Performing Arts Medicine MSc

Assessing and treating a performing artist requires specialised skills, and the ability to associate health issues with particular artistic activities. This programme is for people in health services or health education who want to enter the diverse field of performing arts medicine.

You will gain knowledge of the art forms, their demands on the performer, and how these demands impact their physical and mental wellbeing. The course covers a review of the musculoskeletal system as this applies to particular performing activities, occupational risks in performance as well as performance psychology and actors’ mental health.

You will also delve into dance, circus, instrumental music and voice performance science, explore health promotion within the arts, and learn about chronic pain and disability issues affecting performance artists. MSc students also undertake a research project leading to a written dissertation on a relevant performing arts medicine topic.

This is currently the only MSc / PGDip that brings together all elements of performing arts medicine into a single master’s degree. It is a distance-learning course with two residential weeks on-campus at UCL. The course can be studied full-time in one year, part-time in two years, or flexibly over five years.

The research part of the course is supported by the Institute of Sport Exercise and Health, and the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine, as well as orchestras, theatre and circus companies, and music, drama and dance colleges.