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Sport and Exercise Nutrition MSc

2024-25 (also available for 2025-26)

This course is eligible for Master's loan funding. Find out more.

Start date

16 September 2024

Duration

1 year full-time

Places available (subject to change)

30

About the course

Reasons to study

  1. Our lecturers' research actively helps to shape real world practice, meaning you will learn the very latest industry knowledge and practice.
  2. Members of the teaching team currently work in elite sport, helping you to enhance your ability to translation theory into practice, and learn about real world practice
  3. Our programme is designed in line with the Sport and Exercise Nutrition Register, which you can apply to join following completion of the course. This can enhance your work opportunities.

This course provides graduates with the academic knowledge and professional skills required to pursue a career in the field of sport and exercise nutrition, including practitioner and researcher-based work. It offers you an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills relevant to the broad spectrum of professional training in sport and exercise nutrition. This includes working with athletes and sports teams who use nutrition to optimise training adaptations and athletic performance or to address health issues such as rising rates of obesity and increasingly elderly population.

  • You will be exposed to classic and contemporary issues within sport and exercise nutrition, whilst also developing fundamental skills required to work in applied practice and research.
  • You will be taught in a stimulating and supportive learning environment that draws on expert knowledge, research and applied practice.
  • You will learn key laboratory skills and testing methods in our state-of-the-art facilities.
  • You may have an opportunity to attend a work placement within the sport and exercise sector.
  • The course leader is a professional Sport and Exercise Nutritionist who works in elite sport.
  • You will complete a major research project during the course and have the opportunity to potentially publish your work in peer reviewed sport and exercise nutrition journals.

Overall, this course will help facilitate your future career aspirations, including applied practice and/or further study at Doctoral level.

We welcome applications from international students as sport and exercise nutrition is a truly global area. The course staff and the wider University provides additional support to those students who come from overseas.

Course detail

Practical Sport and Exercise Nutrition

Athletes’ nutritional needs are influenced by the type of sport, level of physical activity, health status, age and sex. An athlete’s diet will affect their performance, as well as their current and future health. Accurate nutritional assessment is the foundation of advice to meet their energy, macro and micronutrient, and fluid needs. Furthermore, they need to train and compete to the best of their ability without compromising their health. In this module you'll study the principles, methods and limitations of nutritional assessment, including dietary, anthropometric, physiological and biochemical methods.

Sport and Exercise Metabolism

This module aims to enhance your understanding of how metabolic regulation and integration influence how energy is stored and converted during exercise. Biochemical processes at the molecular level linked to metabolism and physiological processes involving the muscular, neuroendocrine, respiratory and cardiovascular systems will be covered. Notably, the effect of nutrition on the modulation of these processes will be interwoven throughout the module.

Advanced Sport and Exercise Nutrition

You'll learn in depth current advanced nutritional strategies used in the sport and exercise setting to maximise performance adaptation/health. The module will cover how the manipulation of nutrients can affect sporting performance and physical health, as well as providing information on their application.

How to be a Postgraduate Researcher

The module is designed to give you an insight into research methodology, both quantitative and qualitative, and to develop your ability to plan and conduct a research project, involving appropriate study design, data analysis, and interpretation, whilst giving due consideration to issues of ethics, reliability, validity, trustworthiness and transferability.

Ergogenic Aids Supplements and Anti-doping

You'll learn about the effect of ergogenic aids and supplements on performance and health, as well as the importance of anti-doping within sport. You'll also investigate the physiological mechanisms underpinning the effect of nutritional and ergogenic aids, and how they are used in sporting and health contexts. Additionally, you'll participate in catering practical’s which will cover food safety and product design.

Applied Placement and Practitioner Skills

This module provides the opportunity to gain real world experience in the field of sport and exercise science. The early stages of this module will teach you practical applied skills which can be taken forward into a placement in a professional environment. Placements will be organised in conjunction with the University, and you will be exposed to real world employment.

Major Project: Putting Theory into Practice

The aim of this module is to provide you with an opportunity to investigate an aspect of sport and exercise science in which you have a specific interest and which is of research significance. You will discuss and negotiate the parameters and scope of this project with an appointed academic supervisor and submit and carry out a suitable research proposal

Entry requirements

Entry requirements for this course are normally:

  • An honours degree (2:2 or above) in a science-based subject, which may include, Nutrition, Dietetics, Biological Science, or Sport and Exercise Science.

If your first language is not English, you will need to meet the minimum requirements of an English Language qualification. The minimum for IELTS is 6.0 overall with no element lower than 5.5, or equivalent. Read more about the University’s entry requirements for students outside of the UK on our Where are you from information pages.

Postgraduate Study Fair


Come along to one of our Postgraduate Study Fairs to discover all your study options from short courses to PhD.

Our award-winning academic staff will be on hand to chat about all our postgraduate study and research options, flexible teaching and how postgraduate study can help you to advance your career or prepare for a career change.

Register now

Placements


In semester two, you will complete the Applied Placement and Practitioner Skills module. The early stages of this module will teach you practical applied skills which can be taken forward into a placement. The university will help you to organise your placement.

Student support

At the University of Huddersfield, you'll find support networks and services to help you get ahead in your studies and social life. Whether you study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, you'll soon discover that you're never far away from our dedicated staff and resources to help you to navigate through your personal student journey. Find out more about all our support services.

A wide range of resources are also offered within the School of Human and Health Sciences, which provides you with support in a variety of areas. These include:

Student Hub: a one stop shop for students, studying within the School. Their services include offering advice on extenuating circumstances, extension requests, course progression, suspension and welfare support, organising appointments with academic staff and signposting to other support networks.

Academic Skills Development Team: support students to develop their academic skills and build their confidence in order to improve their grades. The team provide support with academic skills including essay writing, being critical, reflective writing, numeracy, research skills, presentations and group work skills; as well as personal development for example time management.

Learning Technology Support Unit: helps students with any problems they experience with the University’s Brightspace Learning System, including logging on or difficulties experienced when accessing and using modules, and with the PebblePad platform, which is used by students when they go out on placements.

Important information

We will always try to deliver your course as described on this web page. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below.

Changes to a course you have applied for

If we propose to make a major change to a course that you are holding an offer for, then we will tell you as soon as possible so that you can decide whether to withdraw your application prior to enrolment.

Cancellation of a course you have applied for

Although we always try and run all of the course we offer, we may occasionally have to withdraw a course you have applied for or combine your programme with another programme if we consider this reasonably necessary to ensure a good student experience, for example if there are not enough applicants to ensure you have a good learning experience. Where this is the case we will notify you as soon as reasonably possible and we will contact you to discuss other suitable courses with us we can transfer your application to. If we notify you that the course you have applied to has been withdrawn or combined, and you do not wish to transfer to another course with us, you may cancel your application and we will refund you any deposits or fees you have paid to us.

Changes to your course after you enrol as a student

We will always try to deliver your course and other services as described. However, sometimes we may have to make changes as set out below:

Changes to option modules

Where your course allows you to choose modules from a range of options, we will review these each year and change them to reflect the expertise of our staff, current trends in research and as a result of student feedback or demand for certain modules. We will always ensure that you have a range of options to choose from and we will let you know in good time the options available for you to choose for the following year.

Major changes

We will only make major changes to the core curriculum of a course or to our services if it is necessary for us to do so and provided such changes are reasonable. A major change in this context is a change that materially changes the services available to you; or the outcomes, or a significant part, of your course, such as the nature of the award or a substantial change to module content, teaching days (part time provision), classes, type of delivery or assessment of the core curriculum.

For example, it may be necessary to make a major change to reflect changes in the law or the requirements of the University’s regulators; to meet the latest requirements of a commissioning or accrediting body; to improve the quality of educational provision; in response to student, examiners’ or other course evaluators’ feedback; and/or to reflect academic or professional changes within subject areas. Major changes may also be necessary because of circumstances outside our reasonable control, such as a key member of staff leaving the University or being unable to teach, where they have a particular specialism that can’t be adequately covered by other members of staff; or due to damage or interruption to buildings, facilities or equipment.

Major changes would usually be made with effect from the next academic year, but this may not always be the case. We will notify you as soon as possible should we need to make a major change and will carry out suitable consultation with affected students. If you reasonably believe that the proposed change will cause you detriment or hardship we will, if appropriate, work with you to try to reduce the adverse effect on you or find an appropriate solution. Where an appropriate solution cannot be found and you contact us in writing before the change takes effect you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the University without liability to the University for future tuition fees. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

Termination of course

In exceptional circumstances, we may, for reasons outside of our control, be forced to discontinue or suspend your course. Where this is the case, a formal exit strategy will be followed and we will notify you as soon as possible about what your options are, which may include transferring to a suitable replacement course for which you are qualified, being provided with individual teaching to complete the award for which you were registered, or claiming an interim award and exiting the University. If you do not wish to take up any of the options that are made available to you, then you can cancel your registration and withdraw from the course without liability to the University for future tuition fees and you will be entitled to a refund of all course fees paid to date. We will provide reasonable support to assist you with transferring to another university if you wish to do so.

When you enrol as a student of the University, your study and time with us will be governed by a framework of regulations, policies and procedures, which form the basis of your agreement with us. These include regulations regarding the assessment of your course, academic integrity, your conduct (including attendance) and disciplinary procedure, fees and finance and compliance with visa requirements (where relevant). It is important that you familiarise yourself with these as you will be asked to agree to abide by them when you join us as a student. You will find a guide to the key terms here, along with the Student Protection Plan, where you will also find links to the full text of each of the regulations, policies and procedures referred to. You should read these carefully before you enrol. Please note that this information is subject to change and you are advised to check our website regularly for any changes before you enrol at the University. A person who is not party to this agreement shall not have any rights under or in connection with it. Only you and the University shall have any right to enforce or rely on the agreement.

The Office for Students (OfS) is the principal regulator for the University.