Curious about studying Sport & Exercise Science - BSc (Hons)at University of Suffolk? 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.
Bachelor of Science (with Honours) - BSc (Hons)
Ipswich Main Campus
Full Time
Sep 2026
3 Year
BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science is the study of human responses and adaptations to physical activity, exercise and sport. The course includes the study of physiology, including nutrition, biomechanics and psychology. Strength and conditioning can be considered a ‘fourth pillar’, in that it combines the three other subject disciplines and considers how we apply our knowledge to improve the strength and conditioning of people ranging from patients in a clinical healthcare setting, to elite athletes in performance sport. We split each of the specialist areas of study into two main themes: (1) sports performance, and (2) exercise, physical activity, health and wellbeing. This degree is accredited by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), which means your programme adheres to the highest standards of excellence. By studying with us, you benefit from our enviable industry connections with elite sport and exercise science companies such as STATSports, with whom we are a global university partner. We have outstanding specialist facilities in our Human Performance Laboratories and Performance Analysis Suite, where you can develop employment-ready practical skills and apply the knowledge you learn on the degree.
This module will provide students with a thorough understanding of the critical principles of sports and exercise biomechanics. Students will explore the core principles of mechanics and employ this knowledge in sports and exercise motion analysis. Students will investigate how the abstract principles of mechanics are used to quantify human motion. Furthermore, the module will introduce students to the many applications of biomechanics in sports and exercise, such as enhancing performance, developing sporting technique and sports equipment design.
To understand why exercise can benefit both health and physical performance, one must first understand how the body responds to exercise. Sport and exercise scientists of many professional disciplines are often required to investigate cell, tissue, organ and system physiology, drawing rational and objective conclusions from a variety of tests, measurements and data. Where you eventually apply this knowledge can be incredibly varied, ranging from laboratory research of molecular or cell physiology, clinical settings of cardiac or respiratory physiology, strength and conditioning of athletes, or analysing data for talent identification and team sport performance analysis. Therefore, it is not only necessary to understand how a person?s physiology responds and adapts to exercise, but to also understand how we make valid and reliable measurements of performance, as these provide the foundation of sport and exercise physiology practice.
In this module, students learn to identify SEP as a scientific field and familiarize themselves with SEP as a potential future work specialization. Since this is an introductory module, students will learn to understand how sports and exercise experiences can be analysed from a psychological point of view, which important variable clusters are examined in SEP and how these clusters are largely related to one another.
The Sport and Exercise Science domain is ever-increasing in both popularity and diversity with regards to specialist intervention. Key components in health, wellbeing and performance are now delivered through Strength and Conditioning professionals. Strength and Conditioning specialists require a diverse skill set to deliver practical solutions to help athletes and clients achieve their individual goals. As such not only do Strength and Conditioning coaches need to draw upon the three main pillars of Sport and Exercise Science (i.e. Physiology, Psychology and Biomechanics), but they also need to develop excellent ?soft-skills? (e.g. decision making, communication, empathy etc.). The aim of this module is to combine delivery of the fundamental theoretical knowledge with practical delivery experiences so that students can gain an understanding of ?real-life? scenarios. There will be strong links across other modules to affirm learning and challenge students to consider the applications of theory to practice. Topics will include the ability to perform basic needs analysis, ensure appropriate health and safety, deliver fundamental exercises (e.g. squat, bench press and deadlift) and consider training programme design, among others.
A successful career in a sport and exercise sciences-based discipline requires the individual to demonstrate a range of core competencies, including the application of scientific knowledge and technical skills; an understanding of research; self-evaluation and professional development; communication; problem-solving and impact; management of self, others and practice; an understanding of the delivery environment, and professional relationships and behaviours. Being able to recognise and start to develop their abilities in these core competencies, will allow students to begin their trajectory towards becoming employable graduates.
All sports science students must possess a thorough understanding of the principles of scientific enquiry. The scientific method and logic, research and analysis techniques, questioning and communication, form the foundation of all science-based disciplines. It is also vitally important that a student identify and acknowledge ethical issues in scientific enquiry. Students must demonstrate an understanding of the value of critical thinking; a thorough comprehension of the scientific method and how it is applied to their disciplines, and potential graduate professions.
Health promotion is an important part of public health. It is fundamental that students have an awareness of the approaches, strategies, methods, underpinning theories/models in health promotion and the various settings where health promotion can be applied in order to improve health and wellbeing. For students with an interest in physical activity and its promotion for health, it is important to appreciate a number of approaches in health promotion, one of which is behavior change, and to develop an understanding of planning, implementation and evaluation of health promotion interventions.
Graduates of the sports sciences need to understand how research, experimentation and numerical analysis of data drive their professions forward. This module prepares students for further study and employment by providing an understanding of what science is and how it works, and of the importance of inferential statistical analysis of scientific data. It also prepares students for the Dissertation modules in later years of study. This module will develop students? working knowledge of the principles of scientific research, the planning and design of experiments and various methodologies, and the interpretation and application of statistical techniques. Students will refine skills for literature searching, and the preparation of papers for publication and/or oral presentation to the scientific, sports and general public communities.?
Biomechanics is the study of movement, which necessitates its practice as an applied science. The aim of this module is to further students? theoretical knowledge of human motion analysis and apply this in an even more hands-on learning environment. Students will explore the practical aspects of kinetic and kinematic motion analyses, and consider how these techniques are used to define movement analysis in sports and exercise. Students will go on to explore other laboratory research techniques essential to the real-world study of biomechanics. This will also involve introductory considerations of the interaction between the exercise/sports performer, their equipment, and the environment. Students will explore the neural determinants of motor learning, how new movement patterns are developed and performed with greater efficiency to facilitate improved sporting performance.
A sound understanding of exercise physiology is essential to explain the reasons why exercise may be beneficial for health and sports performance. This module develops the fundamental human and exercise physiology knowledge gained during Level 4. In Sport and Exercise Physiology, content focuses on developments in research-derived evidence, detailing how molecular, cellular, tissue, organ and system levels of human physiology respond and adapt to sport and exercise stimuli. The ability to learn from contemporary research evidence is vitally important to those wanting to further advance specialist knowledge and apply research-informed practice in the field of exercise or sports physiology.
Psychological variables contribute to people's engagement in sport, exercise, and physical activity, their enjoyment in these contexts, and their success in achieving their individual goals by performing these tasks. It is therefore not surprising that sport and exercise psychology (SEP) is an equal partner compared to other disciplines in sport sciences.
Strength and Conditioning specialists need to design and implement training programmes for a diverse range of exercise/sport participants. This necessitates that the specialist has an in-depth knowledge of a range of complex training modalities, which can be individually tailored to their clients? short- and long-term training requirements. This module continues to develop the theoretical cornerstones of Strength and Conditioning (e.g. strength, power, speed, endurance, agility, etc.) and maintain learning through real-world exercise/sporting scenarios. Students will explore further training principles which add more advanced techniques to their foundation knowledge such as Olympic Weightlifting, Inertial (Flywheel) and Velocity Based Training, amongst others. Students will also explore the most modern techniques to assess and monitor internal and external training load in sport participants.
The Dissertation will provide an opportunity for individuals to develop an area of scientific interest arising from their sport and exercise science discipline. It will enable students to further develop skills learnt throughout the programme such as enquiry-based learning, problem solving, critical thinking, and reflection. Students will engage with the principles of primary research and/or literature review to further their understanding of the evidence base. This module will enable students to utilise intellectual, decision-making, and possibly practical skills in novel situations, and provide a mechanism by which students can demonstrate autonomy and self-direction, whilst undertaking a real problem-solving approach to a research topic. The focus of the Dissertation will be a research-based study, which will either be original research (including data collection and hypothesis testing) or a review of the scientific literature.
4.4
