Study the human mind through the lens of sport, from motivation and mental toughness to team dynamics and peak performance.
Hull has been at the forefront of Psychology since 1928. Now, we’re combining that legacy with cutting-edge research in sport and exercise psychology, working with discipline expert and elite teams like Hull FC, Hull City and Hull KR.
Our experts are tackling today’s big questions: How do athletes thrive under pressure? What drives peak performance? How can mental strategies boost resilience?
If you're passionate about sport and curious about the mind, this is where it all starts.
This course is accredited by
About this course
Combine your curiosity about the mind with your passion for sport. On this BPS-accredited degree, you’ll explore how psychology helps athletes perform at their best - and how the same principles apply to everyday life.
You’ll study all the core areas of psychology, like cognition, development, neuroscience, and social behaviour - giving you a solid grounding in how people think, feel, and act. Alongside that, you’ll take dedicated sport psychology modules each year, where you’ll apply this knowledge to real sporting environments.
You’ll look at what drives motivation, how athletes handle pressure, how teams build cohesion, and how psychology can help overcome injury, burnout and performance anxiety. Topics range from memory and mental health to child development, personality, and how the brain changes as we age.
From your first year, you’ll also gain practical skills in psychological research: designing experiments, analysing data, and developing your critical thinking. As you progress, you’ll work more independently, including a final-year research project in an area you’re passionate about.
You’ll learn from expert psychologists, including those who work with elite athletes, and benefit from our links with local professional clubs like Hull FC, Hull KR and Hull City. Whether you're into coaching, sport science, or psychology more broadly, you’ll graduate with the skills and knowledge to make a real difference in high-performance settings and beyond.
Unlock potential by understanding performance
Module options
Each year, you’ll study modules worth a certain number of credits, and you need 120 credits per year. Most modules are 20 credits – so you’ll study six modules each year. Some longer modules, such as a dissertation, are worth more. In these cases, you’ll study fewer modules - but the number of credits will always add up to 120. Some modules are compulsory, some are optional, so you can build a course that’s right for you.
Filters
Introducing Cognitive Psychology
How does your mind work? How do you see, hear, feel, and think? How do you make sense of the world and yourself? In this module, you'll discover the secrets of cognitive psychology - the science of the mind and behaviour. Learn how researchers use experiments and theories to understand the mental processes that shape our lives, explore topics like perception, attention, memory, language, and reasoning and see how they relate to your everyday experiences. This module will help you develop the skills and knowledge you need to become a critical thinker in the modern world.
core
10 credits
Research Skills 1
This module will introduce you to the process of psychological research. You will develop skills in quantitative data processing and presentation of descriptive statistics.
core
20 credits
Research Skills 2
Develop your research skills further with a focus on how we infer things about the world using data. This module gives you practical experience of research methods.
core
20 credits
Exploring Social Psychology
Would you inflict pain on another person if instructed to do so by an authority figure? How likely are people to conform to group pressure? What makes a friend act aggressively or donate money to charity? This module considers what effect the environment has on human behaviour and explores how psychological theories can be applied to your everyday life. If you’ve ever wondered why your friend is acting in a certain way, this module will provide some clues to the answer.
core
10 credits
The Developing Child
Delve into the fascinating world of the infant mind. You will cover a range of psychological processes, from the early building blocks of our cognitive skills, to how we form attachments and begin to create relationships. We will explore these processes from their very beginnings in the womb, through infancy, childhood, and adolescence.
core
10 credits
Assessing Individual Differences
You may have encountered personality and intelligence tests in educational or occupational settings, but have you ever wondered how these tests were developed? This module explores the complexities of intelligence and personality conceptualisation and testing and gives an insight into why people are unique. By engaging with a range of theories and psychometrics, you will be able to assess the controversies and ethical dilemmas of personality and intelligence testing.
core
10 credits
Brain and Behaviour 1
Explore the relationship between the brain and human behaviour, including how we sense the world, how we act in the world and how we think and feel about the world.
core
20 credits
Introduction to Exercise and Training
Through a mix of both theoretical and practical sessions, you'll develop your knowledge and experience of a number of different exercise and training modalities that a strength and conditioning coach could utilise in an effort to affect and improve performance. This module will also help you to develop as a coach, explaining the principles of good coaching, communication and delivery to a diverse range of athletes and non-athletes alike.
core
20 credits
Research Skills 3
Discover experimental designs involving multiple conditions and independent variables. You'll learn how to analyse data generated by these more complex designs.
compulsory
20 credits
Our facilities
Playlist
Dr Michael Lupton
Course overview
2 mins
Degrees that live up to life
Course montage
1 min
Dr Bernice Wright
Course overview
3 mins
Your course in their words
Student Story
2 mins
Why choose Psychology at Hull?
Student Story
2 mins
Facilities
Course Highlight
3 mins
Where can Psychology take you?
Student Story
13 mins
Degrees that live up to life
Course montage
1 min
Featured academics
Our academics are at the forefront of psychology research, shaping understanding of behaviour, wellbeing, and recovery. With specialist expertise in sport psychology, they explore the factors behind sporting excellence and resilience, and advance approaches that support performance and recovery from injury.
On the Psychology with Sport Psychology BSc, you’ll learn directly from these leading researchers and gain insights into the latest developments transforming psychology and sport.
Dr Blake Morton
Lecturer of Psychology
Blake is a lecturer specialising in animal and human behaviour, focussing on global environmental issues, whose work attracts media attention including the BBC, The Guardian, TIME, and National Geographic internationally.
Professor Adam Nicholls
Leader of the Sport Psychology and Coaching Group
Adam is a professor of psychology. The main focus of his research relates to the psycho-social factors that predict doping among adolescent athletes, along with coping and emotions among athletes.
Entry Requirements
What do I need?
When it comes to applying to university, you'll need a certain number of UCAS points. Different qualifications and grades are worth a different amount of points. For this course, you'll need 120 UCAS points.
At least 80 points must come from A levels, BTEC, or other equivalent qualifications.
We consider experience and qualifications from the UK and worldwide which may not exactly match the combinations above.
But it's not just about the grades - we'll look at your whole application. We want to know what makes you tick, and about your previous experience, so make sure that you complete your personal statement.
Have questions? Our admissions team will be happy to help.
Typical offer
120 UCAS points
A levels
BBB
BTEC
DDM
Fees & Funding
How much is it?
Tuition fees for 2027 entry have not been confirmed. Please use 2026-27 information as a guide.
For UK students, our standard course fee is £9,790 per year. Keep in mind that some courses are longer - for example, spending your third year abroad will make your degree four years in total.
How do I pay for it?
You can take out a tuition fee loan to cover the full cost of your course. Once you’ve successfully applied for this, you don’t need to do anything else – the money is sent straight to us.
You can also take out a maintenance loan of up to £10,544 a year to cover your living costs, depending on your household income.
Remember, you won’t start paying your loans back until you’ve left university and earn more than £25,000 per year.
See our full fees and funding information for more details and to find out what support we can offer.
Standard Tuition Fee
£9,790 / year
The amount you pay may increase each year, in line with inflation - but capped to the Retail Price Index.
Future prospects
A degree in Psychology with Sports Psychology gives you the skills to support performance, wellbeing and behaviour change in sport, exercise and beyond. Graduates can progress into careers in sports and exercise psychology, coaching, analysis, teaching, wellbeing, health promotion or personal training, as well as wider opportunities in education, health and business.
Graduates from Hull sport degrees have gone on to careers such as Director of Football, Head of Sport Science, and performance specialists working within professional clubs, the Premier League and international teams. With career support and industry connections throughout your studies, you’ll be well prepared to take your next step.
Become part of the next generation of futuremakers
Like what you've seen? Then it's time to apply.
The standard way is to apply through UCAS. This will give you the chance to showcase your skills qualities and passion for the subject, as well as providing us with your academic qualifications.
Not ready to apply yet?
Visit our next Open Day, and see all that the University of Hull has to offer. Talk to our lecturers about your subject, find out what university is really like from our current students, and take a tour of our beautiful campus and amazing facilities.
You may also be interested in...
97% employability (Psychology) UK domicile full-time first degree leavers; Higher Education Graduate Outcomes statistics, for the academic year 2022/23, published by the Higher Education Statistics Agency June 2025.
If you graduate with at least a 2:2 and pass your empirical psychology project, you can become a graduate member of the British Psychological Society (BPS). This is an essential step towards becoming a Chartered Psychologist.
All modules presented on this course page are subject to availability and this list may change at any time.