You'll discover a broad range of psychological topics and be able to tailor your course around specific interests, enabling you to specialise in a particular area of psychology. Alongside learning various theories across your modules, you'll have the chance to practically develop your skills through mock scenarios and your time in placement.
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Overview
Our Criminal and Forensic Contexts course will develop your understanding of key psychological concepts while teaching you to apply them in a forensic and criminal justice context. You’ll learn why crimes happen, how victims and perpetrators can be affected, and how the risk of further offending can be reduced. You'll study topics like criminal behaviour, witness testimony and investigation techniques, and explore ways in which forensic psychologists assess and treat people who commit crimes.
Our course is professionally accredited by the British Psychological Society (BPS) and has a strong practical focus that will build your professional skills alongside your studies, helping you stand out to future employers. During your studies, you'll be eligible for student membership of the BPS – this will allow you to connect with other Psychology students through networks, online communities and in-person events.
You'll apply psychological theory to the criminal justice system, and will learn to interpret, evaluate and explain information relating to investigation, risk, rehabilitation and criminal behaviour.
As part of the course, you will have the chance to see first hand what it's like to work as a mental health professional through your placement with a mental health charity, NHS, private health care, care home, or school of your choosing. You'll apply what you've learnt in lectures to practice, be able to speak to working professionals and learn from them, enabling you to gain a deeper awareness of the various roles and working environments within the profession and be able to reflex on your experience and apply that to your work and career aspirations.
You’ll be supported by our Careers and Employability team in arranging paid and voluntary placements with many local and national organisations. Recent placement opportunities have included the NHS, the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Mind, a mental health charity.
You can also choose to participate in psychological research or join our paid ‘students as researchers’ scheme, which will provide you with opportunities to work alongside staff on live projects.
Course content
Each year you will study a mix of mandatory and optional modules. This flexible course lets you explore different subjects and career paths in both criminology and forensic psychology before choosing to specialise in your final year.
We regularly review our courses to reflect the latest research and developments in the subject area, as well as feedback from students, employers and the wider sector. As a result, modules may change to ensure the course remains current and relevant.
Optional modules will run if enough students choose to study them. It is not guaranteed that all modules will be offered every year.
Careers
The transferable skills and psychological knowledge you will gain from this course will provide you with a foundation to either pursue further psychological or medical qualifications like Counselling (MSc), Business Psychology (MSc), Occupational Psychology (MSc), Mental Health and Wellbeing Practitioner in Specialist Adult Mental Health (PGCert/ Grad Cert), PGCE Secondary Psychology (Teacher Training) and Psychology MPhil/PhD.
The research, analytical and presentation skills you'll gain are in high demand in a range of careers, including:
- Practising psychologist
- Psychotherapist
- Counsellor
- Academic
- Social Worker
- Human Resources
- Probation officer
- Government and policy
- Police officer
- Prison officer
Course highlights
Teaching and assessment
You’ll be taught through a combination of interactive lectures, workshops, and seminars. You’ll also have opportunities to visit the local Courts and observe the criminal justice sector in action.
There are no exams on this course. Instead, you’ll be assessed through a range of applied methods, such as case reports, presentations, and offender profiles, designed to prepare you for your future career.
Teaching and assessment contents
You are taught through a combination of interactive workshops, lectures, seminars and practical activities, to provide you with the theoretical knowledge, plus research and practical skills to help you transition into a skilled career. 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.
Meet the Team
Just a few staff members from the wider team of psychology lecturers.
Dr Daniel Farrelly
Dr Gill 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.
Dr Jack Brimmell
Jack obtained his PhD from York St John University and examined attentional control and perceptual-cognition in sportspeople. Jack also holds an MSc in Sport Psychology and a BSc in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Gloucestershire.
Jack has previously worked with elite sporting organisations (i.e., the Premier League, the RFU and professional Women’s football teams) to try and use sport psychology to enhance performance. Jack is published in a number of top level sport psychology journals and is also reviewing work for these journals. He is predominately interested in how feelings of anxiety and stress can disrupt attentional control and perceptual-cognition during pressurised sport performance.
Dr Daniel Farrelly
Dr Gill 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.
Tom Ravenhall BSc Forensic Psychology Graduate
“When I first started my Forensic Psychology course, it was little more than a field I had an interest in and wanted to find out more about. I didn't plan on it being the basis of my career and I fully expected to get a job that was totally different to my degree when I left. However, once the Forensic Psychology modules began in my first year, I found that my curiosity around the subject began to grow. The quality of the lectures and the use of real-life examples where theories had been put into practice really intrigued me and I steadily became more and more passionate about the subject. Particularly in my final year, where there is a greater focus on your chosen pathway, I genuinely started to consider a career as a Detective and, although it sounds great on the surface, I really wanted to make sure it was the right choice for me personally. Having lecturers who are extremely passionate, informative and have a genuine experience of working within policing convinced me that this was the path I wanted to take and that working in solving and preventing crime was something that I was truly passionate about. I thoroughly enjoyed my course and I am extremely grateful that it gave me such a solid platform to go and secure a dream job role in an exciting and varied field where I can have a genuine impact on people's lives.”
Tom Ravenhall BSc Forensic Psychology Graduate
“When I first started my Forensic Psychology course, it was little more than a field I had an interest in and wanted to find out more about. I didn't plan on it being the basis of my career and I fully expected to get a job that was totally different to my degree when I left. However, once the Forensic Psychology modules began in my first year, I found that my curiosity around the subject began to grow. The quality of the lectures and the use of real-life examples where theories had been put into practice really intrigued me and I steadily became more and more passionate about the subject. Particularly in my final year, where there is a greater focus on your chosen pathway, I genuinely started to consider a career as a Detective and, although it sounds great on the surface, I really wanted to make sure it was the right choice for me personally. Having lecturers who are extremely passionate, informative and have a genuine experience of working within policing convinced me that this was the path I wanted to take and that working in solving and preventing crime was something that I was truly passionate about. I thoroughly enjoyed my course and I am extremely grateful that it gave me such a solid platform to go and secure a dream job role in an exciting and varied field where I can have a genuine impact on people's lives.”
Tom Ravenhall BSc Forensic Psychology Graduate
“When I first started my Forensic Psychology course, it was little more than a field I had an interest in and wanted to find out more about. I didn't plan on it being the basis of my career and I fully expected to get a job that was totally different to my degree when I left. However, once the Forensic Psychology modules began in my first year, I found that my curiosity around the subject began to grow. The quality of the lectures and the use of real-life examples where theories had been put into practice really intrigued me and I steadily became more and more passionate about the subject. Particularly in my final year, where there is a greater focus on your chosen pathway, I genuinely started to consider a career as a Detective and, although it sounds great on the surface, I really wanted to make sure it was the right choice for me personally. Having lecturers who are extremely passionate, informative and have a genuine experience of working within policing convinced me that this was the path I wanted to take and that working in solving and preventing crime was something that I was truly passionate about. I thoroughly enjoyed my course and I am extremely grateful that it gave me such a solid platform to go and secure a dream job role in an exciting and varied field where I can have a genuine impact on people's lives.”
Entry requirements
UCAS tariff points required: 112
| Qualification | Grade |
|---|---|
| A-level | BBC |
| BTEC National Extended Diploma | DMM |
| T-level | Merit |
- GCSE English and Maths at grade C/4 or above
We do accept Access to HE Diplomas and other qualifications which may not exactly match the combinations above. Work out your estimated points with the UCAS tariff calculator.
Any questions?
If you have any questions about entry requirements, please call our Admissions Office on 01905 855111 or email admissions@worc.ac.uk.
Fees
Fees contents
UK and EU students
The fees for 2026/27 are not yet confirmed. For 2025/26 the standard fee for full-time home and EU undergraduate students on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees is £9,535 per year.
Tuition fees are reviewed annually and may increase each year for both new and continuing students.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
International students
The fees for 2026/27 are not yet confirmed.
For 2025/26 the standard tuition fee for full-time international students enrolling on BA/BSc/LLB degrees and FdA/FdSc degrees is £16,700 per year.
Tuition fees are reviewed annually and may increase each year for both new and continuing students.
For more details on course fees, please visit our course fees page.
How to apply
How to apply contents
Applying through UCAS
UCAS is the central organisation through which applications are processed for full-time undergraduate courses in the UK.
Read our how to apply pages for more information on the application process, or if you’d like to apply for part-time study.
Psychology with Criminal and Forensic Contexts BSc (Hons) - CL83
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