following relevant experience as a minimum:
1. Students currently working in the UK - At least 1 year of post qualification clinical work experience in the specialism they have applied for. Typically this should be work experience from a ‘Band 6’ level role.
2. Students currently working outside of the UK – At least 2 years post qualification clinical work experience, ideally including at least 1 year in the specialism you have applied for.
You must have met the minimum work experience requirement at the point you apply for the programme. For example, if you submit your application in February 2025, you must have 2 years experience by February 2025 (depending on whether you are working in or outside the UK). This is to make sure that you will definitely have enough experience when you join the course. This does not include internships as they are supervised and therefore technically still part of your training. You should aim to provide documented evidence of your clinical work experience. All applicants should include a detailed CV as part of their application. Applicants who are working outside of the UK should could include letters of recommendations and/or confirmation of employment (we appreciate that what you can provide will vary from one person to another and be dependent on your specific background and employer, so please aim to provide as much documentary evidence when you apply).
EU and International entry requirements
If you require a Tier 4 visa to study in the UK, you must prove knowledge of the English language so that we can issue you a Certificate of Acceptance for Study (CAS). To do this, you will need an IELTS for UKVI or Trinity SELT test pass gained from a test centre approved by UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI) and on the Secure English Language Testing (SELT) list. This must have been taken and passed within two years from the date the CAS is made.
English language requirements
- IELTS: 7 (min 6.5 in all areas)
- Pearson: 64 (59 in all subscores)
- BrunELT: 68% (63% in all areas)
- TOEFL: 5 (min 5 in all areas)
You can find out more about the qualifications we accept on our English Language Requirements page.
Should you wish to take a pre-sessional English course to improve your English prior to starting your degree course, you must sit the test at an approved SELT provider for the same reason. We offer our own BrunELT English test and have pre-sessional English language courses for students who do not meet requirements or who wish to improve their English. You can find out more information on English courses and test options through our Brunel Language Centre.
Please check our Admissions pages for more information on other factors we use to assess applicants. This information is for guidance only and each application is assessed on a case-by-case basis. Entry requirements are subject to review, and may change.
Fees and funding
2026/27 entry
UK
£6,060 part-time
International
£12,395 part-time
UK Staged Master £4,040 per stage.
International Staged Master £8,265 per stage.
For the (non-staged) MSc part time programme, the tuition fees are usually half of the corresponding full-time fees, and they apply in each of the first two years of study.
More information on any additional course-related costs.
Fees quoted are per year and are subject to an annual increase.
See our fees and funding page for full details of postgraduate scholarships available to Brunel applicants.
Scholarships and bursaries
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
The course uses a range of flexible and engaging approaches to assessment. You'll be assessed through exams, critical essays, portfolios, oral presentations, and your dissertation.
The choice of the specific type of assessment will be appropriate to the intended learning outcomes of the taught modules. The assessment strategies will balance the need to demonstrate knowledge and competencies with more in-depth and critical approaches to learning. Such assessment approaches will include examinations, presentations of relevant clinical case scenarios, and coursework, which will take the form of critical assessment of literature and research, critical essays, and the development of the selected portfolio of learning.
Finally, the dissertation provides demonstration of an ability to synthesise and critically evaluate current research underpinning clinical practice, and to develop and undertake relevant research as well as its dissemination.
Read our guide on how to avoid plagiarism in your assessments at Brunel.
