Find out more about studying Music and Wellbeing PGDip at University of Leeds? We've gathered all the key details, entry requirements, modules, fees, and more. Take the next step by booking an open day to explore it for yourself.
Postgraduate Diploma
Leeds, Main
Full Time
Sep 2026
1 Year
This distinctive course offers you the chance to develop a range of research and analytical techniques needed to evaluate and evidence the relationship between musical engagement and wellbeing. Your contextual understanding of the topic will be expanded through the core Music, Wellbeing and its Evaluation module, and you’ll develop the skills needed to conduct independent research. You’ll examine the physical and mental benefits and problems associated with musical participation, exploring current research in the field, and the innovative Applied Professional Practice module will provide you with opportunities to take a proactive and self-reflective role in your work, developing professional relationships with our partner organisations. The course is ideal for existing practitioners wishing to enhance their skills or undertake continuous professional development, or students wishing to develop their interests by taking a smaller selection of modules than the 180-credit MA Music and Wellbeing course. We have a variety of excellent facilities to support your learning, including a music psychology lab, rehearsal, performance and practice spaces, recording and electronic music studios, and five libraries that provide access to a wide range of books, periodicals, and online resources. We have close working relationships with prestigious arts organisations: we host BBC Radio 3 concerts, Leeds Lieder and the Leeds International Piano Competition, and we engage with the flagship DARE partnership between the University and Opera North. We are also closely associated with Leeds Baroque and we engage with many other performing arts organisations in Leeds, which enjoys a thriving music and cultural scene. Elements of local fieldwork may be embedded in modules that take you outside teaching spaces as part of the learning experience. You might undertake fieldwork as part your 30-credit Short Dissertation. You'll also have access to Helix, the University's learning innovation hub for students, staff, and the local community. Located in the heart of campus, Helix offers cutting-edge digital provision, including immersive technologies, multimedia production studios, as well as a physical makerspace. You'll be able to bring your own initiatives and ideas to life through collaboration, creation and innovation.
This module aims to develop skills relating to professional practice as it relates to work in the field of music and wellbeing. By working with academic literature, policy and information directly from professional practice, practitioners currently working in the field, observations and reflections on own/others practice, students will develop understanding of what it means to work as a music and wellbeing practitioner and the ways in which that practice can be supported and enhanced.
This module allows you to develop your understanding and application of quantitative and qualitative research techniques in the field of music psychology. Through a series of weekly lectures, seminars, independent and group tasks, you will consider and evaluate the ways in which empirical research can enhance our understanding of human minds and behaviour, and develop understanding of the range of analytical tools that can be used to explore music-psychological data. The module emphasises practical work and provides you with the opportunity to design, conduct, analyse and write-up two empirical projects which form your assessment. Whilst some prior experience of research methods and the data analysis software SPSS is an advantage, the course does not assume prior learning in these areas. This module is not optional and is only available to students studying on the MA Applied Psychology of Music and PGDip/MA Music and Wellbeing courses.
This module is designed to provide you with a contextual understanding of associations between music and wellbeing, with a particular focus on the evaluation of wellbeing in practice. The module adopts a case study approach, examining key concepts and texts thematically, considering areas such as therapy, health promotion, education, subjective wellbeing, and society. You will attend staff-led seminars, featuring case studies from the research literature, with visiting practitioners sharing case studies of their work to facilitate discussion. You are required to prepare key texts in advance of each seminar. You are expected to contribute to class discussions in order to consolidate your own reading and engagement with the course materials, while critically reflecting on your experiences of associating musical engagement with wellbeing. You will be assessed by a critical essay on a topic of your choice, relating to the module content.
The dissertation module provides you with the opportunity to investigate a musical subject of your choice (subject to the approval of the module leader), and to present your findings in an extended essay of 6,000-8,000 words. Your Dissertation supervisor will help you to define the scope and topic of your Dissertation, but it should be one which enables you to demonstrate a range of skills, including assimilating scholarly literature, expressing concepts and hypotheses in a critical fashion, and working confidently as an independent learner.
