Clinical Exercise Physiology, MSc

Develop the skills to work with patients to optimise their health with exercise

Man being observed on exercise bike

Course Overview

There has never been a more exciting time to study an MSc in Clinical Exercise Physiology. As the NHS and other healthcare providers are put under an increasing burden from long-term health conditions related to physical inactivity, the demand for graduates with skillets in clinical exercise science and physiology is growing.

This 1-year full-time master’s course will equip you with the critical research-informed knowledge and understanding, along with the diverse range of applied and practical skills, that are needed to work with patients to optimise health, physical function, and quality of life through physical activity and exercise.

The MSc will have a heavy practical emphasis and will develop your practical competencies in a wide range of physiological and phenotypic measurements related to clinical exercise physiology. Throughout the programme, you will learn how to design, conduct and interpret a range of disease-specific health and fitness assessments, as well as designing and delivering evidence-based physical activity and exercise interventions, supporting patients to promote meaningful behaviour change, optimising the prevention, treatment and long-term management of a range of complex health conditions.

You will also complete a clinical placement module to gain important supervised experience in applying your skillset in real-world settings.

Why Clinical Exercise Physiology at Swansea?

Clinical Exercise Physiology is a fast-growing and essential specialism both in the UK and around the World. With longer life expectancy comes a greater risk of chronic health conditions. And with an increasingly ageing population, the NHS and other healthcare providers are being, and will continue to be, put under increasing strain from the burden of managing these long-term health conditions. As part of the strategy to meet this challenge, there has been an increasing recognition of the important role that skilled Clinical Exercise Physiologists (CEPs) can play as part of a multidisciplinary healthcare team, promising strong prospects for graduates of this programme.

CEPs can work across a broad range of chronic disease populations, where exercise interventions can demonstrate reduced disease risk and positive health outcomes, improved quality of life, and reduced overall healthcare costs, putting you at the forefront of an exciting movement in healthcare provision, that can make a real difference to people’s lives.

Clinical Exercise Physiology is now recognised as an accredited healthcare profession and formal employment pathways have been developed with various disciplines, such as cardiac rehabilitation. As such, there is an increasing demand for graduates with skillsets in Clinical Exercise Physiology, which is likely to grow in the coming years.

This MSc in Clinical Exercise Physiology at Swansea University is a first for Wales. You will be taught by world-leading researchers in clinical exercise science, exercise physiology, physical activity and health, and behavior change. The course will have a strong practical emphasis and you will spend much of your time in our state-of-the-art exercise physiology laboratories at Bay Campus, which house a range of specialised equipment, including different exercise ergometers (cycling, recumbent cycling, treadmills etc), online metabolic carts with integrated 12-lead ECG, muscle function testing equipment, vascular ultrasounds, a DEXA scanner, equipment for assessments of lung function, and facilities to collect and analyse capillary of venous blood samples for various biomarkers.

Our Sport and Exercise Science programmes are ranked:

  • Top 20 in the UK for Research Quality (Complete University Guide 2025)
  • Top 51-100 in the World (QS World University Rankings 2024), and our research has
  • 100% world-leading and internationally excellent impact (REF 2021)

Your Clinical Exercise Physiology Experience

Our overarching aim is to develop highly skilled exercise professionals capable of working safely and effectively within a multi-disciplinary healthcare team to improve health and wellbeing in clinical populations.

To achieve this, our MSc course will provide you with a comprehensive theoretical understanding of various chronic diseases and the principles underpinning the safe and effective prescription of exercise testing and physical activity and/or exercise interventions in the management of these conditions.

Alongside this vital theoretical underpinning, our course has been developed with a heavy practical and applied focus, where you will be empowered to work towards competency in the wide range of practical skills you will need to design, prescribe, and deliver personalised, evidence-based physical activity and exercise interventions tailored to individual health statuses, functional capacities, and disease aetiologies.

A key component of this course will be the workplace learning opportunities delivered through a placement with the Welsh National Exercise Referral Scheme (NERS). This will ensure you can develop your clinical and interpersonal skills in a real-world environment and have a variety of opportunities to apply theory to practice.

The teaching team for this course are all research active and the whole programme is underpinned by and informed by research.

At the start of the programme, you will be allocated a Personal Tutor who you will meet with on a group basis every two weeks (with individual meetings available at request). These Personal Tutor meetings play an extremely important role ensuring that you can discuss your learning and assignments within small, informal settings. Our aim is for you to develop strong relationships with staff whom you can approach if you require additional support or guidance.

Clinical Exercise Physiology Employment Opportunities

This MSc course will provide you with the knowledge and skills that are needed to go on to a successful career working as a Clinical Exercise Physiologist in a variety of healthcare and/or research settings. It is likely that many graduates will go on to deploy their skills across a range of healthcare settings including:

  • Primary and Secondary Care,
  • (Pre)Rehabilitation Settings
  • Private hospital settings
  • Public or Private clinics and Leisure Services
  • Defence medical services.

Other potential employment routes include working as public health policy advisors, workplace health and rehabilitation, and research or academic roles.

Modules

The MSc in Clinical Exercise Physiology comprises of 180 credits, including 6 x 20-credit taught modules and a 60-credit placement module.