MSc Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology

The applied sport and exercise physiology course will provide you with the underpinning theoretical knowledge and the key practical skills required to work as an applied sport and exercise physiologist.

Sports and exercise physiologists often work within multidisciplinary teams, helping monitor and develop performance for individual and team-sport athletes.

What You'll Learn

With this course, we aim to produce postgraduate students with a sound knowledge of both the theoretical and practical aspects of applied sport and exercise physiology. We will also equip you with the necessary skills to undertake individual and collaborative research.

All students take two specialist subject modules, giving you the underpinning theoretical knowledge and the key practical skills required to work as an applied sport and exercise physiologist. Throughout your studies you will gain sound scientific knowledge and develop your practical skills and experience. You will also learn to evaluate field and laboratory data, including statistical analysis.

In keeping with our careers-led focus, all students will complete a work-based learning module. This module offers you the opportunity to develop transferable and lifelong learning skills that directly translate to your area of expertise. Working in conjunction with the employer and with an allocated supervisor, work-based learners will plan, negotiate and manage their own study including formalising and agreeing the topic of a student-led applied work-based report.

In preparation for your final research project, you will undertake a research skills module. In this module you will be equipped with the necessary skills to evaluate current literature, develop a research question and well-suited methodology. You will learn appropriate statistical analysis methods and develop a research proposal appropriate for the final dissertation module.

The individual research project is the capstone of your master's course. This module will give you the opportunity to undertake an extensive investigation of a topic within applied sport and exercise physiology. This will give you the opportunity to show your knowledge and expertise, demonstrating many of the skills future employers require.

Your Future Career

The mix of advanced theoretical knowledge and practical experience will equip students with the required subject specific skills to follow a successful career within the field of applied exercise physiology.

Graduate employers of exercise physiologists within elite sport, such as the English Institute of Sport, require applicants to have an advanced theoretical knowledge of the subject, along with experience working with athletes collecting, analysing and interpreting the results of physiological tests. The two subject specific modules on this course will provide graduates with valuable experience in both of those areas.

In addition to the subject specific skills, the incorporation of the mental wealth curriculum, provides graduates with soft skills, such as critical thinking, creativity, emotional intelligence and resilience, alongside practical skills, such as digital proficiency. In this age of artificial intelligence, we recognise that it is the uniquely human skills that will set future graduates apart in the job market. This is why the development of these skills is at the heart of this degree, equipping graduates from this programme with the skills to thrive in the businesses of tomorrow.

We have connections with a range of professional/semi-professional sports teams and we support students to gain placements through these contacts, as well as being able to provide support to teams through East London Sport.

Students should have minimum 2:2 honours degree in Physiology, Pharmacy, Pharmacology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Sports Science, Applied Biology, Toxicology or related subjects. We would normally expect you to have Grade C in GCSE English and Maths.