Sport and Exercise postgraduate courses

Benefit from top-class facilities and support from an expert team of academics with our postgraduate courses, which provide you the route to a fulfilling career as a sport and exercise professional. 

• Outstanding facilities: Hone your skills and conduct research in our exceptional sport and exercise facilities, fully equipped for biomechanics and physiology analysis, as well as boasting the latest equipment and software for measuring performance, movement, health and fitness. You can also take full advantage of our award-winning £10.8m Sports Centre and Derby's leading sports performance centre, the Human Performance Unit
• Professional real-world experience: Gain first-hand experience through internship or placement opportunities and secure places with football, cricket, rugby and swimming clubs, or work closely with athletes from Team Derby and the Derbyshire Institute of Sport (DIS)
• Get involved in research: The MSc programmes have a strong emphasis on research skills. You’ll benefit from being part of a dynamic research community at the University and harness our state-of-the-art facilities to produce groundbreaking research. Current students are carrying out research into blood lactate and running performance for a local running company, Running with Jake, in collaboration with our Human Performance Unit
• Wide-ranging partnerships: Benefit from partnerships with organisations such as: Derby City Council, Derby County Community Trust, Derby County Football Club, Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Leicester City Football Club, St George’s Park and West Bromwich Albion Football Club

Facilities

Our state-of-the-art facilities, complete with cutting edge technology for measuring performance, help you produce groundbreaking research into the sport and exercise discipline of your choice and prepare for your future career:

• Physiology Laboratories - fully equipped for biomechanics and physiology analysis 
• Specialist strength and conditioning equipment
• New 3D motion analysis system
• The latest equipment and software for measuring performance, movement, health and fitness
• Vicon motion capture system
• Kistler force platforms - enabling highly accurate and reliable biomechanical analyses
• The Human Performance Unit - providing expert sport science services to sports clubs and individual athletes
• The Sports Centre - award-winning £10.8m multi-purpose sports centre and one of the region’s most iconic sporting venues, which includes sports hall, badminton and squash courts, a 70-station fitness suite with associated strength and conditioning area, a dedicated fitness studio, climbing wall and indoor sprint track
• Outdoor facilities - 3G all-weather pitch, tennis courts and a rugby pitch

"I chose Derby as I believe this course, unlike other MSc courses I looked at, would provide me with the necessary skills and experience in sport and exercise physiology that would make me stand out against other candidates pursuing similar career pathways to myself.

"My biggest success so far, I would say is my involvement in my placement work; specifically, the work for the HPU in providing lactate threshold labs for recreational runners. I feel my confidence in my lab-based skills have been enhanced meanwhile gaining experience that is useful in a real-world setting i.e. the importance of Health and Safety and participant wellbeing."

Callum Thomas, MSc Applied Sport and Exercise Sciences student

What our Sport and Exercise graduates do

Postgraduate education extends your knowledge, skills and confidence in ways which enhance your employability and open doors to new career prospects. Our previous students have gone into different career pathways, based on the skills and qualifications gained during their programme, such as:

• become an applied sport scientist with clients such as professional athletes
• work with professional sports clubs, community or public health organisations
• embark on broader roles in the community and health sectors where you can help encourage behaviour change and healthy lifestyles
• pursue a research career or any role which involves the planning, collection and analysis of data, in an academic setting, the public sector or a commercial organisation
• continue on to complete a programme of Supervised Experience with BASES, which would enable you to gain accreditation as a Sport and Exercise Scientist
• take your academic qualifications to the next level, by completing a doctoral programme such as a PhD, which can help your progression to a role in teaching