The Professional Doctorate in Strength and Conditioning provides a high-level, vocationally-focused pathway to a doctorate qualification.
- Distance learning approach to teaching means you can study around your current work commitments
- State-of-the-art strength and conditioning facilities
The Professional Doctorate in Strength and Conditioning provides a high-level, vocationally-focused pathway to a doctorate qualification. It provides a distance learning approach to teaching means you can study around your current work commitments.
The Professional Doctorate in Strength and Conditioning is the first of its kind in the UK to offer doctoral-level study in a vocationally-based discipline. You can study for a doctoral award whilst continuing with your current employment.
The aim of the course is to provide support to experienced strength and conditioning coaches, physiotherapists, sport scientists and rehab professionals as they develop skills and knowledge to enable them to take a more active role in leading and developing the profession.
Why St Mary's
We're widely recognised as an international leader in strength and conditioning education. We were the first UK institution to offer an undergraduate degree in strength and conditioning and our MSc programme was the first part-time, distance-learning strength and conditioning course in the UK.
In recent years the University has invested £250,000 in a state-of-the-art Performance Education Centre, which is unrivalled as a facility for strength and conditioning education.
Our staff includes both highly experienced coaches and expert sport scientists. All of the course material is designed specifically for the strength and conditioning degree, ensuring that the practical relevance of the scientific evidence to the strength and conditioning coach is always fully explored.
The distance learning nature of this course has several advantages for professionals. Principal among these is the opportunity to combine study with practical work experience, allowing the translation of science into practice. In addition, you can organise your study around your own personal schedule, allowing you to obtain a doctoral level award whilst continuing with your current employment.
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Career opportunities
This research degree provides the opportunity for you to develop and demonstrate specific academic and transferable skills that will enhance your professional role in the area of Strength and Conditioning.
As an experienced professional, you will seek to develop research in an area that will impact on your employer and/or business. It provides you with the opportunity to join like-minded professionals and make a positive impact in your profession.
Course content
Modules
These modules are the modules that were available to students in the 2025/26 academic year and are illustrative of what may be offered for 2026/27.
Please note: it is possible that a module listed on the website will not be able to run due to reasons beyond our control. For more information please refer to our course information disclaimer.
Entry requirements
A Master's degree in an appropriate subject area and a suitable workplace environment to support the professional research and development project, or a BSc with at least 5 years experience in practice.
Fees & funding
September 2026
Home
£3,720
International
£7,440
Funding
Some research degree students may be eligible for a government loan of up to £25,000 to help cover tuition fees and living costs.
How the degree is taught
Teaching methods
Assessment methods
Assessment of the taught modules will be through various modes such as
- Essays
- Reports
- Data analysis tasks
- Case studies
- Blogs
- Podcasts
- Portfolios
Assessment of the independent research project will be by the submission of a 40-50,000-word thesis and a viva voce thesis defence.
Who teaches this course?
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September
Make sure to check our step-by-step guide to application process.
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