Perhaps you want to be an athlete, a performance director, a pathway manager or pathway scientist, a talent development scientist, a coach or a coach educator. Maybe your interests lie in using sport, health and exercise to conduct research and educate individuals and large organisations (e.g., the NHS, the Government) about the physiological and psychological adaptations and benefits of health and exercise. Perhaps you are interested in the psychological side of sport, health and exercise and want to become a performance psychologist, a performance lifestyle advisor or exercise psychologist. There is no shortage of career options in sport and a PhD in field of Sport and Exercise Science will put you firmly on the path to achieving your dream career.
An independent analysis of the contribution Sport and Exercise Science makes to the UK economy by the Physiological Society (2019) highlighted that Sport and Exercise Science:
- graduates gain £5.5 for every £1 they spend on University education (annual return of 20.9%)
- graduates earn £667,000 more across their working life compared to if they only have a level 3 (e.g., A levels, BTEC) qualification
- retains 71% of its graduates in the field indicating the highly rewarding and enjoyable nature of the employment sector
- contributes £3.9 billion a year to the UK economy and supports over 147,300 jobs
Our sports science degree programmes aim to maximise your employability by enabling you to undertake practical work alongside theoretical work, via hands-on laboratory practicals, a research project/dissertation and through demonstrations, tutorials and research. You can gain real life experience working abroad and gain additional professional qualifications in a range of areas. Through our extensive links with sporting organisations, the NHS, and the National Exercise Referral Scheme, we are able to offer you short mentored work placement opportunities alongside your degree programmes in the areas including:
- sports coaching
- performance analysis
- strength and conditioning
- exercise and health
- cardiac rehabilitation
- respiratory physiology
In addition, the degree will help you to develop the key practical and theoretical competencies needed to provide sport and exercise science support to clients. This development process is put into action via a supervised period of real-world client work in your preferred area e.g. performance or health physiology or psychology; or exercise rehabilitation. These opportunities allow you to work with experts in a field that is relevant to your degree and future career.
We have also made the move to support your future career aspirations by providing the opportunity to prepare for the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) supervisory experience training, which is normally a pre-requisite of the Association’s professional accreditation. BASES also organise an annual student conference. Former Masters students have won prestigious awards for ‘Best Postgraduate Verbal Presentation’ and ‘Best Postgraduate Poster Presentation’. These awards are open to Master’s and PhD students from all UK Universities, and the fact that our students regularly win these awards demonstrates the quality of career skills you’ll develop on a Master's programme from Bangor.
Sport and Exercise Science offers rewarding and well-paid employment in a diverse and ever-growing market, some of the more ‘traditional’ careers are listed below:
- Sport Scientist (various sports organisations)
- Talent Scientist
- Pathway Development Scientist
- Sports Development Officer
- Coach
- S&C Coach
- Coach Educator
- Performance Psychologist
- Performance Lifestyle Advisor
- Exercise Psychologist
- Sports or Rehabilitation Therapy Assistant
- Biomedical Scientist
- A Sport or Health data Analyst
- Health Advisor
- Physical Education Teacher
- School Sport Specialist
- Assistant Manager
- Cardiographer
- Respiratory Physiologist
- Business Development Manager
- Sports and Competitions Events Manager
- Clinical Exercise Specialist
- Recruitment Consultant
- Researcher
Or you could use your degree and the transferable skills you will have developed to work in management, the police, armed forces, emergency services or to set up your own business, as many of our past graduates have done.