The Diagnostic Imaging MSc is designed to match the professional development needs of the diagnostic imaging practitioner and the changing needs of patients in the modern healthcare system. It aims to develop highly competent practitioners who can make a real contribution to healthcare services.
This multi-disciplinary programme will appeal to a range of healthcare professionals including radiographers, clinical physiologists, mammographers, sonographers, medical doctors, nurses, clinical scientists. It offers:
We have a highly successful record of teaching breast imaging and medical ultrasound at postgraduate level. You’ll benefit from being part of the School of Medicine, with its world-leading research and expertise.
More information
You can also study this subject at Postgraduate Diploma (120 credits) and Certificate (60 or 75 credits) levels. Study for the Postgraduate Diploma normally takes one year full time (specific module combinations only) or two years part time. Study for the Postgraduate Certificate normally takes one year part time.
The MSc Diagnostic Imaging offered by the University of Leeds was approved by the College of Radiographers for a period of five years, from June 2016 to June 2021 inclusive. The programme is also accredited by the Consortium for the Accreditation of Sonographic Education (CASE).
Students obtaining an MSc which includes the Mammography Technique module will be eligible to apply for the College of Radiographers’ Postgraduate Award in Mammography.
The programme content reflects the increasing demand for focused and in-depth training in specialist areas of diagnostic imaging. It is both research-led and evidence based.
On the PGCert programme you study modules worth 60 or 75 credits. On the PGDip programme you study modules worth 120 credits. If you study part time you will study fewer modules in each year. On the MSc programme you study modules worth 180 credits. All students study a combination of Science and Technology, Professional Issues and Imaging Practice modules. A wide range of optional modules allow you to tailor your studies to your professional interests.
Some modules listed below contain a number of options. The Professional Work Based Learning module enables you to undertake a work-based project. The Negotiated Imaging Practice module offers a range of options, including: Breast Ultrasound, Cardiac Ultrasound, Musculoskeletal Ultrasound or Vascular Ultrasound.
In addition, we may support alternative areas of clinical practice by negotiation. Each module (15 credit equivalent) requires 3 to 5 days attendance at the University (for 30 credits this is 6-10 days), in addition to independent learning and practical skill development in order to achieve success in assessment and be of value to the student and their workplace. Students who already have a Postgraduate Diagnostic Imaging qualification may access certain 30-credit modules on a free-standing basis.
On the MSc programme you study a Research Methods module and submit a dissertation.
For more information on typical modules, read Diagnostic Imaging MSc in the course catalogue
The programme is designed to allow you as much choice as possible in the way that you study. Methods of training are highly participative with a combination of tutor-led input and support, learning through group work and discussion, and individual exercises and practice.
Our assessment methods have been carefully chosen to develop the skills that imaging students will use in specialist and advanced clinical practice. The assessment of your competence to practice takes place via an observed clinical session or by portfolio, depending on the module. Other assessments include case reports, essays and Objective Structured Examinations.
Graduates will use the postgraduate qualification to enable them to be employed as a sonographer in the UK or abroad.
We encourage you to prepare for your career from day one. That’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers.
The Careers Centre and staff in your faculty provide a range of help and advice to help you plan your career and make well-informed decisions along the way, even after you graduate. Find out more at the Careers website.
This course is designed for health professionals who use diagnostic imaging and interventions in their current role, including • diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers • radiation technologists • physiotherapists • nurses • advanced nurse practitioners • junior doctors • dentists • podiatrists.
It is available worldwide as you don't have to attend the university. You complete your learning at a time and place that suits your own personal and employment circumstances.
You learn in a variety of areas and formats, tailoring the content to your individual circumstance and need. There are opportunities to develop your theoretical knowledge in and around diagnostic imaging, or to specialise in a particular area.
Modules relate to diagnostic imaging as well as wider health practice, and take place in a multi-disciplinary and international environment in an online setting. The core topics covered may include
As this is a distance learning course, you use various online platforms and technologies to support your learning, such as our virtual learning environment (SHUspace) and PebblePad. Learning takes place in various formats including
You are supported by an expert team of academics and tutors, all of whom are experienced registered health professionals. Current clinical practitioners also help develop and deliver resources. The course team has a range of specialist expertise including • image interpretation • cross-sectional imaging • interventional radiology • research • higher education • professional issues • advanced practice.
You have a course leader and a named academic advisor to support your learning. Each module has a module leader to aid you specifically in that area, and we have dedicated student support officers who support all aspects of your time on the course.
This course allows you to apply masters level thinking to your practice and boost your confidence in your judgement. This can enhance your job prospects and career progression wherever you choose to work.
Study individual modules
You can study individual modules from this course and gain academic credit towards a qualification. Visit our continuing professional development website for more information.
Professional recognition
This course is accredited by the Society and College of Radiographers.
The postgraduate certificate (PgCert) is achieved by successfully completing 60 credits. The postgraduate diploma (PgDip) is achieved by successfully completing 120 credits. The masters (MSc) award is achieved by successfully completing 180 credits.
The combination of modules studied on this course is tailored according to your own areas of interest, aims and goals. You discuss your individual study route with the course leader.
Core modules
Optional modules
The approach to assessment is varied and we use both formative (not formally marked) and summative (formally marked) assessments in each of the modules. The assessment pattern is designed to encourage your personal, professional, and academic development.Short online formative activities (e-tivities) are used to promote engagement with the distance learning materials, provide support for the final assignment and facilitate online discussion with fellow students on the module. Final summative tasks to assess your completion of the modules are varied but include methods such as
This course is designed to enhance your current practice and role, employability and professional development opportunities. You are able to take advantage of an increasing number of opportunities related to role development and extension, and skills mix across the various healthcare professions using diagnostic imaging.
You may use this course to evidence your CPD and produce a CPD portfolio, or to develop into an area of advanced practice such as image interpretation.
It is designed with health professionals in mind, helping to support career progression and service development.
The course may also allow you to develop your career into academic teaching or research, or offer a route to PhD study.
Diagnostic radiography and medical imaging are core components of modern healthcare and rely on rapidly changing diagnostic modalities. It is widely accepted that medical imaging will remain an essential component of diagnostic services for many years to come and that the demand for imaging services will continue to rise.
Recent modernisation within the NHS has raised the profile and extended the scope of practice for allied health professionals (AHPs). Diagnostic radiographers, as one of the sixteen registered AHP groups, are now required to build and extend their scope of professional expertise within a multi-professional setting. Continuing professional development (CPD) is a requirement for all AHPs in the UK in order to secure re-registration with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) and to retain the right to practise within the UK. Radiographers are therefore required to evidence their learning and to demonstrate how this learning has informed practice.
Diagnostic radiography is a profession which is both intellectually and scientifically demanding. Professional responsibility includes a need to be able to formulate imaging standards and strategies as well as assume a greater degree of autonomy within different imaging modalities. To practise effectively the radiographer needs to be able to analyse and evaluate the requirements of healthcare delivery and to be aware of the roles and skills of other healthcare professionals. To optimise patient care the diagnostic radiographer must adopt a critical approach to decision-making in the context of current practice.
This MSc provides CPD opportunities for diagnostic radiographers and other healthcare professionals, but does not lead to UK registration with the HCPC or the right to practice within the UK. Therefore, this course aims to foster an intellectual approach to personal and professional development, encouraging diagnostic radiographers to challenge and progress radiography practice in response to evolutionary change. The course aims to provide flexibility in learning with the opportunity for learners to select modules in order to support individual practice development.
This course uses a wide range of learning and teaching methods, based on a problem based learning approach with students working independently and collaboratively. The teaching and learning strategies are designed to enable independent progress within a supportive framework.
The course is modular and offers a variety of attendance pathways for study: work-based learning; online and block attendance. A range of modules related to the development and progression of the Radiography profession can be used to form the course content.
To obtain a PgCert in any route, you will study 60 credits from the profession specific modules outlined below. To obtain a PgDip, you will study a further 60 credits taken from either profession specific modules or elective modules from the QMU Postgraduate Module Catalogue.
Ultrasound
15 credits: Physics and Instrumentation of Ultrasound+/ Professional Issues Relating to Medical Imaging+
30 credits: General Medical Ultrasound in Clinical Practice*/ Obstetric Ultrasound in Clinical Practice*/ Breast Ultrasound in Clinical Practice*/ Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Clinical Practice*/ Musculoskeletal Ultrasound in Clinical Practice for AHPs*
MRI
15 credits: Principles of Magnetic Resonance Imaging+/ Principles of Image Evaluation+
30 credits: Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Practice*/ Advanced Practice in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (negotiated study)
CT
15 credits: Principles of Computed Tomography+ / Principles of Image Evaluation+ 30 credits: Advanced Practice in Computed Tomography of the Head*/ Computed Tomography in Practice (Head, Chest, Abdomen and Pelvis)*/ Advanced Practice in Computed Tomography Colonography*
Clinical Reporting
15 credits: Pathophysiology for Musculoskeletal Image Evaluation+/ Principles of Image Evaluation+
30 credits: Clinical Reporting of the Axial and Appendicular Musculoskeletal System* A sample of relevant elective modules are:
15 credits: Epidemiology (distance)/ Developing Professional Practice*/ Leading Professional Practice+/ Practice Development for Person-centred Cultures+
30 credits: Current Developments (distance)/ Developing Professional Practice*
45 credits: Developing Professional Practice*
To obtain an MSc, you require:
30 credits: Research Methods (distance/ contact)
60 credits: Research Project (in an area relevant to medical imaging) (distance) Key: * attendance and work-based + Block/ day release
This qualification may enhance your career prospects within the allied health professions.
If you are interested in medical imaging and highly sophisticated ways of assisting in diagnostics visually the medical imaging programme comes from a long heritage of major world innovation which was led by research at Aberdeen. Did you know researchers at Aberdeen invented the first MRI scanner (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) for instance? Since this time much has been done to further work on the MRI scanner and deliver some of the most advanced forms of body visualisation tools available to the health area. If you have ever wondered how X rays work or you are interested in the latest radiotherapy techniques to provide therapeutic tools from radiographic equipment and advances this programme not only gives you the theory and practice in applying imaging in a health setting, it also gives you opportunities to think about the technologies involved and the applications. There is a lot of Physics and Maths required behind the different technologies involved in medical imaging so if you have these subjects and a life science background plus engineering or similar science disciplines this will make the programme more accessible.
By the end of the MSc programme you will have received a thorough academic grounding in Medical Imaging, been exposed to the practice of Medical Imaging in a hospital Department, and carried out a short research project. The MSc programme is accredited by the Institute of Physics & Engineering in Medicine as fulfilling part of the training requirements for those wishing to work in the NHS. There are wide ranging career possibilities after graduation. You may wish to go straight into clinic settings to apply your skills within diagnostics or you may wish to study further for a PhD towards teaching or researching. There have also been spin out companies as a result of understanding and applying imaging technologies towards innovative applications. This subject also aligns with some major innovations in Photonics and other areas of medical science which you may like to explore further if you are interested in invention and innovation at the Scottish Innovation Centres: http://www.innovationcentres.scot/
Semester 1
Radiation in Imaging
Introduction to Computing and Image Processing
Biomedical and Professional Topics in Healthcare Science
Imaging in Medicine
Generic Skills
Semester 2
Nuclear Medicine and Positron Emission Tomography
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Medical Image Processing and Analysis
Diagnostic and Radiation Protection
Semester 3
MSc Project for Programme in Medical Physics and Medical Imaging
Find out more detail by visiting the programme web page:
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/degree-programmes/178/medical-imaging/
Find out about fees:
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/international/tuition-fees-and-living-costs-287.php
*Please be advised that some programmes have different tuition fees from those listed above and that some programmes also have additional costs.
View all funding options on our funding database via the programme page
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/postgraduate-taught/finance-funding-1599.php
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/funding/
Find out more about:
Find out more about living in Aberdeen:
https://abdn.ac.uk/study/student-life
Living costs
https://www.abdn.ac.uk/study/international/finance.php
Medical imaging is a rapidly-growing discipline within the healthcare sector, involving clinicians, physicists, computer scientists and those in IT industries.
This programme delivers the expertise you'll need to forge a career in medical imaging, including radiation physics, image processing, biology, computer vision, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence and machine learning.
This programme is studied full-time over 12 months and part-time over 48 months. It consists of eight taught modules and an extended project.
Example module listing
The following modules are indicative, reflecting the information available at the time of publication. Please note that not all modules described are compulsory and may be subject to teaching availability and/or student demand.
To support your learning, we hold regular MSc group meetings where any aspect of the programme, technical or non-technical, can be discussed in an informal atmosphere. This allows you to raise any problems that you would like to have addressed and encourages peer-based learning and general group discussion.
We provide computing support with any specialised software required during the programme, for example, Matlab.
The Department’s student common room is also covered by the university’s open-access wireless network, which makes it a very popular location for individual and group work using laptops and mobile devices. There is also a Faculty quiet room for individual study.
We pride ourselves on the many opportunities that we provide to visit collaborating hospitals. These enable you to see first-hand demonstrations of medical imaging facilities and to benefit from lectures by professional practitioners.
To support material presented during the programme, you will also undertake a selection of ultrasound and radiation detection experiments, hosted by our sister MSc programme in Medical Physics.
The taught postgraduate Degree Programmes of the Department are intended both to assist with professional career development within the relevant industry and, for a small number of students, to serve as a precursor to academic research.
Our philosophy is to integrate the acquisition of core engineering and scientific knowledge with the development of key practical skills (where relevant).
To fulfil these objectives, the programme aims to:
Medical Imaging is a rapidly growing discipline within the healthcare sector, incorporating engineers, physicists, computer scientists and clinicians. It is driven by the recent rapid development of 3-D Medical Imaging Systems, fuelled by an exponential rise in computing power.
New methods have been developed for the acquisition, reconstruction, processing and display of digital medical-image data with unprecedented speed, resolution and contrast.
This programme in Medical Imaging is aimed at training graduates for careers in this exciting multi-disciplinary area, and our graduates can expect to find employment in the medical imaging industry or the public health care sector.
It represents a blend of fundamental medical physics topics concerned with image acquisition and reconstruction coupled with imaging science and image engineering topics such that graduates understand how images are formed and how advanced machine-based methods can be bought to bare to provide new diagnostic information.
We often give our students the opportunity to acquire international experience during their degrees by taking advantage of our exchange agreements with overseas universities.
In addition to the hugely enjoyable and satisfying experience, time spent abroad adds a distinctive element to your CV.
The Thouron Award - Typically, 6 to 10 awards are made each year to British graduates. Each award provides funding in excess of US$90,000 per year
