• Year one
• FHEQ level 8
• 30 credits
• Core module
• Module lead: To be confirmed

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• provide a sophisticated introduction to a range of research methodologies and research paradigms relevant to the conduct of applied professional research programmes
• introduce key debates about ontology and epistemology and the philosophical principles underpinning knowledge generation in the social and psychological sciences, with particular attention to psycho-social, systemic, and organisational applications of these principles
• through regular facilitated multi-disciplinary group sessions with other Professional Doctorate students, to enable you to reflect on your practitioner identity, research aspirations, and methodological interests and thereby begin to reflexively position yourself as an applied researcher
• consider how applied research can be utilised to develop professional practice and contribute to extending the forefront of knowledge and/or professional practice within your own area

Module assessment
You are required to submit a 5,000 word critical and analytical literature review on a selected research topic, which may or may not be what you eventually opt to research for your dissertation.

• Year one
• FHEQ level 8
• 15 credits
• Core module
• Module leader: Amina Adan

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• engage in a project of depth experientially led learning that develops confidence, sophistication, and reflective capacity in role as a therapeutically informed practitioner
• consolidate and develop theoretical and conceptual understanding of complex emotional and relational dynamics, and the effective management of these in role
• extend professional initiative, capacity to take authority in relation to the ‘task’, and ability to work effectively with others in conflictual, demanding, and uncertain conditions
• enable you to plan and write up a concise, analytical, and reflective account of their clinical learning and development, evidencing ability of systematic acquisition and understanding of a substantial body of applied knowledge
• better understand and engage more effectively with the demands of contemporary practice, organisational and training environments
• develop awareness of the existence and impact of oppressive forces such as racism, structural inequalities such as the impact of climate change and the impact of socio-political contexts such as poverty, within which people and organisation’s function

Module assessment
You are required to submit a 3,000nword reflective and analytical practice study, in which you describe, reflect on, and critically analyse your clinical practice, with particular attention to the use of your professional self in the process of the work.

• Year one
• FHEQ level 8
• 15 credits
• Core module
• Module lead: Anna Harvey

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• develop the skills of close observation of organisational and social experience and facilitate access to unconscious dimensions of organisational and social life
• develop your confidence in occupying the observational role
• provide the opportunity to take up role as a member of a Group Relations event
• enhance and develop your reflexive professional capacities in relation to your organisational and social positioning
• introduce a range of psychosocial, systemic, and psychoanalytic theory about social and organisational life, and its unconscious determinants

Module assessment
You are required to submit a 3,000 word paper describing, reflecting upon, and critically analysing your experience of an organisational observation in the light of public policy and your experience of a Group Relations Event.

• Year two
• FHEQ level 8
• 30 credits
• Core module
• Module leads: Philip Archard and Simon Tucker

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• consolidate your learning from Research Methods 1 with your prior knowledge and experience in clinical and applied professional practice
• help you to think critically and reflexively about problems in order to create new solutions and new knowledge
• enable you to choose an appropriate research design and research methodology for your research questions

Module assessment
You are required to submit a 5,000 word research assignment, describing the research that will form the basis of your thesis and including a systematic literature review.

• Year two
• FHEQ level 8
• 15 credits
• Core module
• Module lead: Louise Grant

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• engage in a project of depth experientially led managerial/supervisory or educational learning, that further develops confidence, sophistication, and reflective capacity within your professional role as a supervisor, manager, or educator
• formulate a clear sense of how your own deep sources of practice curiosity inform both your choices of practitioner specialism, and your intended research aims and plans
• identify the practice themes that form a central focus for your professional curiosity, and to consider how these might inform and deepen your approach to the formulation of a research protocol
• develop capacities for consultation with peers through structured seminar learning methods
• further consolidate and develop theoretical and conceptual understanding of complex emotional and relational dynamics, and the effective management of these at work
• extend professional initiative, capacity to take authority in relation to the ‘task’, and ability to work effectively with others in conflictual, demanding, and uncertain conditions
• enable you to plan and write up a concise, theoretically informed, and reflective account of your learning and development, with an emphasis on your understanding of yourself and your distinctive style of practice as an important component of the work

Module assessment
Assessment of this module comprises a poster presentation (50%) and 2,000 word reflective assignment (50%), both reflecting on learning from your practice project.

• Year two
• FHEQ level 8
• 15 credits
• Core module
• Module lead: Anna Harvey

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• engage in the study of a range of contemporary theory and research that addresses complexity in everyday practice and organisational settings
• develop confidence in mastering difficult conceptual frameworks in the field of applied complexity theory
• relate your direct experience of working in complex environments with complex cases and the range of reading and theory in the programme
• encourage a high level of intellectual independence in studying, analysing, critiquing and applying theoretical and research studies to professional experience
• support you in writing a concise, original and experientially grounded assignment that engages with ideas at the leading edge of modern applied social science
• enable you to relate the work of the module to your own emerging focus of research for the doctoral thesis
• through presentations in reading seminars, enable you to demonstrate the capacity for clear, articulate and critical communication of difficult ideas
• develop a complexity informed view of oppressive structures and systems and of ecological contexts

Module assessment
You are required to submit a 3,000 word theoretical case study of a complex case or organisational process from your own experience, showing evidence of a command of the key concepts learned in the module, and ability to deploy these in a discriminating and intelligent manner.

• Years three plus
• FHEQ level 8
• 240 credits
• Core module
• Module leads: Philip Archard, Amina Adan, Louise Grant and Anna Harvey

Module aims
The aims of the module are to:

• apply research skills in a real-world environment in order to complete a research project which is of some value to your field of professional practice
• implement original, relevant and purposeful research, with a sound basis achieved through integrating a review of existing literature, ontological and epistemological considerations, strategy, design and methodology appropriate to the research question
• articulate and defend the positions that you have adopted with regard to your research and successfully negotiate a viva examination based on determining the originality, reliability and validity of the research and the value to the profession

Module assessment
Assessment is through the submission and a viva examination of a thesis up to 40,000 words detailing your original research.