Creative Health PG Cert

London, Stratford (UCL East)

Gain the skills you need to become a sought after practitioner working at the interface of culture, nature, arts and health. The Creative Health programme is the first of its kind in the world, and will enable you to be a changemaker in the rapidly changing health, social care and voluntary third sector. Taught at UCL, you’ll learn from renowned academics who are helping to shape the future of healthcare through the creative health field.

UK students International students
Study mode
Full-time
UK tuition fees (2025/26)
£5,400
Overseas tuition fees (2025/26)
£11,000
Duration
1 academic year
Programme starts
To be confirmed.
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 04 Apr 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 14 Oct 2024 – 29 Aug 2025
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Entry requirements

Normally a minimum of an upper second-class UK Bachelor's degree or an overseas qualification of an equivalent standard in psychology, medicine/biomedicine, nursing and other allied health professions, sciences, arts, liberal arts, design-related humanities and social sciences. Professional experience in the fields of arts, culture and health, or social prescribing, is desirable. An applicant whose qualifications vary from UCL standards may be admitted if evidence of an adequate academic background and work experience in an appropriate field can be shown. Intercalating MBBS/BMBS applicants are welcomed provided applicants have an undergraduate degree (2:1 minimum or equivalent) in a relevant subject.

It may be possible to apply based on having completed three or four years of a medical degree programme; candidates wishing to be considered for admission in such circumstances will be considered on a case by case basis.

The English language level for this programme is: To be confirmed

UCL Pre-Master's and Pre-sessional English courses are for international students who are aiming to study for a postgraduate degree at UCL. The courses will develop your academic English and academic skills required to succeed at postgraduate level.

Further information can be found on our English language requirements page.

Equivalent qualifications

Country-specific information, including details of when UCL representatives are visiting your part of the world, can be obtained from the International Students website.

For this programme, please contact our UCL Graduate Admissions team.

About this degree

Following the introduction of the Creative Health MASc in September 2021, the Postgraduate Certificate (PG Cert) in Creative Health will be the first of its kind in the UK and continues the postgraduate expansion of the Arts and Sciences department.

The PG Cert seeks to address growing interest in the emerging field of Creative Health, with a focus on health equity, lived experience, community assets, research-led practice, non-clinical interventions including social prescribing, and experiential learning.

The PG Cert will create a new generation of socially engaged scholars and practitioners to meet the needs of a changing health, social care and voluntary third sector, where personalised care and the patient experience are mainstreamed into primary, secondary and community health.

Who this course is for

This programme will appeal to candidates who are passionate about creating a more socially inclusive society where arts, culture and the natural environment are central to supporting personalised care, tackling health inequity and improving the patient experience.

What this course will give you

There is a clearly identified need for more training opportunities for those interested in working at the interface of culture, nature, arts and health - see 'Creative Health Inquiry' by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing (APPGAHW). This need is particularly acute given the very limited opportunities available for healthcare/arts/creative professionals, researchers or people from wider backgrounds interested in creative health to receive specific training.

To meet this need the PG Certificate in Creative Health offers a range of taught modules providing students with a detailed understanding of the depth and breadth of the field, including professional practice such as social prescribing, policy shift and research innovation, related to all aspects of socially engaged work across arts, culture, heritage, creativity, nature and the outdoors.

Rt Hon. Lord Howarth of Newport CBE, Co-Chair, All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arts, Health and Wellbeing:

“I am delighted to support the development of UCL's exciting new MASc in Creative Health which directly addresses Recommendation 8 in the All Party Parliamentary Group for Arts, Health and Wellbeing's Inquiry Report 'Creative Health': 'We recommend that the education of clinicians, public health specialists and other health and care professionals includes accredited modules on the evidence base and practical use of the arts for health and wellbeing outcomes. We also recommend that arts education institutions initiate undergraduate and postgraduate courses and professional development modules dedicated to the contribution of the arts to health and wellbeing.' (2017, p.155).”

The PG Cert Creative Health Programme will primarily operate from the brand new UCL East Campus in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Apart from the fact that this means that students will have access to the most state-of-the-art facilities, spaces and equipment that the new campus brings with it there are also a number of programme specific benefits to working at UCL East. In particular, being a community engaged programme, that relies to a large extent on collaboration with community partners – not least for the dissertation research – East London is an extremely exciting place to work. We have close knit relationships with leading creative health and wider voluntary and community sector organisations across the East London Olympic boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. Moreover, the UCL East campus will form part of the East Bank development, a new cultural quarter for East London. This will provide an opportunity to collaborate and engage with the other cultural institutions that form part of the East Bank, including the BBC, Sadler’s Wells, UAL’s London College of Fashion and the Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A). Having said that, the programme will also retain a relationship with the Bloomsbury campus in central London, so students will be able to benefit from access to both of these locations. 

The foundation of your career

The Creative Health programmes are relatively new and our first cohort of students on the Creative Health MASc graduated in late 2022. We anticipate that graduates from across the suite of Creative Health programmes will be well placed to take up a position within health or social care, the arts, cultural and creative sectors, and community, local government, NGO, voluntary and third sectors. Creative Health is also a growing area of research so we anticipate that graduates may enter PhD opportunities in related fields. Discover how our Alumni are shaping the future of Creative Health in the Cultural Health and Wellbeing Alliance Guest blog.

Employability

Graduates are likely to progress into a career in the wider area of creative health research or practice, including arts health/public health professionals (such as link workers/community navigators).

The attributes graduates can expect to develop through the course include: detailed knowledge of the depth and breadth of arts and health research and practice; communication and engagement skills focused on a personalised care model of community public health; critical skills in interdisciplinary thinking; confidence in developing and evaluating a range of creative health activities and interventions using a range of quantitative, qualitative and creative methods; skills in developing and sustaining community partnerships; confidence in navigating the UK health, social care and voluntary third sector in relation to social prescribing and other non-referral based arts and health programming.

Networking

The programme grants unique access to experts, practitioners and people with lived experience throughout. In particular two of the core modules BASC0030 Arts, Nature and Wellbeing and BASC0051 Lived Experience in Policy, Practice and Research contain a significant input from leading Creative Health practitioners. Through these connections, students to date have already been able to develop new opportunities for employment and directions of future work (including research).  

Teaching and learning

The programme will offer a range of blended, research and practice-led teaching including compulsory lectures seminars and practical workshops in conjunction with community partners, including Object-Based Learning, creative sessions, yoga therapy and green gym sessions, as well as Problem-Based Leaning, mental wellbeing support and voluntary self-care sessions, such as stress busting object handling/drawing activities in the Object-Based Learning Lab/other UCL Museums.

The programme is taught with an emphasis on collaborative and co-operative learning to ensure that you enter the workforce capable of joining projects and programmes where working in teams is important. Assessment will include:

  • Written coursework and essays
  • Reflexive diary keeping in the style of a journal
  • Oral presentations
  • Digital outputs in the form of blogs
  • Conference organisation

You will receive approximately 80-100 contact hours for the compulsory modules. The remainder of your study time is spent in self-directed independent study. Each 15-credit module represents a notional 150 hours of study.

The compulsory modules are taught across the First, Second and Third Term. 

Modules

You are required to take 60 credits in the following compulsory Level 7 modules (all worth 15 credits each):

  • BASC0030 Arts, Nature and Wellbeing: Non-Clinical Interventions in Health
  • BASC0051 Lived Experience in Policy, Practice and Research
  • BASC0052 Research Methods in Arts and Sciences
  • BASC0053 Approaches to Interdisciplinarity 

It is not possible to study this programme on a part-time basis.

Please note that the list of modules given here is indicative. This information is published a long time in advance of enrolment and module content and availability are subject to change. Modules that are in use for the current academic year are linked for further information. Where no link is present, further information is not yet available.

Accessibility

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information can also be obtained from the UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services team.

Room 303, Marshgate Building, UCL East, 7 Sidings Street, Stratford, London, E20 2AE - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Creative Health MASc

UCL’s MASc in Creative Health aims to create a new generation of socially engaged scholars and practitioners to meet the needs of a changing health, social care and voluntary third sector, where personalised care, social prescribing, health equity and the patient experience are mainstreamed into public health. Join us at this in-person information session to hear from our programme leads, find out more about the UCL East London Scholarship, and ask any questions related to to the programme.

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time
Tuition fees (2025/26) £5,400
Tuition fees (2025/26) £11,000

Additional costs

Based at the UCL East campus in Stratford, students will need to fund their own travel between the Bloomsbury and UCL East campuses if any teaching for the compulsory or optional modules takes place at Bloomsbury.

UCL’s main teaching locations are in zones 1 (Bloomsbury) and zones 2/3 (UCL East). The cost of a monthly 18+ Oyster travel card for zones 1-2 is £114.50. This price was published by TfL in 2024. For more information on additional costs for prospective students and the cost of living in London, please view our estimated cost of essential expenditure at UCL's cost of living guide.

Funding your studies

For a comprehensive list of the funding opportunities available at UCL, including funding relevant to your nationality, please visit the Scholarships and Funding website.

Next steps

When we assess your application we would like to learn: 

• why you want to study Creative Health at graduate level 

• why you want to study Creative Health at UCL 

• what particularly attracts you to the chosen programme 

• how your academic and professional background meets the demands of this challenging programme 

• where you would like to go professionally with your degree 

Together with essential academic requirements, the personal statement is your opportunity to illustrate whether your reasons for applying to this programme match what the programme will deliver. Candidates with previous experience in the fields of arts/culture/nature and health, social prescribing or other aspects of health and social care are particularly encouraged to apply. 

Candidates whose qualifications vary from UCL standards may be admitted if evidence of an adequate academic background and work experience in an appropriate field can be shown.

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate programmes (or one application for the Law LLM) in any application cycle.

Choose your programme

Please read the Application Guidance before proceeding with your application.

Year of entry: 2025-2026

UCL is regulated by the Office for Students.