Behaviour Change and Health (Taught)

We provide the support, subject knowledge and skills to achieve a postgraduate qualification designed to boost your career prospects. Attend four-hour intense teaching blocks for 22 weeks, allowing you to build work around your studies.

This innovative, highly topical course brings together the fields of behaviour change and health, opening a host of career options where you can apply your expertise to promote health, modify behaviour and engender real change. Aligned with current public health policy, the course equips you to understand not only ‘what works’ (for example, physical activity interventions for cardiometabolic health) but, importantly, how to apply this understanding to support people to make real life changes using behavioural science methodologies and tools for lifelong impact to health.

Course accreditation
We increase the employability of our graduates by being a Higher Education Partner of the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

Facilities and specialist equipment
Laboratories accredited by the Chartered Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES) including molecular and cellular labs and a biomechanics lab with 3D camera system
Community exercise clinic
Human Performance Centre with environmental heat chamber
Sports therapy and rehabilitation centre
Virtual-reality resource centre
Strength and conditioning suite
Nutrition research kitchen
Industry-leading equipment such as Woodway and h/p/cosmos® treadmills; hydrostatic weighing tank; echocardiogram machines; breath-by-breath gas analysers; blood analysers; 3D high-speed motion-capture camera system; and a range of force plates

Career-powered links
We are official education partners of Luton Town FC and Bedford Blues RFC as well as other sporting organisations in the region, giving you opportunities to improve your employability through work placements. In addition, there are opportunities to develop personal and professional networks through our links with Sport England, governing bodies, active partnerships and health-industry experts.

Your student experience
Learn from a highly experienced academic team of behavioural scientists, exercise practitioners, nutritionists, physiologists, health psychologists and more, including internationally recognised behaviour change expert, Professor Angel Chater.
At our on-campus community exercise clinic, work with people experiencing conditions that impact their quality of life including cancer palliative care, stroke rehabilitation, obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental health concerns and older age.
Access our Human Performance Centre, which helps train professional athletes and sports people including Team GB and junior Formula 1 racing driver, Frederik Vesti; the heat chamber is regularly used to acclimatise athletes taking on competitions and marathons in places with high temperatures.
Take up external placements at a range of relevant organisations within sport and health, including local and national cardiac rehab services; community cardiac groups; community exercise programmes; county council and public health departments; related charities; and sports teams.
Our academics offer supervision in a range of topics for your final major research project, which includes working in real-world environments such as with Premier League football clubs; the Football Association (FA); rugby clubs; elite athletes; integrated care services; occupational health; the police and fire services; the NHS; public health; cardiac rehabilitation; and government bodies.

Course modules

Behavioural science and public health – Draw on health psychology and behavioural science to prompt behaviour change leading to improved health and fitness.

Professional skills for healthcare providers – Using your knowledge base, build the professional skills needed to work within healthcare practice and research.

Exercise prescription – Explore how a structured exercise programme with nutritional advice can help with a range of conditions; includes practice-based learning hours working under supervision in our Community Exercise Clinic.

We make every effort to ensure the information here is accurate; however, for the most up-to-date information, visit our website.