MSc Neuroimaging for Clinical & Cognitive Neuroscience

Year of entry: 2024

Overview

Degree awarded
Master of Science
Duration
12 months FT
Entry requirements

We require an honours degree (minimum Upper Second) or overseas equivalent in a science subject such as: 

  • psychology
  • neuroscience
  • physics
  • maths
  • engineering
  • medicine
  • computer science

Each application will be judged on an individual basis.

This course is also available for intercalating medical students, both from The University of Manchester and other UK universities, upon completion of their third year (minimum).

For St Andrews students, this includes the three-year course plus the following one or two years spent in Manchester. Intercalating medical students need to have passed all assessments at first attempt (if they are third year) or have no fails in third year if they are fourth year. We also accept home and international medical graduates.

Full entry requirements

How to apply

Please apply via our online application form . See the application and selection section for details of the supporting documents we require.

We recommend that you apply as early as possible. We reserve the right to close applications if the course is full.

Course options

Full-time Part-time Full-time distance learning Part-time distance learning
MSc Y N N N

Course overview

  • Learn about cutting-edge cognitive neuroscience techniques and their application to research in clinical and cognitive neuroscience.
  • Study the theory behind cognitive, social, behavioural, and clinical neuroscience while gaining practical data analysis and functional neuroanatomy skills.
  • Gain valuable research experience through the research project component of the course.
  • This MSc can form the first year of Research Council-funded 1+3 postgraduate PhD studentships and is also suitable for intercalating medical students.
  • Study at a university ranked 8th in the UK and among the top 40 in the world for Medicine (QS World University Rankings 2022).

Open days

Come along to our open day webinar on master's in biosciences on Thursday 7 December 11am-12pm. Our postgraduate education leads will take you through the available courses in the School of Biological Sciences, how to apply and what it's like to study a master's at Manchester. In the final part of the webinar you will be able to ask any outstanding questions. Book your place here .

Fees

For entry in the academic year beginning September 2024, the tuition fees are as follows:

  • MSc (full-time)
    UK students (per annum): £13,500
    International, including EU, students (per annum): £34,500

Further information for EU students can be found on our dedicated EU page.

The fees quoted above will be fully inclusive for the course tuition, administration and computational costs during your studies.

All fees for entry will be subject to yearly review and incremental rises per annum are also likely over the duration of courses lasting more than a year for UK students (fees are typically fixed for international students for the course duration at the year of entry).

For general fees information, please visit the postgraduate fees page. Always contact the department if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Policy on additional costs

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

Scholarships/sponsorships

For the latest scholarship and bursary information please visit the fees and funding page.

Contact details

School/Faculty
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health
Telephone
+44 (0)161 529 4563
Email
Website
https://www.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/study/psychology/
School/Faculty
Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health

Courses in related subject areas

Use the links below to view lists of courses in related subject areas.

Entry requirements

Academic entry qualification overview

We require an honours degree (minimum Upper Second) or overseas equivalent in a science subject such as: 

  • psychology
  • neuroscience
  • physics
  • maths
  • engineering
  • medicine
  • computer science

Each application will be judged on an individual basis.

This course is also available for intercalating medical students, both from The University of Manchester and other UK universities, upon completion of their third year (minimum).

For St Andrews students, this includes the three-year course plus the following one or two years spent in Manchester. Intercalating medical students need to have passed all assessments at first attempt (if they are third year) or have no fails in third year if they are fourth year. We also accept home and international medical graduates.

English language

International students must demonstrate English proficiency through a secure and approved testing system.

We ask for English language proof if you are from non-majority English speaking countries (a list of majority English speaking countries, as defined by the UK Home Office, can be found here ).

Specifically, we require a minimum of:

  • IELTS : 7.0 overall with 7.0 in writing and 6.5 or above in the remaining components
  • TOEFL: 100 internet-based (with 25 in writing and 22 or above in the remaining components)

See further information about requirements for your country .

We may also accept evidence of a confirmed place on a University Pre-sessional English language course , if your current IELTS scores are:

  • Minimum 6.5 overall (with 6.5 in three components including writing and 6.0 in the remaining component) plus enrolment and attendance on the 6-week pre-sessional course (PS6)
  • Minimum 6.0 overall (with 6.0 in each component) plus enrolment and attendance on the 10-week pre-sessional course (PS10)

Please note, we must approve this before you apply for the English course.

English language test validity

Some English Language test results are only valid for two years. Your English Language test report must be valid on the start date of the course.

Application and selection

How to apply

Please apply via our online application form . See the application and selection section for details of the supporting documents we require.

We recommend that you apply as early as possible. We reserve the right to close applications if the course is full.

Advice to applicants

We require the following documents before we can consider your application:  

  • Transcript of your studies to date.
  • Degree certificate (if you have already graduated).
  • Personal statement detailing why you would like to study this particular MSc, which parts of the course are most attractive to you and why, and how completion of the course would fit into your career aspirations.
  • An academic reference. You will be required to provide the name and contact details of two referees during completion of the application form. Your referees will be contacted directly and asked to provide a letter of reference. When providing referee details, you must ensure the email addresses are accurate and official, typically ending with an institutional domain. We do not accept references provided from a personal email address, eg Hotmail or Gmail.

If any of the supporting documents is not in English, you must also provide us with an official or certified English translation.

If English is not your first language, we also require proof of your English language ability. If you have already taken an English language qualification, please include your certificate with your application. We may be willing to consider your application without this document, but if we choose to make you an offer, the conditions will include IELTS (or equivalent qualification).

How your application is considered

Each student will be assessed on the criteria by the admissions panel. Once the course is full, all suitable candidates will be added to a waiting list. Applicants will be rated on the following criteria:

  • an honours degree (minimum Upper Second) or overseas equivalent in a science subject, for example psychology, neuroscience, physics, maths, engineering, medicine, or computer science. Each case will be judged on an individual basis;
  • personal statement;
  • academic references.

We consider your full academic history including which undergraduate course units you have taken and the marks obtained. When application numbers are high, even if you have met our minimum entry requirements, we will take into account your marks in relevant undergraduate course units in our final decision making.

Overseas (non-UK) applicants

Self-funded international applicants for this course will be required to pay a deposit of £1,000 towards their tuition fees before a Confirmation of Acceptance for Studies (CAS) is issued. This deposit will only be refunded if immigration permission is refused. We will notify you about how and when to make this payment.

You cannot use your CAS to apply for a visa more than three months before the start date of your course. This means that if you intend to begin a course on 18th September 2023, we will not issue you with a CAS number before 18th June 2023.

Your CAS number is only valid for one student visa application.

Re-applications

If you applied in the previous year and your application was not successful you may apply again.

Your application will be considered against the standard course entry criteria for that year of entry. In your new application you should demonstrate how your application has improved. We may draw upon all information from your previous applications or any previous registrations at the University as a student when assessing your suitability for your chosen course.

Course details

Course description

Our MSc in Neuroimaging for Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience will provide you with the theoretical and practical skills required to carry out high-quality cognitive brain imaging work in healthy individuals and patient populations.

Our course is aimed at graduates with scientific training in fields as diverse as experimental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, neuroscience, physics, computer science, mathematics, medicine, pharmacology, and engineering who are interested in a career where brain imaging forms a major focus, or where the scientific and technological needs of brain imaging are addressed.

The course aims to provide a unique environment in which students from a variety of scientific backgrounds can work together in a way that reflects their potential future collaborations, and in which they can readily acquire the multidisciplinary skills needed.

You will explore issues relating to the optimisation of fMRI and EEG data acquisition and analysis, with a particular focus on the cross-talk between the physics of the scanning environment, the psychology of the experimental design, and the neuroanatomy and neurophysiology of the human brain.

In addition, the course offers an in-depth grounding in cognitive, social, behavioural, and clinical neuroscience theory, and offers the opportunity to be directly involved in neuroimaging research.

Graduating students will be ideally placed to make major contributions to research and technological development within the field of brain imaging.

PhD with integrated master's

If you're planning to undertake a PhD after your master's, our Integrated PhD programme will enable you to combine your postgraduate taught course with a related PhD project in biology, medicine or health.

You can also visit this page for examples of projects related to integrated master's courses.

Special features

MSc + PhD studentships

Our MSc can form the first year of Research Council-funded 1+3 postgraduate PhD studentships (such as from the ESRC Northwest Doctoral Training Centre ).

Teaching and learning

Our course is delivered through a series of lectures and practical lab-based classes, as well as informal seminar-style sessions encouraging interaction and discussion.

The research project offers one-to-one supervision within the research environment.

Apart from doing standard background reading and preparation for coursework and examinations, you will be required to work on lab-based skills outside formal teaching times. Dedicated facilities will be available for this.

Coursework and assessment

Assessment will vary between course units, but will comprise a mixture of examinations (including short and long answer formats), coursework, lab reports and a final research report.

Course unit details

You will take eight taught course units worth 15 credits each and complete a research project.

Semester 1:

  • Neuroimaging Techniques (including MRI, fMRI, PET, EEG, MEG)
  • Functional and Computational Neuroanatomy (unit name is subject to approval)
  • Image Analysis
  • Experiment Design and Optimisation

Semester 2:

  • Advanced Image Analysis
  • Cognitive Psychology for Clinical Neuroscience
  • Cognitive and Social Neuroscience
  • Clinical and Behavioural Neuroscience

Research projects

For the research project, you will join an active neuroimaging research programme from across the University. A wide variety of research options will be made available in the hope that the experience reflects the research environment that you might enter once you have graduated.

All students will be required to carry out a major component of neuroimaging data analysis and interpretation of results as part of the project. Project results will be presented in poster format at a mini-conference towards the end of the course.

Course unit list

The course unit details given below are subject to change, and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

TitleCodeCredit ratingMandatory/optional
Advanced PET and MRI IIDS67432 15 Mandatory
Neuroimaging Techniques PCHN62101 15 Mandatory
Cognitive Psychology for Clinical Neurosciences PCHN62112 15 Mandatory
Image Analysis PCHN62121 15 Mandatory
Experimental Design and Optimisation PCHN62131 15 Mandatory
Functional Neuroanatomy PCHN62141 15 Mandatory
Advanced Image Analysis PCHN62152 15 Mandatory
Cognitive and Social Neuroscience PCHN62162 15 Mandatory
Clinical and Behavioural Neuroscience PCHN62172 15 Mandatory
Research Project PCHN62180 60 Mandatory
Advanced PET and MRI IIDS67432 15 Optional
Cognitive Psychology for Clinical Neurosciences PCHN62112 15 Optional
Cognitive and Social Neuroscience PCHN62162 15 Optional
Displaying 10 of 13 course units

Facilities

You will be able to access a range of facilities throughout the University.

Disability support

Practical support and advice for current students and applicants is available from the Disability Advisory and Support Service .

Careers

Career opportunities

This MSc will prepare you for a career path in scientific and clinical research and academia, as it provides the ideal platform from which to proceed to doctoral studies or research posts involving brain imaging.

The course also provides clear career paths in specialist software industries, and in specialist sections of the pharmaceutical industry.

In addition, our MSc offers a high-level specialisation relevant for students and graduates of medicine.