MSc Forensic Psychology and Mental Health / Course details

Our MSc Forensic Psychology and Mental Health course is aimed at graduates who want to pursue a career as a Chartered Psychologist and/or register with the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) as a Forensic Psychologist.

You willcomplete units examining professional practice in forensic psychology,psychology applied to legal and investigative processes, forensic risk assessment, offending behaviour interventions, research methods, and assessment and treatment of personality disorders.

Teaching will comprise a blend of face-to-face and online delivery and will be based on case examples from forensic and clinical practice.

This course is accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS).

The BPS outlined nine areas of good practice and three commendations following the June 2024 BPS accreditation visit. The commendations were:

• The programme team are commended for its focus on transferable skills, core skills, reflective elements (e.g. reflective portfolio), excellent graduate outcomes, and employability, including preparing students for future studies (i.e., Stage Two). (Programme standards: 5.2 & 5.3).
• The provider is commended for the high calibre, quality and for a mix of both practitioners and academics on the programme team who contribute to the accredited programme. (Programme standard: 6.2.4).
• The programme director is commended for their unwavering enthusiasm, commitment, and accessibility, fostering a supportive relationship with students, and ensuring a high-quality experience. (Programme standards: 5 & 6).

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.

On completion of the course, you will demonstrate a number of competencies and have enhanced knowledge and skills including:

• a systematic and critical awareness of current knowledge, theory and evidence base relevant to the discipline of forensic psychology;
• a comprehensive understanding of relevant ethical, legal and professional practice frameworks;
• a critical awareness of current psychological approaches to the understanding of the development and treatment of offending behaviour and mental health conditions;
• appreciation of approaches to working with different client groups in forensic practice (eg victims of crime, offenders, professional groups, organisations);
• advanced research skills to develop and implement a forensic-related research project.

Each unit enables you to develop a range of core and transferable skills central to the role of a forensic/practitioner psychologist. The course promotes the development of critical thinking and student engagement.

Our MSc includes several features recognised as areas of good practice in the 2024 BPS accreditation review:

Mental health focus

Our unique focus on mental health embedded throughout the units within this MSc may give you a distinct advantage over an MSc in forensic psychology at another university.

Expert teaching

The programme team comprises of psychologists with experience across a broad range of forensic/forensic mental health settings and specialist forensic/forensic mental health researchers. This enhances learning by offering numerous practice-based clinical examples and research-led teaching.

Class size

Our cohort size sets us apart from other universities. You will get the opportunity to work closely with your peers and staff team whilst being part of the large and vibrant institution. Our previous cohorts developed long lasting communities of practice.The BPS recognised our cohort size enables a personalised teaching experience as well as the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with staff and peers. Our dedicated teaching team are able to signpost you to personally relevant additional support services in the wider University to allow you to thrive and grow beyond the MSc.

Authentic and inclusive assessment strategy

We have a range of varied assessment methods to develop your transferable employability skills on the MSc. You have many formative opportunities to gain feedback before you submit work to be graded. You also have the opportunity to complete a reflective portfolio during the MSc and gain feedback on your skills in reflective writing. This is a critical skill for applied practice and research careers. Successful completion of the portfolio leads to a University Certificate in reflective skills.

We use a range of teaching and learning methods, including face-to-face lectures, online activity, directed and guided independent study, and group tasks.

We aim to provide a grounding in current issues in forensic psychology while encouraging significant independent study, as would be expected at postgraduate level.

All teaching is delivered by clinicians currently practicing in forensic mental health and/or active researchers. This enhances learning by offering numerous practice-based clinical examples and research-led teaching.

All teaching is interactive and is supported by audio-visual stimuli such as PowerPoint slides, images and videos. All units are accessible via Blackboard, which contains timetable information, recommended reading lists, assignments, lecture materials and other material related to the course.

The scientist-practitioner approach will be advocated throughout the course, as will reflective practice and adherence to ethical and professional standards of practice as defined by the BPS and HCPC.

The teaching is designed to enable you to balance study alongside existing workplace demands. The full-time pathway is delivered on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while part-time students would be required to attend only one day a week per semester (Tuesdays in year 1 and Thursdays in year 2).

All students will be assigned a personal tutor.

We use a range of summative and formativeassessment methods to meet learning outcomes while also developing wider skills and capabilities in line with progression to a career in forensic psychology. These include:

• critical analysis of literature and theory;
• reflective accounts, policy analysis;
• formulation of clinical cases;
• analysis of ethical and professional practice standards (as applied to clinical practice and research);
• live and recorded oral presentations;
• the empirical research project.

You will be given detailed formal feedback for all formative and summative assessments, with clear guidance on how to improve on skills and knowledge.

All students will complete the dissertation project (60 credits), which involves completing a forensic research project, and will take the lead on developing the research question and proposal, as well as conducting the data collection, analysis and dissemination.

You will receive approximately 28 hours of supervision throughout the dissertation project.

Find out more about what it's like to study Forensic Psychology and Mental Health at Manchester by watching this short video and reading our student blog .

The University of Manchesteroffers extensive library and online services to help you get the most out of your studies.