Subject Areas

The University of Edinburgh created our School to bring together the long-established but separate departments of Clinical and Health Psychology, Nursing Studies, and Counselling, Psychotherapy and Applied Social Science.

Read more about our individual subject areas below. If you're interested in finding out more about our programmes and our current research, find out more:

Our programmes

Our current research

Our history  

The University of Edinburgh created our School to bring together the long-established but separate departments of Clinical and Health Psychology, Counselling, Psychotherapy, Applied Social Science, and Nursing Studies. Today, the School of Health in Social Science stands as a beacon of interdisciplinary collaboration and academic excellence. The Chair of Nursing Studies was established in 1972 but teaching of the discipline began a quarter of a century earlier when Edinburgh became the first British university to establish a Nursing Training Unit. The Department of Clinical Psychology originated from Psychiatry,  within the Faculty of Medicine. This discipline is technically our longest-running introduced as a subject in the Faculty of Medicine in the 1800s. Clinical Psychology spilt away in 2002 during a restructuring, also during this phase the Department of Counselling and Psychotherapy was created in 2005, echoing our dedication to holistic care and psychological well-being. As the landscape of mental health and healthcare evolved, so did our resolve to nurture compassionate practitioners and scholars. 

Find out more about our Subject Areas:

The discipline of Clinical and Health Psychology is focused on the development, understanding, and intervention for psychological difficulties across all stages of life.

Since its inception in 2000, Counselling and Psychotherapy has emerged as a premier institution in Scotland for postgraduate education, training, and research in Counselling Studies.

The University of Edinburgh has a long tradition of preparing graduate nurses. As an academic discipline Nursing Studies encompasses a multifaceted approach to understanding healthcare delivery, patient care, and the broader implications of healthcare systems within society.