Curious about studying Sports and Exercise Science (Integrated Masters) (Including Year Abroad) - MSciat University of Essex? We've gathered all the key details—entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Hear from real students by checking out reviews, or take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Integrated Master of Science - MSci
University of Essex
Full Time
Oct 2026
5 Year
You’ll gain a new and exciting perspective on the world of sport, exercise, health and physical fitness, ready to help athletes optimise their performance and improve the physical activity, health and wellbeing of individuals and communities. By studying an integrated course, you’ll start at undergraduate level and graduate with a Masters-level qualification.
WHY THIS COURSEThe MSci Sports and Exercise Science provides you with a strong understanding of the role of physiology, psychology, biomechanics and nutrition in sports and exercise. You’ll first study three years at undergraduate level, then a final year at Masters-level where you’ll investigate more advanced topics and specialise in one area of research. By focusing on practical work in your first two years, you’ll consolidate your professional and scientific skills needed for your final-year research project. You can also gain more real-world experience at our renowned Human Performance Unit (HPU) where you can work with performance scholars, students, staff and members of the public. Add a placement year or study abroad to put your learning further into practice, expand your perspective and build confidence in professional or international settings. You’ll graduate on the path to a sports practitioner or sports scientist career, ready to further research on or implement changes to sport and exercise.
The aim of this module is to develop your academic, scientific and professional abilities relevant to the study of and professions related to sport, rehabilitation and exercise sciences. There are four key focuses of this module: professional skills; research design and ethics; data analysis, presentation and interpretation; and employability.
Understanding performance in sport requires knowledge of the basic scientific principles of chemistry, biology and physics, alongside a foundation of maths. This module will help develop understanding of the human body at both cellular and gross level. Students will consider performance can be influenced by exercise training and how these changes can be assessed. As this is a broad based module, we will also explore population health, basic nutrition and recovery. Students will apply theoretical knowledge to real sporting examples including training and fitness testing.
This module will help you to understand the physical and mechanical principles that determine how we, and the objects with which we interact during exercise and in sporting events, move. You will learn the meaning of concepts such as force, mass, speed, velocity, acceleration, momentum and we will explore how they enable us to describe and understand movement in sport and exercise.
Is it all in the mind? The margin between victory and defeat is thin, but can an athlete’s psychology really give them an edge? Why do some people find exercise difficult and other find exercise essential? Understanding how involvement in sport, exercise and physical activity affects a person's health and wellbeing is important in creating better interventions. The aim of this module is to introduce you to the fundamental principles underpinning the psychology of sport and exercise.
Students will gain a basic knowledge of nutrition and metabolism underpinning Sports Science. On completion of the module, students will be able to describe the flow of nutrient intake and energy production supporting not only training and performance but optimal health. This module will give students a firm foundation from which to study exercise physiology and the specific nutritional requirements of athletes including legal and illegal substances, in later modules.
This module will provide you with knowledge on the fundamental concepts of human anatomy and physiology which underpins the biological sciences. You will gain knowledge of the mechanisms associated with the control and regulation of the major systems of the body. The content will give you a foundation for more advanced study of Exercise Physiology or Applied Biomedicine. Furthermore, this module explore the individual systems involved in maintaining our bodies’ internal environments – respiratory, cardiovascular, urinary and immune. Examine how each system’s organ structures inform function, how they work together as a whole, and the ways they maintain homeostasis under the stresses of exercise and disease.
This module aims to provide you with knowledge of the fundamental concepts of human anatomy and physiology that underpin the biological sciences. It will provide you with an understanding of the structure, function, and regulation of the major body systems involved in human movement and exercise, and enable you to develop a foundational knowledge of the mechanisms controlling and regulating physiological systems, forming a basis for further study in exercise physiology and related disciplines.
Your biggest competition to date: the graduate job market. This module gives you a crucial head-start, ensuring you can both practically apply and effectively communicate your skills to the real-world and future employers.
During the Sports Science summer school you will identify and consequently investigate a chosen research question, working as part of a team to process, evaluate and analyse data. You will also have chance to prepare for life beyond graduation, developing a written strategy for optimising your employability, updating your skills e-portfolio and CV, and examining the job application process in detail.
This module will build upon your knowledge and skills to understand, appraise and plan research in sport and exercise. You will develop your understanding of different methodologies, research designs, and data analytical techniques, including their strengths, limitations and applications. You will develop your skills in using library and online resources for scientific research, and your ability to critically appraise published work and how it can be used to inform applied practice in sport and exercise. You will also gain practical experience in participating in research, planning your own study, and analysing and interpreting data. Overall, the module will equip you with knowledge and skills required for your final year research project.
In this module you will conduct an individual scientific investigation on a topic relating to your degree specialisation. You will either use the skills you have developed to identify a suitable research question and design an experimental approach to obtain data addressing this question, or use your research skills to better understand an existing project/ dataset. This module evaluates your analysis, presentation, understanding and interpretation of these data in a suitable scientific paper format report along with your critical writing skills. Your oral presentation skills and response to questions, the planning and management of your project work and your employability skills will also be part of the assessment.
This module will focus on the fundamental assumptions underlying quantitative research, including; research design methods, sampling, and the validity and reliability of measurements in exercise science. Students will master the techniques needed to critically appraise published research and carry out a piece of original research.
The module will develop skills in reviewing and critically appraising academic text. Students are required to write a literature review which should focus on a contemporary issue in sport and exercise science. The process involves searching for, obtaining and understanding the literature and the critical skills required to analyse and synthesise the material into a literature review.
Year Abroad
4.3
