Psychology graduate Ben looks ahead to Master’s after award-winning final year

Ben, who is 24 and from Scarborough, may have only just have graduated but he is already planning to start the MSc Health Psychology course in September, but he wasn’t always so sure of where he was heading:

“First of all, I wasn’t entirely sure of what I was going to do, I didn’t even think I was going to go to uni. I chose Leeds Beckett mainly based on the fact that the culture appealed to me. I felt intimidated by some other unis and how big they were and how you wouldn’t get to know a lot of the staff you were working with.”

He said the staff at Leeds Beckett are great: 

“The academic staff are so friendly. It’s like a friendship that you have with them as opposed to a teacher and student relationship.”

Ben says his internship has been his favourite moment of his course: 

“I was so lucky to be able to do an internship - I worked with the National Institute of Health and Care Research with my supervisor Ollie Smith, and we did a lot of great stuff together. I’m going to be a co-author on a paper that we wrote, I got to disseminate the findings with a lot of other researchers, and I’ve made a lot of good connections and had a lot of fun.”

His advice to anyone starting out in September is to take advantage of everything you can: 

“It can be quite overwhelming, especially if you’re not from a big city, and if you don’t have a lot of confidence. You need to take advantage of everything you can, say yes to everything, join clubs, speak to someone new everyday if you can and don’t be scared because everyone is in the same boat.”

While at Leeds Beckett, Ben followed his own advice and joined the Climbing Society, has worked in the Student Union and is part of Hyde Park Harriers running group. He says all of this and his time at Leeds Beckett has helped him a lot: 

“I think during my time at Leeds Beckett I’ve really discovered how to be confident in myself and how to put myself forward in certain situations. I’ve learned how to take rejection and feedback and to not be afraid to fail because eventually you do get there in the end.”

Ben has his future mapped out and it involves staying at Leeds Beckett: 

“I’m not actually leaving. I’m staying and going on to do a Master’s in Health Psychology. If I were to leave, I would miss many things so that’s the reason I’m staying. My future plans after the Master’s will hopefully be a PhD to continue working in queer and trans healthcare, especially sexual health care, working in policy and really taking advantage of whatever I can to get there.”

Ben has recently won the BPS Pyschology of Women and Qualitities Section (POWES) Undergraduate Award 2026 with his final year project.  

Find out more information about studying BSc Psychology and MSc Health Psychology.