Developmental Disorders MSc

Lancaster University

Providing you with an advanced understanding of this specialist discipline, this programme ensures you are ideally placed to excel in your career. Whether you pursue research, practice professional psychology or something else, you will be in a strong position to advance into senior roles.

A developmental disorder is any process that affects typical development from conception to adulthood. It can arise as a consequence of genetic or chromosomal abnormalities, perinatal complications or environmental influences. In most cases, however, their aetiologies are unknown or poorly understood. In some cases, a disorder results in variations around a common outcome while in other cases the developmental trajectory is more heterogeneous. These consequences and outcomes will serve as a basis for illustrating the inherent difficulties in carrying out research on developmental disorders.

Lancaster is home to one of the world’s largest centres for developmental psychology research. Specialising in infancy and childhood development, our department is one of the UK’s leading research groups in the discipline. This programme will provide you with advanced insight into psychology and offer you the opportunity to gain hands-on experience that will be hugely beneficial in any career. You will benefit from the world-leading research being conducted by our staff, and our Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) recognised PhD-level research training.

Throughout the course, you will study five taught modules and one substantial research project. This will ensure you receive the breadth of skills and depth of knowledge to engage with a wide range of careers, or to progress into further research and study.

You will complete two compulsory modules to develop your skills and expertise. You will extend and enhance your ability to collect, analyse and interpret psychological data. A solid foundation in these skills will be invaluable as you progress into research or into specialist psychology roles, such as clinical or forensic psychology.

In three subject specialist modules, you will focus on enhancing your discipline-specific knowledge, providing you with a deeper understanding of developmental psychology, and of the disorders of development. As a result, you will graduate with a state-of-the-art understanding of developmental psychology.

Within the degree programme, you will be taught vocational skills that you will need to obtain and sustain a career in psychology and other fields, such as CV writing, interview skills, team work and presentation skills.

At the core of your experience, you will undertake an independent research project, supervised by a member of our research-active staff. This dissertation will allow you to apply all that you have learnt to a dissertation topic of your choice. As well as developing your conceptual understanding, research design, data analysis, and communication skills, this project will be an exciting learning experience that will give you the opportunity to prove your skills, interests, and enthusiasm. What you achieve in your project will be important evidence of your skills and knowledge for prospective employers or postgraduate research student selection committees.