Community Psychology MA

International requirements and visas

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

Visas and immigration advice

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.

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, LGBTQ 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

  This module gives you a grounding in the values and principles of community psychology. You will gain insights into the theory and practice of psychology in the community from academic practitioners within a variety of contexts. You will have the opportunity to reflect on the process of social change in relation to your own communities and to wider notions of community.

• Research Methods in Community Research

  This module provides you with advanced training in community research methods including research design, ethics, quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques and data analysis strategies. It includes an overview of the practicalities of conducting research within communities, creative research methods and conducting participatory action research.

• Social Research Practice

  In this module you will gain experience in the management and application of social research methods. You will explore theoretical, practical and ethical issues related to social research practice and work with community partners to apply social research methods in a professional context. You will also learn how to reflect on and evaluate social research and produce a social research report.

• Community and Clinical Approaches to Mental Distress

  This module draws from disciplines including medicine, health, geography, sociology and critical community psychology to provide you with a grounding in the key debates around what constitutes mental distress and how to address it. Starting with a critical appraisal of the current dominance of clinical approaches, the module examines controversies in diagnosis and treatment, using examples from around the world to outline alternative approaches to addressing mental distress.

• Community Psychology Dissertation

  In this dissertation module you will identify and pursue an original empirical research question that addresses a clearly articulated pressing social problem within the field of community psychology. You will develop and apply a depth of knowledge about relevant research, theory and practice and use this to provide a compelling rationale for the research.

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 LGBTQ 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 organisations 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.

Lab facilities

Mithras House has a series of lab spaces, which are used for teaching and student and staff research. 

VR and eye tracking lab
This lab is used for psychological research, specifically:

• eye-tracking research – eye-tracking (using an eye-tracking nano bar and eye-tracking glasses) is used to study visual attentional patterns across areas including CCTV observation and analysis, marketing and advertising research, and police and offender perceptions

• virtual reality research – VR allows participants to immerse themselves in virtual environments, so that researchers can study typically impractical situations. Research areas include the effects of virtual interactions, phobias, wellbeing, mediation, and city architecture

• measuring physiological responses within participants in response to external stimuli – equipment includes an electroencephalography (EEG) headset and Electrodermal Activity (EDA) equipment.

The space has adjustable lighting and a blackout blind for maintaining consistent lighting conditions during eye-tracking research, as well as sensors set up in the room to allow individuals to move freely around the room during virtual reality research.

Stats lab
A specialist workspace with computing equipment for statistical analysis and projects involving video and audio editing software. The lab contains eight acoustically treated booths for both recording and transcribing interviews undertaken as part of dissertation research and for recording and editing podcasts. The lab is accessible as a study space to students on psychology courses. 

Applied cognition lab
A dedicated research space for psychological research involving measures such as electrodermal activity (EDA) and electroencephalography (EEG). The space is designed to allow the participant and researcher to sit at separate desks whilst psychophysiological data is being collected. 

Life lab
The Life lab is fitted with lounge furniture to provide a comfortable space for conducting qualitative research with larger groups. The lab can be used to conduct research activities with children of all ages and can be used for meetings and events. The room also contains a dedicated space to conduct assessed role play or interviews with children.

City lab
This is a qualitative research methods and creative methods resource for all students, staff and researchers, as well as research participants, including children, community groups and the general public. It can also be used for a range of meetings and events. The City lab contains a kitchen, a teaching/meeting room with enhanced acoustic isolation and two meeting spaces that can be separated with a screen or combined to accommodate larger groups.

Community lab
A space designed for collaborative student learning, the Community lab is used by students and staff involved in the university’s Global Challenges programme – our collective mission to contribute towards solutions to tackle the pressing issues facing our world.

Design lab
Housing our extensive collection of historic dress and textiles which are used in some teaching on our History of Art and Design courses, this has the space and equipment to work on textile projects. Displays created by students on these programmes are on view in the social spaces of the building.

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.

Meet the team

Course fees

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 the first year of full-time study if you start your course in the academic year 2025–26.

You will pay fees for each year of your course. Some fees may increase each year.

UK undergraduate and some postgraduate fees are regulated by the UK government and increases will not be more than the maximum amount allowed. Course fees that are not regulated may increase each year by up to 5% or RPI (whichever is higher).

If you are studying part-time your fee will usually be calculated based on the number of modules that you take.

Find out more

• Fees, bursaries, scholarships and government funding info for UK and international postgraduate students
• Student finance and budgeting while studying
• About the university’s fees by checking our student contract and tuition fee policy (pdf).

Campus where this course is taught

Accommodation

Local area

Maps

Support and wellbeing

Sport at Brighton