Program Overview

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This course is subject to approval by the British Psychological Society (BPS). How are an individual’s actions shaped by their thoughts and feelings? What role does psychology play in improving sports performance? How can psychology help to shape exercise behaviours? Our BSc Sports and Exercise Psychology course is dedicated to one of the fastest developing areas of psychology. The course will provide you with an immersive and exciting experience of studying the human mind and the application to sport and exercise science. You will study a variety of topics including:

• Social psychology and individual differences
• Experiencing emotion
• Promoting health, exercise, and active lifestyles
• Psychological skills and strategies for improving sports performance

Our course sits within our School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences (SRES), with studies split equally between SRES and the Department of Psychology . This provides a unique opportunity to join communities focused on both psychology and sport and exercise science, allowing us to bring together our research, share knowledge and enhance opportunities for you. You will be based in our state-of-the-art Sport Arena, benefiting from a range of facilities and dedicated laboratories for research.

Sport scholarships

Our Performance Sport Scholarship programme has been created for talented athletes playing at regional, national or international level, and offers a range of benefits. We want students competing in our focus sports (basketball, volleyball, tennis, football and rugby 7s), as well as other team sports and individual athletes, to contribute to our performance sport programme. Our scholarships can include fee discounts of up to 100%, offered to athletes who demonstrate sporting excellence. Athletes who are awarded the scholarship will receive a host of other benefits, including free kit, access to state-of-the-art facilities, performance coaching, the option to live in our Athlete Village (accommodation fees may vary) and a support package valued up to £1,500. These benefits are designed to help athletes focus on their training, and development, and to enable them to reach their full potential alongside their studies. Why we're great.

• 92% of graduates from the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences and 90% of graduates from the Department of Psychology are in employment or further study (Graduate Outcomes 2023).
• We are 12th in the UK for Sports Science in The Guardian University Guide 2023 and 23rd in the UK for research power in sport and exercise sciences (Times Higher Education research power measure, REF 2021).
• We are 21st in the UK for overall student satisfaction for psychology (National Student Survey 2022).

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Study abroad

Your education extends beyond the university campus. We support you in expanding your education through offering the opportunity to spend a year or a term studying abroad at one of our partner universities. The four-year version of our degree allows you to spend the third year abroad or employed on a placement abroad, while otherwise remaining identical to the three-year course. Studying abroad allows you to experience other cultures and languages, to broaden your degree socially and academically, and to demonstrate to employers that you are mature, adaptable, and organised. If you spend a full year abroad you'll only pay 15% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year. You won't pay any tuition fees to your host university.

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Placement year

Alternatively, you can spend your third year on a placement year with an external organisation. This is usually focussed around your course, and enables you to learn about a particular sector, company or job role, apply your academic knowledge in a practical working environment, and receive inspiration for future career pathways. If you complete a placement year you'll only pay 20% of your usual tuition fee to Essex for that year.

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Our expert staff

Our course benefits from the expertise of staff in both the Department of Psychology and the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences (SRES). Our SRES lecturers include internationally recognised experts who undertake research in a range of sport and exercise science disciplines. Within the School we have several Chartered Psychologists who undertake research in sport and exercise psychology and have provided support at Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and World Championships, and have consulted on various health service and public health projects. In SRES our staff carry out research that falls under three key themes:

• Health, Exercise and Active Lifestyles
• Human Performance
• Development of Young People through Sport

These themes will help you to apply your psychology knowledge to a range of sport and exercise contexts. Our psychology academic staff include award-winning teachers and prize-winning researchers who are international experts in their own research areas. They carry out research into areas of psychology that fall under three key themes:

• Thinking about the world
• Interacting with the world
• Experiencing the world

These three themes help tie your knowledge together as they directly feed into our modules.

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Specialist facilities

You will benefit from access to facilities in both the Department of Psychology and School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences (SRES). In SRES you will have access to specialist facilities including the Sport Arena, physiotherapy labs, six specialist sport and physiology labs, two dedicated sports therapy training labs, and an on-campus sports therapy clinic . You will also have access to state-of-the-art equipment such as a sports performance camera system including fixed and mobile cameras for indoor and outdoor use with live streaming and multi-camera capture capabilities, video analysis and coding software, and global positioning equipment capable of tracking player movement, collisions, and intensity. You can also gain valuable experience working with elite athletes in our Human Performance Unit. In the Department of Psychology, you will have access to modern facilities , including a virtual reality and an observation suite, specialist areas to study visual and auditory perception, developmental psychology, and social psychology; and the Centre for Brain Science allows staff to investigate brain activity, and to measure eye movements and other physiological responses.

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Human Performance Unit

The Human Performance Unit (HPU) has been used by professional athletes and sports persons from a range of disciplines, including Team GB athletes participating in the London 2012, Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and players from our local Colchester United Football Club. The HPU supports student teaching and research across all degree types. Our undergraduates in sports therapy, sports performance and coaching, and sports and exercise science use the HPU for some of their modules, with both beginners and professional sports persons recruited to take part. This gives students experience in managing the practical physiological tests, as well helping them develop soft skills such as communication and teamwork. Additionally, the HPU supports a range of placement activities. Our Masters students can take a 12-week placement, while undergraduates have the option to use the HPU during the optional Placement Year. Along with continuing the work with individual athletes, students who have a placement year as part of their course also assist with sports science workshops held at the HPU for local schools. These workshops are tailored to the National Curriculum for PE, and give our students experience of working with teachers and young people.

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Your future

The sport, fitness, health and leisure sectors are booming and provide a variety of careers for sports and exercise psychology graduates. Careers in sport and exercise psychology include being a counsellor, a psychologist for athletes and teams, and an exercise psychologist working with the public, developing exercise programmes and more. You may also want to stay within the School to complete further study. Our courses also develop your skills in numeracy, information technology, communication, and time management, which are important to all employers. We also work with our University's careers services to help you find out about further work experience, internships, placements, and voluntary opportunities.