Creative Health MASc

Course overview

Learn how to redefine the future of healthcare by improving public health and wellbeing through creative, cultural and community-rooted programmes.

With health inequalities, social isolation and mental health challenges on the rise, there is growing recognition that our health and wellbeing are shaped as much by our communities, culture and everyday lives as by healthcare itself. With this comes a demand for creative health experts to tackle today’s complex health challenges.

On this MASc Creative Health, you'll explore how creativity, culture and the arts can contribute to better health, wellbeing and more equitable societies. You'll examine how visual and performing arts, crafts, literature, film and nature-based approaches can complement healthcare, strengthen communities and help address our most pressing health issues.

You’ll also gain a deep understanding of the challenges of addressing public health and health inequalities by asking the difficult questions about how health and care systems work.

Throughout your course, you’ll develop practical skills in this field, such as co-production, research methods, project design, partnership working, evidence-building, and evaluation. You’ll also apply your learning through an academic, applied or practice-based project, where you’ll develop your confidence working across creative, clinical, policy and community settings. Plus you’ll have a hand in co-designing modules, shaping your course and your project skills.

No matter your background, this course will engage your creativity so you can collaboratively work towards a healthier and happier society

About MASc degrees

A Master of Arts and Science (MASc) is a postgraduate degree designed for today's complex challenges. Rather than focusing on a single discipline, it brings together expertise from across the arts, humanities, social sciences, science and technology, preparing you to work across boundaries and develop solutions to complex societal challenges that cannot be solved from a single perspective.

Why study at Leeds?

• Be among the first in your field: Be among the first Creative Health graduates in the UK within this new but rapidly growing area.
• Thrive in a city focused on culture and health: Enjoy engaging in real-world practice in the vibrant Leeds and Yorkshire creative arts community, as well as diverse health care organisations, thanks to our links with the Leeds Arts and Health Wellbeing network and one of the UK's largest NHS teaching hospital trusts.
• Enrich yourself with invaluable experience: Hone your practical skills and understanding by working on live case studies and in practical seminars with organisations focused on local arts, culture, health, community, public-sector and the third sector.
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Immerse yourself in an enriching environment: Build a sense of community, belonging and a culture of continuous knowledge creation as you and your peers share experience and expertise.
• ​​​​​​​Learn from diverse experts: Enjoy guest lectures and case studies from industry experts across sectors, including arts, policy and civil society, to provide global insights and networking opportunities.​​​​​​
• ​​​​​​​Develop a rare combination of skills: Academic experts across a range of subjects will help you build a holistic knowledge of creative health, on modules that are co-designed with artists, health professionals and civic partners, to ensure your learning reflects the wide-ranging expertise and needs of the sector today.
• ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Accelerate your prospects for a creative health career: Get equipped to work across the creative, cultural, voluntary and public sectors, including with NHS organisations, local authorities, charities and community providers, helping develop, deliver and evaluate creative health initiatives.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
• Real-world industry experience: Network with clients and gain consultancy experience as part of our 2-week online Global Industry Programme.

Leeds Institute for Societal Futures

This course is led by the Leeds Institute for Societal Futures (LISF), a new institute at the University of Leeds. LISF is a unique research and postgraduate education Institute that brings multiple perspectives and forms of expertise together to find solutions to the complex societal challenges that we expect will define the future of our society.

Our programmes are designed to train our students to address these challenges with us. By studying with us, you will become an integral part of our Institute community. This means that you will be taught by a mixture of different forms of expertise and subject area knowledge - both academic and industry - all of whom are also actively working as professionals and intellectuals to find solutions to the challenges your programme addresses. This includes numerous different forms of academic expertise, but also industry, third sector, and public sector expertise as well. We also accept students on our programmes from a wide range of educational backgrounds, meaning that, by learning with us, you will immerse yourself in a diverse range of practical and philosophical perspectives not just from your teaching team, but also from your peers. This is particularly beneficial if we want to change society for the better, because the biggest issues we currently face cannot be solved by one perspective alone.

We need everyone to make change happen, and our approach to education teaches you how to work with multiple perspectives effectively to do just that.

Explore Leeds

Discover our campus, facilities and accommodation with our 360 virtual experience platform.

With immersive 360 experiences, image galleries, virtual tours, videos and day-in-the-life content, you can take a personalised, interactive tour of campus and explore the University's academic, social and residential environments from anywhere in the world.

You can get a feel for what it's really like to live, learn and belong at the University of Leeds – all from the comfort of home.

Course details and modules

This course comprises core modules that you’ll typically study across one year full-time. If you study part-time, you will take 90 credits of taught modules each year, including Leeds Institute for Societal Futures (LISF) Project Labs in your second year.

In Semester 1, you will begin with three modules focused on foundations, challenges and practice. You will explore what creative health is, how the field has developed, and how creative approaches to health and wellbeing are understood through different forms of evidence. You will then examine why creative health matters in relation to contemporary challenges, including inequality, access, participation, social isolation, mental health needs and pressure on care systems. A 30-credit practice-focused module will introduce creative practice, co-production and participatory methods, helping you understand how to develop creative health work ethically with communities and practitioners.

In Semester 2, you will move into systems, futures and application. You’ll study the policy, economic and organisational contexts through which creative health work is funded, delivered and evaluated. You will also develop professional skills in partnership working, systems navigation, funding, communication and project development. A 30-credit interventions module will enable you to examine existing creative health practice and develop skills in project design, evidence-building and evaluation.

Across Semesters 1, 2 and 3, LISF Project Labs will provide an integrative space where you apply your learning to a substantial academic, applied or practice-based project. This will allow you to demonstrate the knowledge and skills you have developed across the course, in a chosen style of expression, and to explore creative health in a setting relevant to your interests or future career.

Course structure

The list shown below represents typical modules/components studied and may change from time to time. Read more in our terms and conditions.

Compulsory modules

What is Creative Health? Foundations, Histories and Evidence (15 credits)
This module introduces Creative Health, through a global lens, as a transdisciplinary field connecting creativity, culture, health, community and wellbeing. You will explore key histories, definitions, evidence bases and debates, including how Creative Health has developed across arts, cultural, clinical, community and policy contexts. The module will also critically examine different ways of understanding health, wellbeing, creativity and evidence, preparing students to engage critically with the field’s possibilities and tensions between different approaches.

Why Creative Health? Inequalities, Access and Contemporary Challenges (15 credits)
In this module you will explore the social, cultural and structural conditions that make Creative Health necessary. You will also examine health inequalities in relation to class, disability, gender, race and ethnicity, sexuality and place, considering how these inequalities are shaped by social structures, political choices, policy decisions and institutional arrangements. The module will ask how Creative Health can respond to these challenges without reproducing existing inequalities or reducing arts and culture to instrumental outcomes. It will situate Creative Health within wider struggles over care, cultural participation, recognition and social justice.

How Creative Health Works: Practice, Co-production and Methods (30 credits)
This module will develop your understanding of how Creative Health work is practised across creative, clinical and community settings. You will explore co-production, creative and participatory methods, ethics, facilitation, reflective practice and partnership working with practitioners and communities. You will examine ethical and practical challenges of Creative Health work, which may include safeguarding, trauma-informed practice, access, cultural difference, ownership, and non-extractive collaboration. It will support you to understand how Creative Health projects can be designed with, rather than simply delivered to, communities and participants. You will also practically explore co-production, creative and participatory methods, gaining direct experience of the ethical and practical challenges of practicing creative health.

Creative Health Systems, Policy and Economies (15 credits)
This module examines the systems, policies and economies through which Creative Health work is funded, commissioned and delivered. You will explore health systems, arts and cultural infrastructure, local government, public and cultural policy, voluntary and community organisations, and the funding and contexts that shape Creative Health practice. The module will develop your systems literacy, helping you understand how to navigate complex organisational settings while making the case for creative, community-rooted approaches to wellbeing.

Creative Health: Inclusive Practice, Co-production and Ethical Facilitation (15 credits)
This module examines how inclusive Creative Health practice is planned, facilitated and delivered in community settings. You will explore partnership development, accessibility, inclusive design, professional communication, fair resourcing and the practical responsibilities of working across diverse communities, organisations and sectors. You will also consider how facilitators negotiate different expectations, forms of expertise and power relations when working with artists, clinicians, community organisations, funders and participants. It will develop your capacity to support Creative Health activity that is inclusive and responsive to context.

Creative Health Interventions: Design, Ethics, and Evaluation (15 credits)
In this module you will focus on how Creative Health initiatives are designed, evaluated and communicated. You will examine existing examples of Creative Health activity and develop the skills to design context-sensitive projects or proposals that responsive to community needs. The module will explore co-design, evaluation planning, evidence-building, reporting and communication with communities, practitioners, funders and policymakers. It will consider the ethical responsibilities involved in intervention design and evaluation, including how to assess impact in ways which recognise the breadth and complexity of artistic, cultural and participant outcomes.

Leeds Institute for Societal Futures Project LABS (60 credits)
This module provides an integrative space where you apply your learning to a substantial transdisciplinary project connected to Creative Health. You will develop research, project-management, communication and reflective skills as they investigate a complex challenge through academic, applied or practice-based approaches. The module will support you to integrate different forms of knowledge, including clinical, cultural, community, policy and interdisciplinary perspectives. You will complete either a research project, a journal-style research article, or a practice-based project, demonstrating your ability to apply Creative Health learning to a context relevant to your interests or future career.

Learning and teaching

Your learning will be based on our vibrant University of Leeds campus and include a mix of lectures, seminars, workshops, practical activities, case studies, project-based learning, guided independent study and peer collaboration.

As a student at our Leeds Institute for Societal Futures, you'll work closely with a group of fellow students and engage in genuine collaboration with academic experts and industry partners from a range of subject areas and sectors.

Our interdisciplinary, challenge-based approach means you’ll learn together with your classmates on real-world challenges provided by industry experts within the relevant fields, bringing ideas from a diverse range of creative and professional backgrounds to create lively debate, problem-solving and discussion. You’ll build a sense of belonging and a culture of continuous knowledge exchange.

You’ll explore ideas from a range of disciplines with academic colleagues and industry experts, giving you access to the latest trends and giving you the confidence to move between different sector languages and professional disciplines.

On this course, you’ll be taught by our expert academics, from lecturers through to professors. You may also be taught by industry professionals with years of experience, as well as trained postgraduate researchers, connecting you to some of the brightest minds on campus.

Assessment

Assessment on this course will include a diverse range of formats, including essays, critical reflections, case study evaluations, project reports, presentations, policy-facing outputs, creative or practice-based outputs, evaluation plans and a substantial final project through LISF Project Labs.

Where appropriate, you will be offered assessment options that will allow you to pursue academic, applied or creative outputs that reflect your interests and future career aims. For example, you may be able to choose topics or case studies that help you develop towards a specific career path, which may include academic research, policy, professional practice or creative practice.

Assessments are designed to reflect the real work that is undertaken in creative health practice, including analysing evidence, designing projects, communicating value, evaluating interventions and responding to the needs of different audiences. This will help you develop transferable skills in critical analysis, project design, communication, evidence-building, reflection and evaluation.

Learn from experts across disciplines

As a challenge-based course, this MASc draws on expertise from a range of different subjects and faculties at the University of Leeds. You’ll benefit from a blend of academic expertise in subject areas across arts and humanities, medicine and health, and social sciences, along with contributions from creative health practitioners and organisations.

The inclusive curriculum is co-produced with practitioners in the field of creative health, helping ensure that different voices, communities and forms of knowledge are represented in your learning. We also co-create all of our curriculum with our current students, learning from their experiences of learning and studying across our courses and using their insight to help shape our curriculum to meet the most pressing needs and interests of our student community.

We aim to educate and nurture the next generation of collaborative, solution-focused, impactful individuals who will go on to help redefine the future of healthcare by improving public health and wellbeing through creative health practices. Whether as innovators, practitioners, policymakers or academics, we engender significant societal progress and the improvement of lives.

As a student on this challenge-based course, you will use your final project module, LISF Project Labs, to connect your academic learning with practical applied enquiry into a range of creative health questions. You will be encouraged to think critically about access, participation, ethics, evidence and value, while developing practical capabilities in project design, partnership working, systems navigation, evaluation and communication.

Inclusive learning

We are committed to providing students with an inclusive learning environment and student experience. The course uses inclusive teaching methods, flexible learning activities and varied assessments. You’ll have the support you need to participate actively, reflect on your own learning, and develop a strong sense of belonging within the cohort.

You'll also be assigned a personal tutor, who will maintain contact throughout the year and offer pastoral guidance. They will help settle you into University life, clarify any procedures, provide academic guidance, as well as reflecting on your development and future career plans.

Specialist facilities

You’ll learn in specialist facilities, including:

• HELIX, the University of Leeds’ digital education space, which supports immersive technologies, multimedia and innovative approaches to teaching and learning.
• Our Digital Creativity and Cultures Hub, which supports work in digital methods, creativity, cultural heritage, collections and archives.
• ​​​​​​​Our Cultural Collections and Cultural Collections Research Centre, home to extensive holdings of rare books, manuscripts, archives, art and objects.
• ​​​​​​​The Library Makerspace, which is open to all students and staff, provides access to a wide range of equipment, IT and software for creative projects of all kinds.

Applying

Entry requirements

You’ll need a bachelor degree with a 2:2 (hons) or equivalent qualification, preferably in a relevant social science, arts, humanities or health-related subject. 

English language requirements

IELTS 6.5 overall, with no less than 6.0 in any component. For other English qualifications, read English language equivalent qualifications.

Improve your English

International students who do not meet the English language requirements for this programme may be able to study our postgraduate pre-sessional English course, to help improve your English language level.

This pre-sessional course is designed with a progression route to your degree programme and you’ll learn academic English in the context of your subject area. To find out more, read Language for Arts and Humanities (6 weeks) and Language for Social Science and Arts: Arts and Humanities (10 weeks).

We also offer online pre-sessionals alongside our on-campus pre-sessionals. Find out more about our six week online pre-sessional and our 10 week online pre-sessional. 

You can also study pre-sessionals for longer periods – read about our postgraduate pre-sessional English courses.

How to apply

Please see our How to Apply page for information about application deadlines

The ‘Apply’ link at the top of this page will take you to information on applying for taught programmes and to the University's online application system.

If you intend to apply for funding, we advise you to submit an application for your chosen course as early as possible and at least one month before any scholarship deadline.

If you're unsure about the application process, contact the admissions team for help.

Documents and information you'll need

• A copy of your degree certificate and transcripts, or a partial transcript if you’re still studying (please submit an official English translation where the original is not in English)
• Your approved English Language test* (if applicable)
• A personal statement in response to the questions asked in the supporting statement section of the application form
• A full up-to-date CV
• Any previous UK CAS, visa and BRP documents if you’re an international applicant who has previously studied in the UK on a Tier 4/ Student Visa.

* Applicants who have not yet completed an approved English language test may apply for a Masters course prior to taking a test.

Read about visas, immigration and other information in International students. We recommend that international students apply as early as possible to ensure that they have time to apply for their visa.

Admissions policy

University of Leeds Admissions Policy 2027

Contact us

Postgraduate Admissions Office

Email: pgssp@leeds.ac.uk
Telephone:

Fees

UK: £12,400 (Total)

International: £27,300 (Total)

Read more about paying fees and charges.

Part-time fees
Fees for part-time courses are normally calculated based on the number of credits you study in a year compared to the equivalent full-time course. For example, if you study half the course credits in a year, you will pay half the full-time course fees for that year.

Additional cost information

There may be additional costs related to your course or programme of study, or related to being a student at the University of Leeds. Read more on our living costs and budgeting page.

Scholarships and financial support

If you have the talent and drive, we want you to be able to study with us, whatever your financial circumstances. There may be help for students in the form of loans and non-repayable grants from the University and from the government. Learn more about Masters funding. 

Scholarships are also available to help fund your Masters. Find out more and check your eligibility below:

Career opportunities

MASc Creative Health graduates will be in demand in careers that overlap health, society, policy and creativity.

You’ll have the skills to design and lead innovative, arts-based approaches to wellbeing. You’ll also develop the confidence to work and collaborate across health services, cultural organisations, public policy, and the voluntary sector to address social inequality, improve mental health, and drive meaningful community change.

You could consider pursuing work in roles such as programme officers, policy analysts and evaluation specialists across the NHS, local government, arts organisations, charities and research bodies.

Should you choose, you’ll also have valuable knowledge and skills empowering you to become a creative health practitioner across various roles and sectors.

Where this degree could take you

Here’s an insight into some of the job roles this course could open to you:

• creative health programme officer
• creative health practitioner
• community engagement manager
• health and wellbeing project manager
• policy officer in health, culture or social care
• evaluation and impact officer
• participation or outreach coordinator
• social researcher or analyst
• creative producer focusing on social impact

You’ll be able to find work within:

• health and care organisations, such as NHS Trusts and Integrated Care Boards
• local and national government
• arts and cultural sectors, such as Arts Council–funded organisations
• charity and voluntary sectors, such as Mind, Age UK, or The King’s Fund
• policy and research organisations
• community and grassroots organisations, such as museums, galleries and theatres with outreach programmes

Careers support

At Leeds, we help you to prepare for your future from day one — that’s one of the reasons Leeds graduates are so sought after by employers. The University's Careers Service is one of the largest in the country, providing a wide range of resources to ensure you are prepared to take your next steps after graduation and get you where you want to be.

• Dedicated Employability Officers — gain quality advice, guidance and information to help you choose a career path. From CV and cover letter writing to supporting you with job applications, our University’s dedicated Employability Officers are on hand to help maximise your capabilities through a process of personal development and career planning.
• Employability and networking events — we run a full range of events, including careers fairs and industry talks in specialist areas and across broader industries, with employers who are actively recruiting for roles, giving you the opportunity to network and engage with industry representatives. 
• Employability skills training – to support your transition to the workplace, we embed training in a range of key transferable skills valued by employers such as interdisciplinary lenses, systems thinking, ethical decision-making, policy development and digital literacy.
• MyCareer system — on your course and after you graduate you’ll have access to a dedicated careers portal where you can book appointments with our team, get information on careers and see job vacancies and upcoming events.
• Artificial Intelligence Society – build your industry awareness and learnings outside the course, with industry panels, guest talks, networking and collaboration events.

Skill development is built into our courses, so you start becoming more employable from the moment you begin your studies, and your degree is designed to help you recognise your skills and understand how you demonstrate them. Reflection on and understanding of your skillset is part of your course, meaning we will support you to be able to demonstrate these things by the time you graduate.

You’ll also have additional opportunities to develop your skillset and your CV. You could become a course representative and participate in our Student Staff Partnership Forum on behalf of your cohort, or apply to be our School Taught Postgraduate Representative and work with School and Faculty staff and the Students’ Union to drive the School and University forward.

As well as the above support, you can tap into a more bespoke programme of career development opportunities from the Faculty of Environment and Social Sciences Employability Team. You can also access relevant opportunities provided through the Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Culture employability programme.

The faculty careers team will also provide drop-in appointments, online meetings and specific employer events and workshops, which you can choose from depending on your career aspirations.

Work placements and industry experience

As a Masters student at Leeds, you’ll have the unique opportunity to gain real-world industry experience with our Global Industry Programme.

You’ll develop key professional skills and gain invaluable insight into working in your chosen field, helping to solve a real business problem from a live company brief.

This experience will enhance your CV, helping you stand out in the competitive graduate jobs market and improving your chances of securing the career you want.

Benefits of the Global Industry Programme:

• Fully online and designed to fit around your studies.
• Opportunities to make professional networks in areas such as digital marketing, business growth, sustainability and funding strategy.
• Gain valuable insight and build consultancy experience with a UK or international organisation, working on a time limited brief.
• Work as part of a team across disciplines to tackle real business needs.
• Advance your experience and hands-on skills by putting the course teachings into practice.
• Improve your employability prospects.
• Make new friends, build confidence and consider your future plans.