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What makes Criminology with Forensic Psychology BA (Hons) at Worcester special?

Studying Criminology with Forensic Psychology at Worcester encourages you to explore the tangled web of influences that lead to a criminal act. Criminology holds a primary focus on research and debated explanations for crime, victimisation and deviance, and responses to those crimes, by societies and individuals. Forensic Psychology, in the criminal and justice field, embraces the contemporary and innovative topics and practices of 21st century society including the role of the media in crime and causes of violence and trauma from a psychological perspective.

In combination these subjects allow you to see the world from different angles, discuss new ideas, and think beyond the obvious. 

Overview

Overview

Key features

  • Our Criminology with Forensic Psychology degree is designed for individuals who have an interest in developing their knowledge and critical understanding of crime, its causes and impact on the victims and wider society.
  • Criminology with Forensic Psychology graduates are able to engage with and draw upon a range of intellectual and critical processes in decisions they make in everyday practice. The courses allow you to develop your understanding of the legal framework and criminal justice responses to crime.
  • Modules and assessments are coursework based and designed with an emphasis on experiential learning. This is to support your development of key skills that employers value helping to increase your employability prospects and making you prepared for today, tomorrow and beyond
Entry requirements

Entry requirements

112
UCAS tariff points

Entry requirements

112 UCAS Points 

Other information

If you have any questions about entry requirements, please contact the Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk for advice.

Further information about the UCAS Tariff can be obtained from http://www.ucas.com

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Study Abroad

Our Criminology courses have an option to study abroad in your third year. This is an excellent way to expand your experience and skill set. 

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Course content

Course content

Our courses are informed by research and current developments in the discipline and feedback from students, external examiners and employers. Modules do therefore change periodically in the interests of keeping the course relevant and reflecting best practice. The most up-to-date information will be available to you once you have accepted a place and registered for the course. If there are insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, this might not be offered, but we will advise you as soon as possible and help you choose an alternative. 

Year 1

Mandatory

  • Introduction to Criminology and Criminal Justice
  • Professional Skills, Practice and Research in Criminology

Optional

Year 2

Mandatory

  • Building on Theory and Research in Criminology
  • Probation, Penology and Rehabilitation
  • Applied Psychological Science

Optional

  • Contemporary & Global Issues in Criminology
  • Constructing Crime – Criminology and Media
  • Victimology
  • Policing in England and Wales

Year 3

Mandatory

  • Dissertation
  • Forensic Psychology in Practice

Optional

  • Youth Justice and Crime
  • Intimate Partner Abuse: Impact and Response
  • Organised Crime, Terrorism and Gangs 
  • Mental Health and Substance Use in the context of the Criminal justice System 
  • Cybercrime
  • Work Based Learning 
  • Criminal Profiling 
  • Psychology and Law
  • Understanding Trauma and Violence 
Teaching and assessment

Teaching and assessment

We enable students to develop the independent learning capabilities that will equip you for lifelong learning and future employment, as well as academic achievement.

Teaching

You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars and practical activities. The variety of formats are intended to enable the discussion and development of understanding of topics as well as the application of learning through group activities. You will learn from guest speakers who work therapeutically with offenders in professional practice. As part of your learning you will also be asked to attend areas of the criminal justice system such as the Court, to observe the sector in an operational setting.

In addition, meetings with personal academic tutors are scheduled on at least four occasions in the first year and three occasions in each of the other years of a course.

A mixture of independent study, teaching and academic support from Student Services and Library Services, and also the personal academic tutoring system enables you to reflect on progress and build up a profile of skills, achievements and experiences that will help you to flourish and be successful.

Contact time

In a typical week, students will have around 10-12 contact hours of teaching. The precise contact hours will depend on the optional modules selected and in the final year there is normally slightly less contact time in order for you to do more independent study.

In each semester, students will be studying four modules. Each module will have 2-3 hours of weekly classes on campus, typically including a lecture and a smaller seminar or workshop. The final year dissertation has more flexibility in terms of teaching as this consists of small group seminars and individual supervision tailored to the progress of each student. 

Typically, class contact time will be structured around:

  • Lectures
    • First year lectures can be large (Around 100 typically in criminology, around 200 in psychology)
    • Second and third year lectures are smaller (50-60 typically)
  • Seminars and workshops
    • Groups are smaller, groups range from 25-40
    • Seminars encourage students to work in groups of 6-8 
  • Tutorials
    • Staff have weekly 20 minute 1:1 tutorial slot’s available to book
  •  Use of course Virtual Learning Environment (Blackboard) for online activities
    • Each module will include a range of online activities including recorded talks, discussion boards, padlets, quizzes and directed reading. 

Independent self-study

In addition to the contact time, you are expected to undertake around 24 hours of personal self-study per week. Typically, this will involve completing online activities, reading journal articles and books, working on individual and group projects, undertaking research in the library and online, preparing coursework assignments and presentations.

Independent learning is supported by a range of excellent learning facilities, including The Hive and library resources, the virtual learning environment, and extensive electronic learning resources.

Assessment

A range of assessment methods are used to enable students to achieve and demonstrate the learning outcomes. Understanding and critical thinking around criminology and forensic psychology is developed and assessed through assignments such as essays, literature reviews and presentations. Research proposal assignments aim to develop skills such as problem solving, research, organisation, planning, and effective communication. Effective and fluent written, oral and visual communication is enhanced further through assessments that use posters and PowerPoint presentations, video and multimedia design; whilst the use of group work for assessment enables better team working and the development of leadership skills. Finally, a number of modules use personal development plans and case studies to develop and assess a range of skills including career exploration, reflection and independent learning.

Furthermore, the course provides opportunities to test understanding and learning informally through the completion of practice or ‘formative’ assignments. Each module has one or more formal or ‘summative’ assessments which are graded and count towards the overall module grade. Assessment methods will vary but could include: Essay, Reflective Log, Personal Development Plan, Public Communication, Literature Review, Research Proposal, Presentation (group and individual), Research Project, Poster Presentation, Case Study, Portfolio, Policy Briefing, Extended Essay, and Vlog.

The precise assessment requirements for an individual student in an academic year will vary according to the mandatory and optional modules taken, but a typical formal summative assessment pattern for each year of the course is:

 

Year 1

  • 3 x case studies
  • 1 x report
  • 1 x personal development plan
  • 1 x research methods report
  • 1 x portfolio
  • 1 x applied learning scenario

 

Year 2

  • 2 x reports
  • 1 x research proposal
  • 1 x risk evaluation
  • 1 x presentation
  • 1 x podcast
  • 2 x reflective journals
  • 1 x critical analysis
  • 1 x public communication 

 

Year 3

  • 1 x dissertation
  • 1 x poster conference presentation
  • 2 x digital presentations
  • 1 x vlog
  • 1 x essay
  • 1 x portfolio
  • 1 x offender profile 

Feedback

You will receive feedback on practice assessments and on formal assessments undertaken by coursework. Feedback on examination performance is available upon request from the module leader. Feedback is intended to support learning and you are encouraged to discuss it with personal academic tutors and module tutors as appropriate.

We aim to provide you with feedback on formal course work assessments within 20 working days of hand-in.18

Programme specification

For comprehensive details on the aims and intended learning outcomes of the course, and the means by which these are achieved through learning, teaching and assessment, please download the latest programme specification document.

Meet the team

You will be taught by a teaching team whose expertise and knowledge are closely matched to the content of the modules on the course.

The team includes senior academics with previous professional experience and professional practitioners currently worked within the sector.

Teaching is informed by the research and consultancy, and 50% per cent of course lecturers have a higher education teaching qualification or are Fellows of the Higher Education Academy.

You can learn more about the staff by visiting our staff profiles.

Here are a few of the current members of the department who teach on this course:

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson

Amy has been a lecturer at the University of Worcester for four years. Amy enjoys bringing real-world challenges and issues into her classroom and draws upon her experience of working with various client groups (homelessness, addictions, offending and domestic abuse) to demonstrate application. Specifically, Amy enjoys listening to her student’s ambitions and supporting them throughout their degree to reach their potential. Amy has been working with organisations across Worcestershire to ensure students have the best volunteer and work placement opportunities.

Amy enjoys researching offending behaviour and exploring how the criminal justice system is set up to support individuals with behavioural challenges and those who have a lower intellectual ability. Amy has an interest in the development of behaviour change interventions and evidence-based practice, particularly within the community and healthcare settings. Most recently, Amy is working on a large scale research project relating to the development of an integrated intervention targeting men in substance use treatment who perpetrate intimate partner abuse. Over the past twelve months, Amy has been delivering intimate partner violence and ADVANCE training all over the UK to practitioners at substance use services.

beverly gilbert

Dr Beverley Gilbert

Beverley has over 30 years of experience working within the criminal justice system. She was a Police Officer in Birmingham deployed in various uniform and plain clothes roles, including in plain clothes surveillance roles and as a Detective Family Protection Officer. As a Probation Officer, Beverley worked with individuals who posed a high risk of causing harm, including perpetrators of domestic and sexual violence. She was a semi specialist officer working with custodial cases, including those serving Life and Indeterminate Sentence prisoners. Beverley has been a sessional Expert Domestic Violence Risk Assessor for London based DViP and the Family Courts in the London and Greater London areas.

jenna-page-criminology-university-worcester

Jenna Page

Jenna has worked at the university as a lecturer in criminology, teaching on the undergraduate criminology degrees, since 2018. Prior to moving into academia Jenna was a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives specialising in housing litigation law. Jenna is passionate about both education and criminology and enjoys the privileged role of supporting students throughout their university journey. Jenna enjoys working with students from a diverse range of backgrounds and uses contemporary issues and case studies to encourage student engagement and passion within the discourse of criminology. Jenna undertakes the role of Learning and Teaching Coordinator within the School of Psychology with the aim of discussing and disseminating outstanding learning and teaching practice throughout the school.

Profile Image of Courtney Smith

Courtney Smith

Courtney joined the University as an Associate Lecturer in March 2021, having previously gained her undergraduate degree in Law and Masters in Criminology from the University of Nottingham.

Courtney’s interests within Criminology are in the field of green criminology. Specifically, Courtney enjoys exploring the criminogenic nature of the current environmental crisis and investigating the distribution of criminal responsibility for such acts. Courtney is also interested in critically thinking about how traditional criminological theory may apply in the context of green criminology, exploring the challenges and benefits that this may bring to mainstream understandings of ‘crime’ and ‘justice’.  Courtney enjoys taking a multi-disciplinary approach to her work, drawing on expertise from a range of academic fields.

dr-daniel-farrelly

Dr Daniel Farrelly

Daniel is a principal lecturer in psychology. He obtained his BSc (hons) in psychology from Liverpool University in 1999, followed by an MSc in evolutionary psychology from Liverpool University in 2000. He gained his PhD in Psychology, studying the evolution of human cooperation, from Newcastle University in 2005. Previously, he has held research positions at Plymouth, Newcastle and Edinburgh Universities, and a lectureship at Sunderland University before joining Worcester as a senior lecturer in social psychology in early 2014. 

dr-gillian-harrop

Dr Gillian Harrop

Gill is a senior lecturer in forensic psychology. She came to the University of Worcester from the University of Lincoln, and previously taught on both the MSc in Forensic Psychology at Liverpool University, and the BSc in Psychology at the University of East London. Prior to this, she worked for Lincolnshire Police as an Intelligence Analyst in the Force Intelligence Bureau and Major Crime Unit.

 

Sarah Lloyd

Sarah is a lecturer in Psychology, co-lead of Undergraduate Psychology Courses, and Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) Co-ordinator in the School of Psychology. She is predominantly interested in Forensic Psychology but teaches across the Psychology curriculum, leading the Professional Skills and Practice, Evidence Based Practice, Psychology in the Real World, and Psychology and Law undergraduate modules.

Sarah completed her MSc in Forensic Psychology at Birmingham City University and is currently in the final year of her PhD which explores the group decision-making processes of juries. Before joining the team at Worcester in 2021, she was an Assistant Lecturer in the Forensic Psychology MSc at Birmingham City University. 

Isabel Gilbert

Isabel Gilbert

Isabel has a background in the heritage sector and has specialised in the relationship between interpretations of history and racism in contemporary society. She brings her knowledge of societal inequality, social justice, symbolism, politics and ideology, and the influence of popular culture to the subject of Criminology.

Isabel enjoys researching cultural conflict, social justice movements, reactionary politics and legacies of colonialism.

mikahil-sulaiman-azad

Mikahil Sulaiman Azad

Mikahil Azad is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University Worcester. He joined the team in September 2023 and has previously taught at Birmingham City University and Arden University in Criminology. Mikahil is toward the end of his doctoral research which focuses upon safety in and around the space of mosques using ethnographic methodologies.

michael-allen

Michael Allen

Michael is a former police officer who served 27 years in West Mercia Police. He was fortunate enough to serve the community in a broad range of operational front-line policing duties.

After serving 12 years in a wide variety of uniform policing roles, Michael became a Detective and later Detective Sergeant. He developed a keen interest in interviewing, which included the interviewing of suspected offenders, victims of crime, and witnesses involved in serious and major crime investigations.

Careers

Careers

Graduates from our criminology with forensic psychology degree are able to engage with and draw upon a range of intellectual and critical processes in the decisions they make, including the identification and significance of different value positions to everyday practice. We teach topics relevant in today’s global society to encourage and graduates to have a sense of social responsibility and cultural awareness. Our methods of teaching including use of online activities will enable you to develop digital capabilities and communication skills relevant in modern workplaces. Our assessments are based in real world scenarios and use written and presentation elements to ensure you develop key transferable skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, resilience and teamwork.

This means that our graduates can make decisions which are not only rigorously analytical in scope, but also demonstrate active engagement with the different value positions representative of a wide range of diverse groups, communities and institutions.

Studying criminology with forensic psychology at university will give you a wide range of skills and knowledge that will attract employment from a variety of agencies and organisations in the criminal justice sector, whether public, private or 3rd sector.

Your course team have a strong relationship with many local employers, some of whom act as guest speakers on the course and others who input into our popular careers days e.g. Cranstoun Sandwell Drugs and Alcohol service, West Mercia Police, National Probation Service, YMCA, Youth Offending Service, Maggs Day centre, Witness Services. The course team have supported students in gaining voluntary experiences within these settings which can enhance your employability and skills development.

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Careers and Employability

Our Graduates pursue exciting and diverse careers in a wide variety of employment sectors.

Find out how we can support you to achieve your potential
Costs

Fees and funding

Full-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £9,250 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

International students

The standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the 2024/25 academic year is £16,200 per year.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Part-time tuition fees

UK and EU students

The standard tuition fees for part-time UK and EU students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees in the academic year 2024/25 are £1,156 per 15-credit module, £1,542 per 20-credit module, £2,312 per 30-credit module, £3,083 per 40-credit module, £3,469 per 45-credit module and £4,625 per 60 credit module.

For more details, please visit our course fees page.

Additional costs

Every course has day-to-day costs for basic books, stationery, printing and photocopying. The amounts vary between courses.

If your course offers a placement opportunity, you may need to pay for an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check.

Accommodation

Finding the right accommodation is paramount to your university experience. Our halls of residence are home to friendly student communities, making them great places to live and study.

We have over 1,000 rooms across our range of student halls. With rooms to suit every budget and need, from our 'Chestnut Halls' at £131 per week to 'Oak Halls' at £221 per week (2024/25 prices).

For full details visit our accommodation page.

How to apply