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The management of metabolic diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease requires experts who clearly understand the role of nutrition. Our Clinical Nutrition course focuses on the prevention and management of diseases at individual and population levels. You will acquire a deep understanding of the role of nutrition in the aetiology, pathophysiology and development of clinical conditions, and will become highly skilled in a number of practical laboratory and research areas relevant to these conditions. The Masters level year of this course will allow you to pursue your chosen research area of interest in greater depth and equip you with further advanced knowledge, skills and training to prepare you for graduate employment in an area such as research, clinical settings, laboratories or further studies in areas such as dietetics or human nutrition research.
The Clinical Nutrition degree will be mapped against the core competencies of the Association for Nutrition. You will be taught in our new Health Sciences building, which features specialist laboratories dedicated to nutrition, comprising purpose-built food and nutrition laboratories that fit into areas of clinical nutrition, nutritional biochemistry and food science.
Teaching is structured into lectures, where all students are taught together; seminars of smaller groups of around 15-20 students; and tutorials which typically have no more than 10 students. You also have the opportunity to have a weekly one-to-one meeting with your tutor.
If you study Nutrition as a Single Honours degree, in your first year of study there are approx. 12 teaching hours each week, which reduces to approx. 10 hours in your second and third years.
On top of teaching hours, you are also expected to spend approximately 18 hours studying independently each week, as well as group study to prepare for any group assessments you may have.
Our MSci Clinical Nutrition is currently not accredited by the Association for Nutrition. If you are interested in applying for a degree with AfN Accreditation, please see our BSc Nutrition.
During your three years of study, you will have a number of assessments, including written exams, portfolios, case studies, laboratory logs and diaries, viva and group presentations. In your final year, you will complete a dissertation. Feedback will be provided for all formal assessments in various forms, such as written, verbal in a one-to-one meeting, or as general feedback of class performance in tutorial and teaching sessions. The individual feedback on written work will be typically offered within four weeks after submission.
In the first year, the curriculum will be focused on an introduction to Human Sciences, the sciences that make the foundations of Human Nutrition, and the principles of Human Nutrition. Topics studied include: nutritional biochemistry, gastrointestinal anatomy and physiology, macronutrients and micronutrients, fluid and energy balance, alcohol and non-nutritive substances, food labelling, nutrient composition of foods; food safety and hygiene, and theoretical and practical aspects of dietary modifications.
In the second year, you’ll apply and expand the knowledge gained in the first year. Topics studied include: assessment of nutritional status; nutrition and lifecycle; socioeconomic factors, ethnicity and religion; genes and obesity; food enrichment and fortification; nutrient-nutrients and nutrient-drug interactions; basic nutritional epidemiology and public health nutrition.
In the third year, you will focus on the advanced understanding of Human and Clinical Nutrition, including nutrition and physical activity, sport nutrition, public health, behaviour modification and the prevention and management of diseases including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, gastrointestinal pathologies, osteoporosis, sarcopenia and cancer. You will also complete a supervised research dissertation project.
You will have the option to study a fourth year for an MSci in Clinical Nutrition. You will have the opportunity to study research in a specialist area at Masters level. You will also be taught further theoretical knowledge in contemporary nutrition topics and research skills directed towards future employment aspirations.
During the August/September admissions period we are able to offer some flexibility in our entry requirements for courses that still have vacancies.
We are also offering a Foundation Year on many of our courses for students who have the ability and enthusiasm to study for a degree, but do not yet have the qualification level to enter directly onto our degree programmes.
Please call us to discuss the options available to you: 0151 291 3636
Nutritionists work in a wide range of careers including working in a laboratory, in clinical settings, for the NHS, for the government, in the food industry, for charities involved in health, in the field of weight loss, in public health roles, in sports, and in research and academia. Graduates may also go on to further, postgraduate study.
The Service and Leadership Award (SALA) is offered as an extra-curricular programme involving service-based experiences, development of leadership potential and equipping you for a career in a rapidly changing world. It enhances your degree, it is something which is complimentary but different and which has a distinct ‘value-added’ component. Find out more on our Service and Leadership Award page.
As part of your degree, you can choose to spend either a semester or a full year of study at one of our partner universities as part of our Study Abroad programme. Find out more on our Study Abroad page.
The tuition fees for the 2020/21 academic year are £9,250 for full-time undergraduate courses.
If you are a student from the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands, your tuition fees will also be £9,250.
The University reserves the right to increase Home and EU Undergraduate and PGCE tuition fees in line with any inflationary or other increase authorised by the Secretary of State for future years of study.
We have a range of scholarships to help with the cost of your studies. Visit our scholarships page to find out more.
The International tuition fees for the 2020/21 academic year are £11,400 (provisional) per year for full-time undergraduate courses.
Visit our International fees page for more information.