There are increasing rates of ill-health resulting from sedentary living, poor dietary habits and high stress lifestyles. The duties performed by a Clinical Exercise Specialist (CES) are linked closely to treating patients living with a long term condition in which exercise has been shown to provide therapeutic benefit. Specifically, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, diabetes, stroke, cancer and musculoskeletal limitations remain important health concerns that have all been shown to benefit from regular, safe exercise.
Therefore, this innovative course is designed to offer you an interdisciplinary approach to exercise in clinical settings as well as vocational qualifications and experiences that will enable you to apply theory to practice. The integration of theory and practice within this course will enable you to critically analyse, adapt and modify existing approaches to develop safe and effective physical activity programmes to optimise the health-related fitness of clients.
On this course you can:
Obtain lab-based and field skills, as well as the ability to communicate with clients in a professional and approachable style.
Gain Register of Exercise Professionals endorsed vocational qualifications in clinical exercise, including exercise referral, cardiac disease, chronic respiratory diseases, stroke, cancer and falls prevention which are essential requirements should you wish to pursue a career as a clinical specialist exercise instructor.
Work with clinicians providing exercise in the management of a range of long term conditions
The programme provides an opportunity to work toward ACSM Clinical Exercise Physiologist certification and units aligned to National Occupation Standards for Health and Fitness.
Here are some routes our graduates have pursued:
Health and wellbeing physiologist
Bariatric exercise physiologist
NHS trainee clinical scientist
Health advisor
Clinical Exercise Physiologist
Exercise Referral Coordinator
Exercise Therapist
PhD Research
The modular programme is offered in two formats: Full-time (12 months) and Part-time (24 months). The course includes 120 credits of taught units and a 60 credit Project. It is also possible to study parts of this course for CPD purposes, such as a single unit (30 credits) or top up a related Postgraduate Diploma to a full MSc.
The units contain vocational elements relevant for providing personalised exercise training for a range of medical conditions, including classroom, exercise laboratory and placement learning. The MSc Clinical Exercise Project unit prepares you for your independent project, where you will plan and implement a service evaluation, research project or enterprise & innovation project in the area of clinical exercise.
Teaching takes place on Thursdays, Fridays and some Saturdays, so attendance on selected weekends is necessary for the vocational training included in some of the units. Placements take place in areas such as Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth and Chichester and are scheduled according to placement provider requirements during the week. Each unit is generally taught over a three week block, however cardiac rehabilitation requires a longer study period.
The core unit you will study is:
MSc Clinical Exercise Project (60 credits)
Optional units to choose include 120 credits from:
Exercise for Cardiac Rehabilitation (30 credits)
Exercise for Chronic Respiratory Diseases (30 credits)
Exercise and Cancer Care (30 credits)
Exercise and Fitness after Stroke (30 credits)
Exercise for Falls Prevention (30 credits)
Paediatric Exercise Science and Medicine (30 credits)
The delivery format for the course is largely based around seminar, practical, workshop and placement learning to integrate theory into practical sessions. Teaching sessions will include vocational training, seminar and exercise laboratory work, led by leading practitioners in the area of clinical exercise. You will be provided with a personal tutor to assist with academic and pastoral issues.
The course has a problem-based learning approach and you will be assessed in a variety of ways with a focus on self-reflection and initiative and problem-based assignments. Here’s how we assess you:
Vocational training (MCQ and case study)
Practical assessment
Applied essays
Case studies
Project report
Poster presentation
We have strong links with National Health Service partners in the Wessex region and professional training providers in exercise, such as the American College of Sports Medicine and the Register of Exercise Professionals. Graduates of this course possess qualifications to provide exercise in cardiac rehabilitation, pulmonary rehabilitation, exercise after cancer, exercise after stroke or exercise for falls prevention provided by leading vocational clinical exercise training providers. Having such a skills-set is important for being employable as an exercise physiologist in diverse multi-disciplinary teams, whilst also presenting the opportunity to work as an exercise entrepreneur as your own exercise service manager.
Roles our graduates have taken on include
Exercise referral coordinator
NHS trainee clinical scientist
Health advisor
Cardiopulmonary exercise physiologist
Health and wellbeing physiologist
Bariatric exercise physiologist
NHS physical activities advisor
Private exercise physiologist
This course will suit you if you are a sport and exercise graduate, a graduate from a related science or a medical student looking to specialise in the field of exercise physiology.
It is designed to focus on professional skills that improve your employability, as you learn with equipment including environmental chambers, breath-by-breath analysers, blood sampling analysers and transcranial magnetic stimulation devices.
You also again gain real-world experience in areas relevant to your interests by working alongside experienced practitioners. Past projects have included working with participants in our cardiac rehabilitation programme.
Our teaching laboratories are accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), as are most of our course staff. You can register on the BASES Supervised Experience Scheme yourself to achieve personal accreditation.
The course is flexible in that it allows you to exit with a postgraduate certificate at the end of one semester (three 20-credit modules) or a postgraduate diploma at the end of two semesters (six 20-credit modules). You must complete the 60-credit research project to qualify for the MSc.
You spend around 100 hours of the course with an organisation related to the practice of physiology, which will allow you to apply your academic knowledge in a vocational setting. Previous students have worked in organisations including a cardiac rehabilitation programme and fall prevention classes with Albion in the Community. Many students have started their professional careers with the organisation that provided them with work experience.
In taught physiology modules, you'll experience and discuss the responses of the human body to various stimuli, including effect of environmental changes (heat and hypoxic chambers) and of ergogenic aids which can be used to simulate peculiar clinical conditions and help students understand better exercise tolerance. This novel approach to teaching integrative physiology will help you to develop a host of laboratory skills. You will be introduced to the latest in the research field of exercise physiology and will have an opportunity to write your own paper from your research project.
With modules such as Professional Enquiry, you'll also gain vocational skills to give you a competitive edge in the job market; through placement opportunities and chances to network in the world of exercise physiology, you'll graduate with a foot firmly in the industry.
Teaching environment
Laboratory work
Tutorials
Modules
Options
Our facilities include a gym over two floors with fitness equipment including a three-camera system to analyse weight-lifting actions and an isokinetic dynamometer to allow measurement of muscle strength.
Our sport and exercise laboratories which are all accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) include:
Career opportunities for sport and exercise scientists are growing. Sports science is recognised as a vital ingredient in the success and development of most sports and for the individuals that take part it is an everyday aspect of their training.
Many hospitals and primary care trusts are also appointing specialists with exercise backgrounds to work in areas such as cardiac rehabilitation and health promotion.
An MSc in Applied Exercise Physiology from the University of Brighton will help you to stand out in today's competitive job market. It will equip you with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for a successful career and is also ideal preparation for continuing your study at MPhil or PhD level.
100% of students who completed their course in 2014 found full-time employment or went on to further study within six months.
More than half of our graduates secured positions as exercise physiologists in the private or public sector. 14% joined the community of sports coaches, 14% became data analysts in the private sector and 14% progressed into MPhil/PhD studies.
This flexible Master’s programme commenced in 2003 and has grown significantly, now accepting approximately 20 full-time and part-time students per year, including international students. The programme is highly flexible, allowing students to study full or part time to suit personal and work commitments. This is achieved through each module being delivered in a three or four day blocks, followed by eight weeks of campus or home based learning.
Our course is designed to provide a thorough understanding of cardiovascular health and the process of rehabilitation. Cardiovascular anatomy and physiology is covered in detail, with application to exercise and the practicalities of working with a patient with CVD.
You will also learn about the complexities of exercise prescription, the role of nutrition in CVD and the psychological influences that can drive behaviour change. There is also specialist input from the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.
Modules are delivered over a three-day period, which helps fit in with those who work in clinical practice.
Our course is designed to provide a thorough understanding of cardiovascular health and the process of rehabilitation. Cardiovascular anatomy and physiology is covered in detail, with application to exercise and the practicalities of working with a patient with CVD.
You will also learn about the complexities of exercise prescription, the role of nutrition in CVD and the psychological influences that can drive behaviour change. There is also specialist input from the British Association for Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation.
Modules are delivered in exercise physiology laboratories, lecture theatres and seminar rooms. There is also the option to undertake a clinical placement at the local cardiac rehabilitation department that allows you to apply the elements learned on the taught course.
Typical contact time during a module is 25 hours, with additional face-to-face and online tutorials optional. There are approximately 170 hours of self-directed study per module.
Assessment is in the form of essays or equivalent – e.g. poster presentations. There are no exams – coursework accounts for 100% of the assessment.
If you are interested in this courses we have a number of opportunities to visit us and our campuses. To find out more about these options and to book a visit, please go to: https://www1.chester.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/postgraduate-visit-opportunities
If you would like to know more about the University please request a prospectus at: http://prospectus.chester.ac.uk/form.php
- https://www.kent.ac.uk/locations/medway/
This programme equips you to work in the field of Sport Science and provides the opportunity to gain real-life experience with athletes. Graduates become experienced Sports Scientists able to work effectively in academia or professional sport.
Visit the website: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/147/sport-science-for-optimal-performance
and find out more at the Sports Science website: https://www.kent.ac.uk/sportsciences/postgraduate/
This programme advances your specialist knowledge and understanding of the scientific principles underpinning optimal performance in sport and exercise and provides opportunities to develop professional skills, including monitoring, analysing, evaluating and prescribing interventions for the optimisation of performance. Drawing on the expertise of Kent’s staff, many of whom are at the forefront of their fields, you have the opportunity to apply these skills in a real-world context by working with athletes.
The programme is designed to develop the professional and academic skills of graduate sport scientists. Health and sport professionals who want to take modules on a stand-alone basis for continuing professional development are welcome to contact us.
The following modules are indicative of those offered on this programme. This list is based on the current curriculum and may change year to year:
- Dissertation (60 credits)
- Assessment and Training for Optimal Performance (20 credits)
- Research Methods (40 credits)
- Contemporary Perspectives in Sport Research (20 credits)
- Psychology for Injury and Rehabilitation (20 credits)
- Sport and Exercise Nutrition for the High Performance Athlete (20 credits)
- Applied Athlete Support (20 credits)
Assessment is typically by coursework and the final dissertation research project.
The programme has been developed and designed to provide the required knowledge and skills for you to work autonomously in the field of sport science. Importantly, there are significant opportunities for you to gain real-life experience of working with athletes; both as part of the programme and also through the School’s work with professional teams and elite athletes. Many of our graduates have gone on to further study such as a PhD, work in high level professional sport or as applied sports scientists.
- Kent was awarded gold, the highest rating, in the UK Government’s Teaching Excellence Framework
- Shortlisted for University of the Year 2015
- In the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014, Kent was ranked 17th* for research output and research intensity, in the Times Higher Education, outperforming 11 of the 24 Russell Group universities
- Over 96% of our postgraduate students who graduated in 2014 found a job or further study opportunity within six months.
Find out more: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/why/
Cutting-edge research
Our staff regularly publish world-leading research, giving you the chance to study with some of the most influential researchers in this field. We have worked with organisations such as the Medway Community health care, Asthma UK, SmartLife inc and Sport England. Our areas of research are wide ranging, including sports training, performance, fatigue, nutrition, hamstring injuries, sport psychology, cardiac rehabilitation.
First-class sports facilities and State-of-the-art equipment
The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences has excellent purpose-built facilities. For exercise testing, the School has everything you would expect and more, including state-of-the-art treadmills, cycle and rowing ergometers, an isokinetic dynamometer, brain and muscle stimulators, and blood testing and gas analysis equipment, sport and exercise science laboratories, teaching and student clinics, multiple physiology laboratories, a biomechanics laboratory which is equipped with 3D motion capture cameras and force plates, two large therapy clinics and two rehabilitation gyms, a psychobiology laboratory and a respiratory clinic. We were the first university in the UK to install an anti-gravity treadmill in our rehabilitation gym. Using NASA technology, this treadmill is a valuable resource for professional athletes as they look to speed up their return to fitness. Within our neuromuscular laboratory, we have equipment for transcranial magnetic and direct current stimulation and peripheral muscle and nerve stimulation. These devices allow us to manipulate and test areas of the muscle and brain before and during exercise. Only a handful of universities in the UK have access to such state-of-the-art equipment.
We have a heat and altitude environmental chamber that can create various environmental conditions to stimulate the most extreme conditions found around the world.
The facilities at Medway Park were specified to the highest standards in order to support athletes at pre-Olympic training camps and to enable world-leading research.
Excellent study resources
The general resources on campus are first class. The well-stocked Drill Hall Library has:
· around 130,000 items including books, journals, CDs and DVDs
· online resources and journal subscriptions
· more than 400 student PCs and laptops
· free high-speed internet access
· zoned areas for group work; quiet study; and silent study
· The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences recently increased its library resources by investing an extra £50,000 in new books.
Accessible location
Our award-winning Medway campus near Chatham Historic Dockyard was built at the start of the 20th century. You can get advice, study, socialise, or grab a bite to eat at our newly-refurbished Student Hub, or meet friends for a drink or food at a range of cafes and restaurants across campus.
Five minutes’ walk from campus, the Dockside retail outlet offers a wide range of shops and restaurants. Nearby is the town of Rochester with its historic castle and stunning cathedral, which is one of the venues for Kent’s degree congregations.
The Medway campus is quick and easy to reach from central London. Travel to London from the nearby stations of Gillingham and Chatham takes about 45 minutes.
We have a scholarship fund of over £9 million to support our taught and research students with their tuition fees and living costs. Find out more: https://www.kent.ac.uk/scholarships/postgraduate/
If you need to improve your English before and during your postgraduate studies, Kent offers a range of modules and programmes in English for Academic Purposes (EAP). Find out more here: https://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/postgraduate/international/english.html
This combined research and taught masters programme provides students with a research orientated training in the practical, theoretical and applied elements of Exercise and Sport Sciences.
Optional modules make up the taught component of the course, and offer teaching, learning and experience in core disciplines of exercise and health as well as in sport. Research experience is offered in academic or industrial settings within exercise, health or sports sciences.
The MRes in Exercise and Sport Sciences is a one-year full-time masters course programme that provides students with a research-orientated training in a lively, highly interactive teaching and research environment.
This programme takes students who have a research focus, from a variety of backgrounds at entry and gives them new skills to enable them to move into further research and/or employment in a number of disciplines.
It is offered by the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, in collaboration with the School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, and Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy in the University of Birmingham Medical School.
The purpose of the MRes Exercise and Sport Sciences is to provide a strong foundation for research in exercise and sport sciences in health and disease
Course Information
The taught elements of the course will be delivered in the form of optional modules in core disciplines within exercise and sports sciences, allowing students to shape the course to their particular interest. Optional modules include: Neuromuscular performance through the human lifetime; Integrated body systems; Cardiovascular and respiratory physiology; Nutrition and metabolism in health and obesity; Psychology of physical activity promotion.
Extended research experience is offered in the shape of a six-month research project in the students chosen discipline.
Specific areas of active research include:
The courses have a taught component, and an extended period of research to produce a dissertation.
The career opportunities available to sport and exercise scientists are expanding all the time. The 2012 London Olympics and increased National Lottery funding for sport has increased the number of jobs in elite level sport and public health. Many hospitals are starting to appoint specialists with exercise backgrounds to work in areas such as cardiac rehabilitation and health promotion. Clubs in a variety of different sports employ sports scientists as performance analysts, biomechanists and coaches. Other career routes include roles in the fitness and leisure industry, governing bodies, teaching, exercise prescription and testing, and sport promotion.
You will also have the support of a dedicated careers and employability team, to offer individual advice and guidance services and deliver an employability programme tailored to your needs.
Find out more on the Careers Network intranet pages
This course will suit you if you are a sport and exercise graduate, a graduate from a related science or a medical student looking to specialise in the field of sport physiology.
It is designed to focus on professional skills that improve your employability, as you learn with state-of-the-art equipment including environmental chambers, breath-by-breath analysers, blood sampling analysers and transcranial magnetic stimulation devices.
You also gain real-world experience in areas relevant to your interests by working alongside experienced practitioners. Past projects have included the design of individualised training programmes leading up to the Brighton Marathon and the physiological testing of elite athletes.
Our teaching laboratories are accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES), as are most of our course staff. You can register on the BASES Supervised Experience Scheme yourself to achieve personal accreditation.
The course is flexible in that it allows you to exit with a postgraduate certificate at the end of one semester (three 20-credit modules) or a postgraduate diploma at the end of two semesters (six 20-credit modules). You must complete the 60-credit research project to qualify for the MSc.
You spend around 100 hours of the course with an organisation related to the practice of physiology, which will allow you to apply your academic knowledge in a vocational setting. Previous students have worked with organisations including Brighton and Hove Albion Football Club and the English Institute of Sport.
Many students have started their professional careers with the organisation that provided them with work experience.
In taught physiology modules, you will experience and discuss the responses of the human body to various stimuli, including effect of environmental changes (heat and hypoxic chambers) and of ergogenic aids, which can be used to simulate peculiar clinical conditions and help you understand better exercise tolerance.
This novel approach to teaching integrative physiology will help you to develop a host of laboratory skills. You will also be introduced to the latest in the research field of exercise physiology and will have an opportunity to write your own paper from your research project.
Through professional modules, placement opportunities and chances to network in the world of sports physiology, you will graduate with a competitive edge in the jobs market and a foot firmly in the industry.
Laboratory work
Tutorials
Modules
Options:
Our facilities include an x-m square gym over two floors with state-of-the-art fitness equipment, which features a three-camera system to analyse weight-lifting actions and an isokinetic dynamometer to allow measurement of muscle strength.
Our sport and exercise laboratories are all accredited by the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). They include:
Career opportunities for sport and exercise scientists are growing. Sports science is recognised as a vital ingredient in the success and development of most sports and for the individuals that take part it is an everyday aspect of their training. Many hospitals and primary care trusts are also appointing specialists with exercise backgrounds to work in areas such as cardiac rehabilitation and health promotion.
An MSc in Applied Sport Physiology from the University of Brighton will help you to stand out in today's competitive job market. It will equip you with both the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary for a successful career and is also ideal preparation for continuing your study at MPhil or PhD level.
Our graduates have started their careers with organisations including:
