What makes a good coach? What is the secret behind the world’s fastest sprinter? What role does psychology play in improving sports performance? You will be able to explore these questions, as well as many more, and find answers to some of sport and exercise’s most important challenges.
We offer three main undergraduate courses in the subject of sport and exercise.
The sport, fitness, health and leisure sectors are booming and provide a variety of careers for sports and exercise graduates from across our range of courses.
Many of our BSc Sports and Exercise Science graduates have gone onto build successful careers in sectors such as healthcare, teaching, as well as the health and fitness industries.
If you want to follow a career in coaching children, adolescents or adults across all levels of abilities, then our BSc Sports Performance and Coaching is for you. Our graduates now work in the fields of sports performance, sports management and sports development, health care, teaching, and the health and fitness industry.
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.
Whichever course you pick, you will also develop your skills in numeracy, information technology, communication, and time management, which are important to all employers.
Being a coach was a career I always saw myself working in and without my degree I wouldn't be doing it today. All the practical sessions at Essex helped me in how I conduct my coaching sessions and being a Higher Education Volleyball Officer (HEVO) with the sports centre helped me see the daily life of a coach.”
Sport and exercise science combines learning from biology, physiology, biomechanics, nutrition and psychology in a science-based course. With sport playing such a huge role in society, opportunities at both recreational and elite sporting level will turn your passion for fitness and health into a career. You will be able to make a difference to the lives of people of all ages.
Postgraduate study at Essex will allow you to work alongside internationally recognised academics by collaborating on research on campus, using amazing facilities such as our Human Performance Unit. Some of our recent research includes working with performance dancers at the Royal Ballet School, investigating the healing power of drumming, looking at whether someone’s running personal best is down to genetics, and the benefits of exercise in social care.
Our multidisciplinary approach also means that you will be able to work in the field with external partners and other academic departments at the University.
If you study the course MSc Sport and Exercise Science you will have the opportunity to focus your learning and research on one of four topics and receive a ‘qualifier’ on your degree transcript when you graduate. The specialist topics are: biomechanics, performance analysis, physiology, and sports nutrition. This qualifier allows you to demonstrate to future employers that you have directed your studies towards this topic and have a wealth of knowledge in that ever-growing area of sport and exercise science.
Within our multidisciplinary School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, we offer research supervision in all areas of sports and exercise sciences, including sport and exercise psychology, sports therapy, health and exercise sciences, physical activity, sport performance and coaching, and sport and exercise medicine.
As a research student at Essex, you’ll work at the heart of our strong learning environment which has an excellent reputation for research and teaching. Our ultramodern facilities include a wide range of ergometers and treadmills, stand alone and portable gas analysers, force plates, isokinetic dynamometers, a Vicon motion capture system, electronic timing gates, full blood gas analysers, (including pulse and co-oximeters), and a variety of EMG systems.
Explore our Sports and Exercise Science research by theme or your area of interest and find a supervisor that can support your through your studies. More information can be found about research degrees on our school pages. Our courses below will help guide you through the various research degree programmes we offer.
"I came to Essex to undertake multiple applied research projects with elite athlete populations, present my work at international conferences, and develop my critical thinking and research skills. As a result of this, I was able to secure a role as a Senior Performance Pathway Scientist, working within UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport, where my role involved providing technical and research support across multiple Olympic and Paralympic sports. I am currently Senior Talent Pathway Scientist at the FA."
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