Course in brief

Community psychology brings social change to the forefront of the way that we understand and promote psychological wellbeing.

It provides an alternative to the standard model of psychological enquiry that foregrounds the individual at the expense of the collective, instead contextualising the difficulties faced by particular communities before seeking to develop solutions through participatory and action-oriented research.

The central focus of this course is to provide knowledge and training platforms that allow you to work towards addressing the institutional marginalisation and disempowerment that drives local and global community issues. It introduces critical, liberation and human rights perspectives, reflecting on traditional modes of scientific enquiry and what they mean for groups and individuals struggling with issues of marginalisation.

Our degree programme is among the few in the country that allow you to work directly with local communities to facilitate social change. With the help of our award-winning Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp), it gives you the opportunity to apply your skills as a psychologist and gain professional experience in the field.

This course will be of particular interest to those interested in developing a career in mental health.

Key facts

Location Brighton: Falmer

Full-time 1 year
Part-time 2 years (minimum)

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Please make sure that you meet the entry requirements before applying. If you have any questions the course team will be happy to help.

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Entry criteria

Entry requirements

The entry requirements listed here are our typical offer for this course if you wish to begin studying with us in 2018. They should be used as a general guide.

We operate a flexible admissions policy – this means that you could receive a lower conditional offer than the typical offer, informed by our assessment of your complementary non-academic achievements and experiences. For courses that require interview or portfolio review, this may also be considered in the level of any conditional offer that follows if your application is successful.

Degree and/or experience
normally a 2.1 degree in a social science subject but candidates with professional qualifications and directly relevant work experience may be considered.

For non-native speakers of English
IELTS 6.5 overall, with 6.0 in writing and a minimum of 5.5 in the other elements.

International students whose language skills do not match the IELTS scores set out here should consider applying for this course through the Extended Masters programme at the university's Language Institute.

International equivalencies

International equivalencies by country
 
Albania
Algeria
Argentina
Australia
Austria
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Belarus
Belgium
Bermuda
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Bulgaria
Burma (Myanmar)
Cameroon
Canada
Chile
China
Colombia
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Ecuador
Egypt
Estonia
Finland
France
Germany
Ghana
Greece
Guyana
Hong Kong
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kosovo
Kuwait
Latvia
Lebanon
Liechtenstein
Libya
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Malaysia
Malawi
Malta
Mexico
Moldova
Montenegro
Morocco
Namibia
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian National Authority
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Saudi Arabia
Serbia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
South Africa
South Korea
Spain
Sri Lanka
Syria
Sweden
Switzerland
Taiwan
Tanzania
Thailand
Tunisia
Turkey
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
United States
Uzbekistan
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe

We can help you meet our English language or academic entry requirements.

Visit our language institute

For English language preparation courses.

Visit our International College

For academic preparation courses.

Course in detail

Course structure

Through lectures, workshops, seminars and the facilitation of community research partnerships, the course provides opportunities to explore the appropriateness and significance of how we work as community psychologists and to better understand the role of ideology inherent in the creation of an effective community psychology. It achieves this while retaining a degree of flexibility within the syllabus such that you are able to tailor your learning towards the kinds of areas most relevant to your work and interests.

The programme also offers an extended masters route for international students, allowing you to combine the degree itself with an English language course. Depending on your present language level, you will study English for between two and four months before starting your MA.

School of Applied Social Science student in seminar

Areas of study

Community psychology is a culturally relative discipline and therefore takes different forms in different parts of the world. To help you maintain an open-minded approach to the subject, we introduce you to both local and international examples of community psychology in practice.

The syllabus is informed by contemporary research into such diverse areas as homelessness, older adults, disadvantaged young people, LGBT mental health, organisational wellbeing and mental health literacy in Cambodia, as well as by the experiences of our core teaching staff, Carl Walker, Katherine Johnson and Liz Cunningham.

For the Social Research Practice module, you undertake an action-orientation project in a community psychology setting. Those who are working in a related profession can relate the project to their employer's needs; those who aren't have the opportunity to work with community and voluntary organisations including Mind, Age Concern and the Richmond Fellowship.

Modules

  •  Community Psychology: Theory and Practice
  • Research Methods in the Social Sciences
  • Community and Clinical Approaches to Mental Distress
  • Social Research Practice 
  • Dissertation

Dissertation

The dissertation forms a focal part of the MA and allows you to gain practical skills as a psychologist by doing fieldwork in the community. Previous students have used the opportunity to:

  • do a piece of participatory action research to explore the challenges faced by the growing population of Brazilian women in Brighton
  • use life-history narratives to investigate experiences of academic and social acculturation for international students
  • work with a local LGBT mental wellbeing service in order to reflect on the way that the development of a community has affected not only the wellbeing but the identities of its members
  • make a film with service users from an unemployed families centre to challenge perceptions of austerity in the UK
  • take a community psychology, values-led approach to redesigning human resource services for international NGOs working in humanitarian crises
  • use visual methods to work with homeless services users to improve support services in Brighton.

Why Brighton?

  • This course is based around students not only engaging with the concepts and theory of community psychology but applying their skills in collaborative practice with community organisations and partners.
  • Brighton is a thriving and vibrant city with a strong community ethos and over 500 community and voluntary organisation around the local area.
  • We attract a strong mix of domestic and international students. So far in our short history we have had applicants and students from Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Russia, Greece, the USA, Germany, China, Saudi Arabia, Uganda and South Africa.
Brighton pier at sunset

Cupp

We strongly believe that it is our duty to use our knowledge and resources for social benefit, which is why we set up the Community University Partnership Programme (Cupp) back in 2003.

Cupp is an award-winning project that aims to tackle disadvantage and promote sustainable development through partnership with local organisations. Our combined efforts have made a tangible difference to the effectiveness of community sectors and the lives of local people.

As a Brighton student, you will have the opportunity to volunteer through Cupp and work in the community yourself, all the while developing your vocational skills and gaining valuable work experience.

cupp_team_may2010_01

Student views 

“The Community Psychology MA was key for my development as an academic and as an advocate for social change. Studying for a masters is challenging, but the support offered to you is unprecedented. I enjoyed learning from people who take social action and social change as the core of who they are. So, I understood CP as a practice.

There is an unique element to the course which is applying the theory as you go along. During the course, I started to develop my approach to questioning social issues because of the wealth of experience from the academic team. I have used the skills that I have gained during the course in my professional career on national and international community based projects.” Bruno de Oliveira, Community Psychology MA graduate. 

“The Community Psychology MA was exactly what I was looking for, as I wanted to learn participatory theories and methods to empower people and change things in a collective way. I really liked that the learning process had the right balance between theory and practice, the professors were really approachable and the group of people I studied with were very diverse, which made the experience more meaningful. I also liked the systemic approach that CP has towards social justice, this really opened my eyes to view issues in a holistic way, understanding the endless possibilities to change things once you start uncovering the roots of social injustice.” Valentina Gonzalez, Community Psychology MA graduate.

“A unique educational experience. A course tayilored to my needs with exceptional educators". Georgia Petrousa, Community Psychology MA graduate.

Bruno de Oliveira

Bruno de Oliveira, Community Psychology MA graduate

Staff profiles

Carl Walker

Course leader

Dr Carl Walker is the course leader for the Community Psychology MA after founding the course in 2011. He sits on the British Psychological Society's national community psychology section committee and is chair of the European Community Psychology Association Group on austerity and mental health.

Carl graduated from Royal Holloway College with a biology degree in 1996 before going on to complete a postgraduate diploma in psychology. He gained his PhD in health psychology at London Metropolitan University.

Carl was a senior research fellow in the Department of Mental Health Sciences at UCL before coming to the University of Brighton. He is interested in exploring the structural and economic elements that relate to concepts of mental distress and the use of community initiatives to work toward addressing mental health needs.

His current projects include:

  • Exploring informal therapeutic spaces for mental distress
  • Using participatory video and visual methods to explore informal therapeutic spaces
  • Exploring peer support for the parents of young people diagnosed with mental health conditions
  • Multiagency work on building community and voluntary sector capacity regarding data and evaluation practice
  • Exploring the use of a citizen's health survey to address a potential deficit in public accountability regarding NHS privatisation
Carl Walker

Helen Johnson

Senior lecturer

Dr Helen Johnson (neé Gregory) holds a Postgraduate Certificate of Higher Education in Teaching and Learning (passed with distinction) and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She teaches across the undergraduate and postgraduate curricula on topics including qualitative research methods, the psychology of creativity and the arts, critical community psychology and the history of psychology.

Helen’s research focuses on the study of arts and creativity and on performative social science (or arts-based research). Her work seeks both to better understand the arts and to use the arts as a tool for data collection, analysis and dissemination. She is particularly interested in educational applications of the arts (eg youth spoken word), health/well-being applications (eg uses of the arts in dementia), and the construction of identity in different communities.

Helen uses a range of research methods, but concentrates on qualitative methods such as interviewing, ethnography, thematic analysis and interpretative phenomenological analysis. In recent years, she has carried out work exploring innovative combinations of social scientific research with poetry and visual arts. Helen is also a performance poet, and runs the poetry stages at Glastonbury and Larmer Tree Festivals.

Helen Johnson

Rebecca Graber

Lecturer

"I am a health and social psychologist interested in how supportive social relationships facilitate psychological resilience in the face of adversity. I am particularly interested in how peer relationships foster resilience by providing social support. My research, teaching and project supervision covers:

  • Psychological resilience in the face of socioeconomic disadvantage, health risks and childhood disadvantage
  • Friendships, social relationships and the self
  • Understanding healthier patterns of risk behaviours (such as alcohol use) in young people

"I recently collaborated with the Overseas Development Institute on the 'state of the evidence' for psychological resilience to draw lessons for practitioners working in climate change and disaster response. Alongside colleagues at the University of Sussex, I helped developed a resilience-based classroom programme to promote healthier choices about alcohol, drawing upon the lived experience of young moderate drinkers and abstainers.

"During my PhD at the University of Leeds, I identified a best friendship as a facilitator of resilience among socioeconomically vulnerable young people and explored how young people's experience of friendship and resilience is shaped by their environment. I also have experience with educational uses of social media, international clinical psychology training, and trainees' clinical skills."

Rebecca Graber

Careers and employability

The course explores processes of social change and participatory engagement and equips graduates with theoretical knowledge, research skills and practical insights for working in the field of community psychology. It also serves as an ideal grounding for the further use and study of participatory modes of enquiry at doctoral level.

Careers office

Fees and funding

Your fees

UK/EU (full-time) 6,270 GBP

International (full-time) 12,960 GBP


Scholarships, bursaries and loans

We offer a range of scholarships for postgraduate students. Bursaries and loans may also be available to you.

Find out more about postgraduate fees and funding.

The fees listed here are for full-time courses beginning in the academic year 2018–19.

Further tuition fees are payable for each subsequent year of study and are subject to an annual increase of no more than 5% or RPI (whichever is the greater). The annual increase for UK/EU students, who are subject to regulated fees, will increase no more than the statutory maximum fee.

You can find out more about our fees in the university's student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

The tuition fee you have to pay depends on a number of factors including the kind of course you take, and whether you study full- or part-time. If you are studying part-time you will normally be charged on a pro rata basis depending on the number of modules you take.

What's included in the fee?

When costs such as health or DBS checks, or use of specialist materials are incurred as a mandatory requirement of the course they are included in your tuition fee.

You may incur additional costs depending on the optional modules or activities you choose. The cost of optional activities is not included in your tuition fee and you will need to meet this cost in addition to your fees. Before you apply check with the school that provides your course using the contact details in the Find out more tab (at the end of this page) for advice about what is included and what optional costs you could face so you can budget accordingly.

See our finance pages for advice about funding and scholarships as well as further information about fees and advice on international and island fee-paying status.

Location and living here

Location

About Brighton

Forward-thinking and welcoming, the city of Brighton & Hove is a community of creative and diverse people who share values like sustainability and inclusivity – just like its university.

Miles of pebble beaches, hundreds of bars, restaurants and clubs, a packed calendar of culture, music and sport and great independent and high street shopping attract visitors from all over the world. By the end of your course you’ll still be finding new things to enjoy about the city.

The Brighton Festival, England’s largest arts festival, takes place every May – as does the Great Escape Europe’s leading industry showcase for new music, 300 bands perform over three days at venues across the city. Major events celebrate Pride, digital culture, cinema, photography, food and the winter solstice. Our own Brighton Graduate show is a highlight, turning the university into the largest exhibition space in the south east as we celebrate the outstanding creativity of our students.

As a student here you’ll have a unique opportunity to experience what the city has to offer. Volunteering and placement opportunities enable you to play your part in the events, organisations and communities that make Brighton such a compelling place to be.

i360 and ticket booth on the seafront What to expect enriching experiences

Campus where this course is taught

Falmer campus

Surrounded by the South Downs National Park and just five miles from the centre of Brighton, our Falmer campus has benefited from over £60million of investment over the past 10 years. 7,000 students are based here, studying subjects including English, education, social science, nursing and medicine.

Recent developments include the Falmer Sports Centre – with its fitness suites and sports hall – and the innovative Checkland Building, which has natural ventilation systems and an insulating green roof.

Falmer has also recently installed more than 600 solar panels, which reduce the campus’s carbon emissions by more than 80 tonnes. The renovation has made us one of the top universities in the UK for on-site renewable energy production.

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Accommodation

Brighton: Falmer

We have halls of residence across the city in Grand Parade, Moulsecoomb, Varley Park and Falmer.

  • Eligible students can apply for any of these options. Find out if you are eligible…
  • You’ll be prioritised for accommodation in the halls that are linked to your teaching base, subject to availability.
  • Falmer campus is linked to halls on the Falmer campus and Varley Park.
    • Varley Park offers a mix of rooms and catering options. Varley Park is less than a mile from Falmer and four miles from the city centre. Public transport in the city is excellent, and there’s a shuttle bus between our Brighton campuses during term time.
    • Paddock Field and Great Wilkins halls are on campus and offer a range of room types and catering options.

We also offer Unihomes and Unilets, student houses that we let out to our students on behalf of private landlords. This option offers the most choice and flexibility and can work particularly well when you’re balancing learning with placements and other commitments.

There’s plenty of support if you choose private rented accommodation. We manage our own studenthomes database of properties. And we run our housemates service over the summer for students, new and returning, looking for a place to live.

Find out more on our accommodation webpages.

Hillside hall of residence at Varley Park

Varley Park accommodation near to the Falmer campus

Student in our Moulsecoomb Place hall of residence

Maps

house Accommodation
campus University building

Falmer campus

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Call our Clearing hotline
01273 644000

If you have a question about this course, our enquiries team will be happy to help.

01273 644644

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