MScR Counselling Studies

The MSc by Research programme in Counselling Studies offers advanced training and education to students interested in developing research skills, including qualified counselling and psychotherapy practitioners and social science researchers.

Name MScR Counselling Studies
Start Date September
Mode of Study 1 year full-time, 2 years part-time
Programme Director Edgar Rodriguez-Dorans

Please check the postgraduate Degree Finder to see the specific entry requirements, start date and application deadlines. 

When to apply

Applications will open for 2026/27 entry in October 2025. 

The School of Health in Social Science operates a gathered field approach to our postgraduate research applications. This means that all complete applications which meet our minimum entry requirements will be held until the next deadline, at which point applications received will be considered on a competitive basis by our subject area specific academic review panels. 

Deadlines

We will be running two gathered fields for new applications so please take note of these dates: 

  • First deadline: Monday 10 November 2025 11:59pm (GMT). Outcome notifications for applications received by this date will be issued mid-January 2026. Applications submitted after this deadline will be held until the second deadline. 
  • Second deadline: Monday 20 April 2026, 11.59pm (GMT). Outcome notifications for applications received by this date will be issued mid-June 2026. Applications submitted after this deadline will not be reviewed. 

If you are planning to apply for the University’s funding opportunities, you must apply before the first deadline in November. 

How to apply

Check that you meet the entry requirements

Before you apply for any of our postgraduate programmes, check that you meet the entry requirements. 

Things to do before you apply

We strongly recommend that you contact your potential supervisor(s) before applying.

Documents you will need to provide

You will need:

  • Undergraduate degree certificate and transcript (and your MSc degree certificate and transcript if required)
  • Research proposal based on the criteria for the programme you are applying for – you must use the form template below for your proposal, otherwise it will not be considered
  • Two references – some programmes require one of your references to be from your most recent academic institution, please check the degree finder for more information on your specific programme
  • Evidence of English language competency, regardless of your nationality or country of residence. We do not require this before the application deadline, but you must submit it before we can make an unconditional offer.
    • To find out more about our English language entry requirements, please visit the programme page on our Degree Finder.
  • If you are applying for the PhD by Distance you must also submit the PhD by Distance application form

Apply through the degree finder

Applications for most of our postgraduate programmes are made online through the degree finder. 

Why choose this programme?

The MScR Counselling Studies is a postgraduate degree designed to provide research training in counselling and psychotherapy. It consists of taught research training courses (four core compulsory courses and one option course) and a research-focused dissertation. Students are also welcome to take other courses on a not-for-credit basis in Counselling and Psychotherapy, or other courses in the School of Health in Social Science, the Graduate School of Social and Political Science and other related disciplines.  

This degree can be taken as a stand-alone qualification or, alternatively, as a foundation for PhD study (usually referred to as 1+3 registration route). 

Our programme offers the possibility to work with and be supervised by a range academics whose background in both therapeutic practice and research is compatible with the student's proposed area of research. Your supervisor will meet regularly with you throughout the period of study, with the focus and content of supervision meetings negotiated jointly depending on your needs. 

Supervisor Specialties:

Research Interests

Prof Amy Chandler
  • Suicide Studies
  • Self Harm
  • Community health
  • Qualitative methods
Dr Sarah Huque
  • Suicide Studies
  • Disability Studies
  • Community health
  • Access to blue and green spaces
  • Participatory research methods
Dr Mariya Levitanus
  • Queer and Trans Lives
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Sexuality and relationship diversity within counselling and psychotherapy
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Decolonial queer and trans approaches
  • Queer ethics
Dr Hazel Marzetti
  • Suicide Studies
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Health inequalities
  • Interdisciplinary approaches
  • Qualitative methods
Dr Anna Ross
  • Drugs recovery
  • Drugs use
  • Drug Policy
  • Alternative health
  • Critical health policy
  • Spirituality
Dr Paula Jacobs
  • Disability Studies
  • Intellectual disability
  • Care-relationships
  • Care-experienced children and young people
  • Ethics of care
  • Qualitative research
Dr Katey Warran
  • Community health
  • Arts-Based Methologies
  • Cultural sociology
  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Qualitative methods

Research Interests

Dr Nini Kerr
  • Psychoanalytic inquiry
  • Psychosocial Studies
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Critical theroy and postcolonial criticism
  • Creative methodologies
  • Psychoanalytically-informed cultural analysis
Dr Fiona Murray
  • Feminist inquiry
  • Post-humanist inquiry
  • Autoethnography
  • Writing as a method of inquiry
  • Research-creation and multimodal projects
  • Pornography
  • Relationships in counselling and psychotherapy
Dr J. Karen Serra Undurraga
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Neoliberalism in Everyday Life
  • (Neo)colonialism and neoliberalism
  • Decolonisation in Higher Education in the UK
Dr Zoi Simopoulou
  • Research relationships
  • Psychoanalytic inquiry
  • Death Studies
  • Arts-based methologies
  • Relational psychoanalysis
  • Childhood; living losses; grief; death and dying
  • Intergenerational hauntings; spirituality
Prof Jonathan Wyatt
  • Post-structural, post-humanist, new materialist, and 'post-qualitative' inquiries
  • Autoethnography ('assemblage/ethnography')
  • Writing and collaborative writing as inquiry
  • The experience of loss
  • The therapeutic encounter

Research Interests

Dr Marisa De Andrade
  • Social inequalities
  • Community health
  • Community-led approaches to tackling inequalities
Dr Sarah Huque
  • Suicide Studies
  • Disability Studies
  • Community health
  • Access to blue and green spaces
  • Participatory research methods
Dr Nini Kerr
  • Psychoanalytic inquiry
  • Psychosocial Studies
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Critical theroy and postcolonial criticism
  • Creative methodologies
  • Psychoanalytically-informed cultural analysis
Dr Mariya Levitanus
  • Queer and Trans Lives
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Sexuality and relationship diversity within counselling and psychotherapy
  • Narrative inquiry
  • Decolonial queer and trans approaches
  • Queer ethics
Dr Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Performance Studies
  • Death Studies
  • Uses of lived experience in theatre and performance
  • Dance and movement at the intersection of mental health
  • Creative approaches to counselling and psychotherapy
Dr J. Karen Serra Undurraga
  • Decolonial Studies
  • Neoliberalism in Everyday Life
  • (Neo)colonialism and neoliberalism
  • Decolonisation in Higher Education in the UK

Research Interests

Dr Hazel Marzetti
  • Suicide Studies
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Health inequalities
  • Interdisciplinary approaches
  • Qualitative methods
Dr Fiona Murray
  • Feminist inquiry
  • Post-humanist inquiry
  • Autoethnography
  • Writing as a method of inquiry
  • Research-creation and multimodal projects
  • Pornography
  • Relationships in counselling and psychotherapy
Dr Edgar Rodríguez-Dorans
  • LGBTQIA+ Studies
  • Performance Studies
  • Death Studies
  • Uses of lived experience in theatre and performance
  • Dance and movement at the intersection of mental health
  • Creative approaches to counselling and psychotherapy
Dr Zoi Simopoulou
  • Research relationships
  • Psychoanalytic inquiry
  • Death Studies
  • Arts-based methologies
  • Relational psychoanalysis
  • Childhood; living losses; grief; death and dying
  • Intergenerational hauntings; spirituality
Prof Jonathan Wyatt
  • Post-structural, post-humanist, new materialist, and 'post-qualitative' inquiries
  • Autoethnography ('assemblage/ethnography')
  • Writing and collaborative writing as inquiry
  • The experience of loss
  • The therapeutic encounter
Dr Katey Warran
  • Community health
  • Arts-Based Methologies
  • Cultural sociology
  • Sociology of health and illness
  • Qualitative methods

You will be provided with a comprehensive understanding of research design, data collection and data analysis for counselling research. Students complete a programme of research training courses and submit a dissertation on an approved topic. 

We have a longstanding commitment to original empirical and theoretical research that engages critically with the practices of counselling and psychotherapy and are especially keen to encourage research examining the interface between counselling, psychotherapy and social, cultural and political life, as well as research that draws directly on practitioners’ own therapeutic work with clients.

A vibrant and inclusive research environment

The University of Edinburgh is a world-leader in research and innovation and an international centre of academic excellence. Students on this programme will become part of an active and diverse research community in the School of Health in Social Science and will have access to the wide-range of learning environments and outstanding resources that the University has to offer. Our postgraduate researchers work in close proximity to each other, enabling them to pool their expertise and knowledge to tackle complex challenges and push the boundaries of discovery. Students will be encouraged to engage with a wide range of seminars, talks, and events, and often have the opportunity to present their own research at national and international conferences. Our student-led postgraduate research blog provides a snapshot of the activities and events our PGR students organise and are involved in.


We specialise in qualitative, reflexive and critical research approaches, and our research portfolio is highly interdisciplinary, integrating concepts, practices and scholarship from counselling and psychotherapy, psychology, sociology, philosophy, education, cultural studies, health and social care, and other social sciences. 

We are especially keen to encourage research concerned with the interface between counselling, psychotherapy and social, cultural and political life.

Funding Opportunities

The School of Health in Social Science offers several fully funded MScR and PhD studentships each year. A variety of scholarships are available, which vary from full scholarships covering tuition fees and a stipend to cover living expenses, to partial scholarships.

Beyond the programme

The MScR Counselling Studies from the University of Edinburgh enhances the career prospects of professionally qualified counsellors, psychotherapists and practitioners using counselling approaches in related fields, such as health care, social work or education. 

It is also of interest to social scientists and researchers specialising in the study of health and illness, and the practice and cultural significance of the talking therapies. Successful completion of the MScR opens up employment opportunities in a broad range of fields, including education, policy, research and development on health and illness, emotional health and well-being, and counselling. 

Further Study Opportunities

The MSc by Research is a comprehensive foundation for PhD study, which will equip you for academic positions in counselling and psychotherapy. Students with prior professional qualifications can also enhance careers with the addition of highly developed conceptual, analytical and research skills through this programme. 

You may also wish to return to the University to undertake CPD courses with Counselling and Psychotherapy.