Clinical Physiology (Neurophysiology) MSc/PGDip

Course content

What you will study on the MSc Clinical Physiology (Neurophysiology)?

You’ll gain a sound understanding of potential problems and diseases of the brain and nervous system, the equipment and techniques that can be used to diagnose them and possible treatments. You’ll study three core modules, common to all our postgraduate biomedical and biological science courses: biomedical ethics and law, laboratory leadership and management, and experimental design and statistics. Alongside these you’ll study five specialist cardiac physiology modules: advanced signal processing; paediatric neurophysiology; peripheral neurophysiology; neurophysiology in intensive care; and intraoperative monitoring in neurophysiology.

The core modules will cover how to design and carry out experiments and statistical analyses; literature searching, referencing and citation; aspects of managing a laboratory, from people management to business plans and budgets; safety, regulations and quality management; and ethical and legal issues, such as those surrounding research on animals and humans, assisted reproduction and genetics.

The specialist modules will cover physiological signal sampling and analysis, including EMG and EEG; neurophysiology in children; peripheral neurophysiology and different NCV recording techniques; neurophysiological monitoring in intensive care; and neurophysiological monitoring during operations.

You’ll then work on a dissertation, which will involve planning and carrying out your own independent, analytical research project and critically evaluating your results. You can choose to do either an experimental or observational study, and can base your project at your workplace if you’re in relevant employment. As part of your project, you’ll research relevant literature and carry out a literature review. You’ll present your findings through a written report and a verbal presentation.

If you don’t want to or aren’t able to complete the full MSc, you can also obtain a PG Dip, studying eight modules and omitting the dissertation.

The module aims to provide insight into a range of ethical and legal issues that relate to professional practice, to research with human and animal subjects and to human reproduction, particularly various forms of reproductive technology. It will also aim to give students a broad overview of the relevant current UK ethical and legal regulations for research using human tissues. The module will further explore the ethical issues present in the rapidly developing area of genetic technology, including genetic testing and selection, genetic engineering, and the concept of genetic disease. After an introduction to basic ethical theory and legal principles, the focus of the module will be on exploring ways in which, by applying theoretical considerations to practice, ethical and legal issues can be critically analysed and addressed.

The module aims to provide students with the tools required to design effective and efficient experiments and to test scientific hypotheses. The module will also equip students with the tools necessary for statistical analysis in a hypothesis testing context.

The module aims to provide students with current theories and approaches to leadership and management in order they can bring about effect positive change in the team or organisation that they lead or manage.

Module aims to develop students' skills in planning and execution of an analytical, laboratory-based study and critical evaluation of real research results drawing on their acquired knowledge from other modules. In addition, the module aims to develop students' communication skills to enable them to communicate their findings in written and oral form.

You can find more information about this course in the programme specification. Module and programme information is indicative and may be subject to change.