Applied Sport Science

Develop your knowledge of sports science - exploring areas such as health, wellbeing and performance - on our Applied Sport Science degree in Writtle.

• Train and work in our Centre for Sport and Health, with its sports laboratory, and strength and conditioning suite.

• Learn from staff with high-level sports or industry experience.

• Benefit from a blend of lectures and practical sessions, to give you a practical and career-enhancing learning experience.

• Gain specific knowledge and skills relating to the promotion of active and healthy lifestyles across the lifespan.

• Obtain industry experience and relate your studies to the real world through work placement, volunteering and shadowing opportunities.

• Graduate ready to work in sport, health or exercise roles.

• We’re delighted to be Cambridge United Football Club’s Official Education Partner which supports opportunities such as work experience at the club or volunteering with the Cambridge United Foundation.

Our degree course offers a comprehensive sport science experience, where you'll explore the scientific principles and techniques that underpin health, wellbeing and sporting performance. You'll also focus on the specific knowledge and skills required when testing, assessing and evaluation human movement and performance.

As part of your degree, you’ll learn to work with athletic populations, demonstrating and applying the four key subdisciplines of sport science: physiology, psychology, biomechanics and nutrition. These central themes provide the basis of a thorough appreciation of human performance in the context of sport and exercise.

In addition to the core modules, in this Applied Sport Science course, bespoke modules focus on the skills required for lab and field-based testing of a range of athletic populations. You will learn how the human body functions when engaged in sport and exercise and how to interpret and evaluate its responses to different physical challenges.

As a student in Writtle, you’ll take part in practical sessions using specialist sports facilities and equipment. You’ll learn to work safely and ethically as an applied sport scientist in the Writtle Performance Centre, our academic testing laboratory and public-facing testing facility. You’ll get opportunities to be involved in a range of activities, from strength and conditioning training for team sport players to testing the VO2 max of elite runners.

Through your experiences on the course, you’ll develop essential employability skills in both an applied and research setting, and effective practical skills that are in demand from top-level clubs, sporting organisations, and clinical practice.

As well as our three-year degree course, you have the option of studying over 6 years part-time. You'll study the same modules, but sometimes in different years or in a different order.

Year 1:
Core modules

Introduction to Human Physiological Systems (15 credits)
Applied Professional Skills (30 credits)
Psychological Fundamentals in Sport and Exercise (30 credits)

Bespoke modules

Measurement and Evaluation in Human Performance (15 credits)
Sport-specific Athlete Testing (15 credits)

Year 2:
Core modules
Exercise Physiology (15 credits)
Nutrition for Sport, Health and Exercise
Research Skills in Sport and Exercise Science (30 credits)
Ruskin Module
Strength and Conditioning (15 credits)

Bespoke modules
Analysis of Human Movement and Performance (30 credits)

Year 3:
Core modules

Applied Exercise Physiology (15 credits)
Performance and Exercise Nutrition (15 credits)
Major Project or Work Placement (30 credits)
Sport and Exercise Medicine (30 credits)

Bespoke modules

Applied Inclusive Practice (30 credits)

Assessments are designed to elicit knowledge and understanding, and develop your skills. As a rule, modules have more than one assessment style. These include practical assessments – both in small groups and individually, practical portfolios, presentations, reflective logbooks, case studies, critiques of literature, written assessments, examinations – both multiple choice and essay questions, reports, peer and tutor observations, and your dissertation (Capstone Project).