Sport and Exercise Psychology

You’ll learn about what sport and exercise psychologists do, how they do it, and why. You’ll learn from expert staff about a range of topics from how sport performers thrive under pressure to what motivates exercisers to engage in physical activity. You’ll also complete a novel research project that enhances what we know about the application of psychological factors related to exercise and sport preparing you for a career as a sport psychologist.

Are you thinking of becoming a sport and exercise Psychologist?

Whether you are interested in working with elite and professional athletes and teams to improve their performance or are more interested in how regular people learn how to enjoy sports and learn to stick to an exercise program then this is the course for you.

Sports & exercise psychology is the study of the psychological factors that influence sports, athletic performance, exercise, and physical activity. Sports & exercise psychologists investigate how psychological factors influence elite athletes’ ability to perform under pressure and how participating in recreational sport and exercise can improve health, mental health and wellbeing.

An unusual focus of this course at Bangor is its examination of psychophysiological factors, like brain imaging & in-depth heart rate monitoring, to better understand how psychological and physiological processes interact with, and relate to, the sport and exercise behaviour of elite athletes and recreational exercisers. As you progress through the course there are many areas of specialism that you can explore including more unusual aspects such as such as the psychology of addictive behaviours, neuroscience and counselling approaches and more traditional areas such as the influence of stress and anxiety on performance, psychological skills, the influence of personality and individual differences on health and performance and how to design and evaluate interventions.

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) to provide you with Graduate Basis for Chartered membership of the Society, the necessary first step to any career as a psychologist in the UK and of course of particular relevance to sport and exercise psychology careers.

Learn from the best
You’ll be taught by chartered psychologists from the forefront of the discipline. Sport, Health and Exercise science staff have worked, and currently do work with numerous Olympic Sports, professional sport, the military and the NHS. In addition, the department currently houses the largest concentration of performance focused psychology researchers anywhere in the world and many of the subjects taught on this course are delivered by staff in psychology who also have international reputations in their specialist areas.

North Wales offers a stunning natural environment for your studies, and our department, which was established in 1978, is proud to call itself one of the original and longest serving Sport and Exercise Science providers in the world.

‘Placement Year’ and 'International Experience Year’ options are available for this course. You will have the opportunity to fully consider these options when you have started your course at Bangor and can make an application for a transfer onto such a pathway at the appropriate time. You can find more information about these options on our website and if you have any questions, please get in touch.

If you don’t have the required qualifications for this degree-level course or are looking to re-enter education after time away from study, then a Foundation Year Programme might be the right choice for you. Please see Sport and Exercise Science (with Foundation Year) C60F.