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Health Psychology MSc

London, Bloomsbury

Specialise in health psychology at Master’s level at one of the world’s top universities. Benefit from expert-led in-person lectures, and hands-on experience with data collection, clinical observations and placements. This one-year full-time/two-year part-time course is the longest running of its kind and the ideal stepping stone into work as a chartered health psychologist or a Clinical Psychology PhD.

UK students International students
Study mode
UK tuition fees (2026/27)
£14,200
£7,100
Overseas tuition fees (2026/27)
£39,200
£19,600
Duration
1 calendar year
2 calendar years
Programme starts
September 2026
Applications accepted
Applicants who require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 26 Jun 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Applicants who do not require a visa: 20 Oct 2025 – 28 Aug 2026
Applications close at 5pm UK time

Applications open

Apply for this course

Entry requirements

A minimum of an upper second-class Bachelor's degree in psychology from a UK university, or overseas qualification of an equivalent standard. A lower second-class UK Bachelor's degree or equivalent may be accepted with evidence of further study or relevant work experience.

Applicants are encouraged to have Graduate Basis for Chartered Membership (GBC) with the British Psychological Society (BPS) if they want to pursue a career as a Chartered Health Psychologist in the UK.

The English language level for this course is: Level 4

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.

International applicants can find out the equivalent qualification for their country by selecting from the list below. Please note that the equivalency will correspond to the broad UK degree classification stated on this page (e.g. upper second-class). Where a specific overall percentage is required in the UK qualification, the international equivalency will be higher than that stated below. Please contact Graduate Admissions should you require further advice.

About this degree

Give yourself a head start in building an impactful career as a health psychologist or researcher on UCL’s hugely popular Health Psychology MSc, accredited by the British Psychology Society (BPS).

You will gain a deep grounding in all the theories and main ideas central to current health psychology, receive training in doing your own research, and be encouraged to develop your own specialisation.

Weekly journal clubs will help you build your critical appraisal and presentation skills, with regular opportunities to practise presenting papers.

Drawing on our close links with third sector and clinical organisations, there’ll be placement opportunities, and the chance to visit a hospital outpatient clinic, too.

Your research project, which makes up just over a third of your final mark, will be written up in the form of a mock submission to the British Journal of Health Psychology.

The MSc is an important stepping stone for becoming a chartered health psychologist.

Who this course is for

This course is suitable for students (with an equivalent of a 2:1 from their first degree and advanced English skills) seeking a thorough grounding in health psychology as preparation for a subsequent research degree or employment in a related field.

Read about what it takes to study for a Master's at UCL

What this course will give you

  • Study on the longest-running Health Psychology MSc in the UK, working alongside expert researchers as part of UCL's Research Department of Behavioural Science and Health.
     
  • UCL is ranked number one for research power and impact in medicine, health and life sciences (REF 2021), and 3rd in the world for public health (ShanghaiRankings 2024).
     
  • Access a highly interactive and engaging learning community of like-minded peers, researchers and academics, with regular networking opportunities and potential collaborations with leaders in health psychology and related disciplines.
     
  • Flexibility to conduct a dissertation project in a field of your interest.
     
  • Opportunity to apply for placements in clinical, academic or policy-related settings. Please see more information below. 
     
  • Gain a research-based BPS-accredited Stage 1 qualification, so you move into research or progress onto becoming a chartered health psychologist.
Read about what you'll get out of a graduate programme

The foundation of your career

Studying this kind of academic course means you will gain important research experience and skills. This is particularly advantageous when moving onto advanced degrees – and each year a significant number of students successfully secure PhD studentships and clinical doctorates.

As the focus of the MSc is on improving healthcare and delivery, you will also be well positioned to take up roles in the public or private healthcare sector. Graduates have gone onto work for the NHS, the Department of Health and Social Care, NatCen Social Research, and universities in the UK and abroad.*

*Graduate Outcomes survey carried out by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), looking at the destinations of UK and EU graduates in the 2019-20, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23 cohorts.

Employability

Your knowledge of relevant health psychology theory, clinical skills and research experience will make you a strong candidate for PhD-level study, working as a researcher, or taking up roles allied to psychology, healthcare services and delivery.

You will also be taught Quantitative and Qualitative Research Methods 1 using Stata. 

Networking

The UCL Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care offers four on-campus MSc courses and a fully online Master of Public Health MPH course encompassing a wide range of topics. Our students come from diverse academic and professional backgrounds, from the UK and overseas providing great networking opportunities within and across courses. Each course holds social events during the year to enable networking between students. Students have the opportunity to join the newly formed Population Health Sciences Student Society, two of the founding members of which were from the MSc in Population Health. During the year, online, hybrid, and in-person seminars are hosted by the research departments. These cover a variety of topics and provide an opportunity to hear from national and international experts and to network with attendees and speakers. 

Accreditation

The Health Psychology MSc is stage 1 accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS). BPS accreditation criteria stipulate a minimum 50% pass mark, with no condoned modules, and so students with final marks falling below 50% cannot graduate with the accredited Health Psychology MSc award. In addition, the BPS expects students to engage in primary data collection which will be assessed as part of the dissertation module (IEHC0024). Students who fail to meet either of these criteria will instead graduate with an MSc in Psychology & Health, if they have fulfilled UCL award requirements but not BPS award requirements.

Teaching and learning

The course is delivered in-person, through a combination of learning approaches, lectures, seminars, class exercises, project work, training workshops, journal clubs and hands-on computer-based teaching on statistical analysis techniques. 

Assessment is through coursework (including among others a critical review and an essay, group and individual-based presentations), three unseen examinations and the research project.

During term time, full-time students are expected to spend 16 hours per week in taught sessions, including interactive lectures/seminars, journal clubs and tutorials. Students will also be expected to spend 20 hours learning independently per week.

Part-time students attend one day of teaching (8 direct contact hours) each term and 10 hours of self-directed learning per week.

Modules

You will be required to complete eight compulsory modules and a dissertation within the general area of Health Psychology. The dissertation will present empirical findings of the student’s research project and take the form of a research paper presented as a mock submission to the British Journal of Health Psychology, in accordance with the journal’s guidelines.

You will be required to complete four compulsory modules in Year 1 and four compulsory modules in Year 2 as well as a dissertation within the general area of Health Psychology.

Compulsory modules











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.

Students undertake modules to the value of 180 credits. Upon successful completion of 180 credits, you will be awarded an MSc in Health Psychology or Psychology & Health (see above BPS-specific requirements).

Placement

During Term 3, students will be provided with the opportunity to gain experience in a setting relevant to health psychology. The placement aims to provide students with work experience and insights into the working life of health psychologists. Students will be given a choice of placements within an academic unit, a clinical setting or a non-governmental organisation such as a funding body and will choose which provider they apply for.  

We cannot guarantee that every student will be allocated a placement or their first choice of placement; therefore, we ask students to choose at least four options from the list of placements that become available. The allocation is competitive, 100% driven by providers and dependent on the number of offers we receive. The team spends a lot of time to offer as many opportunities as possible, but we do not have contractual agreements with our providers and are reliant on their availability and preferences.

Please note that our placements are informal, not assessed and optional. Part-time students will be offered placements in Year 2, and more details of placements becomes available during Term 2 of the academic year. 

Accessibility

The department will endeavour to make reasonable adjustments for students with disabilities, including those with long-term health conditions, neurodivergence, learning differences and mental health conditions. This list is not exhaustive. If you're unsure of your eligibility for reasonable adjustments at UCL, please contact Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

Reasonable adjustments are implemented on a case-by-case basis. With the student's consent, reasonable adjustments are considered by UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services, and where required, in collaboration with the respective department.

Details of the accessibility of UCL buildings can be obtained from AccessAble. Further information about support available can be obtained from UCL Student Support and Wellbeing Services.

For more information about the department and accessibility arrangements for your course, please contact the department.

Visit us

All open days and events

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Health Psychology MSc

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Studying at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care opens doors to impactful careers across healthcare, research and policy. Join our virtual open events to explore our Master’s degrees in Public Health, Dental Public Health, Population Health, Social Epidemiology and Health Psychology, meet Programme Directors, and learn how to make your application stand out.

Online - Open day

Graduate Open Events: Health Psychology MSc

Studying at the Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care opens doors to impactful careers across healthcare, research and policy. Join our virtual open events to explore our Master’s degrees in Population Health, Social Epidemiology and Health Psychology, meet Programme Directors, and learn how to make your application stand out.

Watch on demand event

Fees and funding

Fees for this course

UK students International students
Fee description Full-time Part-time
Tuition fees (2026/27) £14,200 £7,100
Tuition fees (2026/27) £39,200 £19,600

Postgraduate Taught students benefit from a cohort guarantee, meaning that their tuition fees will not increase during the course of the programme, but UCL reserves the right to increase tuition fees to reflect any sums (including levies, taxes, or similar financial charges) that UCL is required to pay any governmental authority in connection with tuition fees.

The tuition fees shown are for the year indicated above. Where the course is offered on a flexible/modular basis, fees are charged pro-rata to the appropriate full-time Master's fee taken in an academic session. Further information on fee status, fee increases and the fee schedule can be viewed on the UCL Students website: ucl.ac.uk/students/fees.

Additional costs

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of UK, a fee deposit will be charged at 2.5% of the first year fee.

For full-time and part-time offer holders with a fee status classification of Overseas, a fee deposit will be charged at 10% of the first year fee.

Further information can be found in the Tuition fee deposits section on this page: Tuition fees.

Students will need to meet local travel costs as part of the placements and clinical visits.

For in-person teaching, 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 £119.90. This price was published by TfL in 2025. 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

The department is offering the Jane Wardle studentship for students undertaking the Health Psychology MSc. The studentship will consist of £3,750 towards tuition fees and is awarded to one student each year based on their academic records and personal statement. There is no need to apply separately for this studentship; all applicants are considered. This scholarship has been endowed in memory of Professor Jane Wardle (1950-2015), professor of clinical psychology and co-director of the Health Psychology MSc. Find out more.

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

See all the ways you can fund your studies

MPH IMPACT Scholarship

Deadline: 30 June 2026
Value: £20,500 - covers tuition fees for 1-yr full-time studies. For part-time and modular/flexible student ()
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

MSc Health Psychology Jane Wardle Studentship

Value: £3,750 towards tuition fees ((pro-rata if part-time) (1 year)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

MSc Population Health Studentship

Deadline: 26 June 2026
Value: £2,500 (1 year)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

MSc Social Epidemiology Michael Marmot Studentship

Deadline: 26 June 2026
Value: £2,500 (1 year)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK, EU, Overseas

The MSc Dental Public Health Aubrey Sheiham Scholarship

Deadline: 26 June 2026
Value: £2,500 (1 year)
Criteria Based on academic merit
Eligibility: UK

The MSc Dental Public Health Aubrey Sheiham Scholarship for Overseas Students

Deadline: 26 June 2026
Value: £12,000 (1 Year)
Criteria Based on both academic merit and financial need
Eligibility: EU, Overseas

Next steps

Students are advised to apply as early as possible due to competition for places. Those applying for scholarship funding (particularly overseas applicants) should take note of application deadlines.

There is an application processing fee for this course of £90 for online applications. Further information can be found at Application fees.

When we assess your application we would like to learn:

  • Why you want to study Health Psychology at graduate level.
  • Why you want to study Health Psychology at UCL.
  • How your academic and professional background meets the demands of this course.
  • 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 course match what the course will deliver.

Frequently asked questions

Question: Is remote learning supported at all or is the course fully in-person?
Answer: Our teaching is in person. For full-time students teaching takes place on Mondays and Tuesdays. For part-time students, teaching happens on Mondays in Year 1 and Tuesdays in Year 2. Please note that our lectures take place from 9am to 5pm. 

Question: What is the split of seminar/lecture hours during the week?
Answer: We do not run lectures and seminars separately. All of our teaching sessions include elements of both. We also run journal clubs in Terms 1 and 2.

Question: Does UCL help find a placement and, if so, do students get a choice of where they go? 
Answer: Please refer to placement information that is outlined under the ‘modules’ section above. 

Please note that you may submit applications for a maximum of two graduate courses (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: 2026-2027

Apply for this course

Got questions? Get in touch

Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care
Institute of Epidemiology and Health Care

bsh.mschealthpsychology@ucl.ac.uk

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