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Overview
Natural disasters and armed conflict have existed in human existence throughout history. Disaster Management and Resilience MSc can develop your existing skills to help you manage risk and respond to disasters, food insecurity and conflict.
If you are interested in careers focused on disaster intervention or are a current practitioner seeking to update your knowledge in disaster management, humanitarian assistance, capacity building and disaster risk reduction, this specialist master’s course encompasses up-to-date thinking in disaster theory, management policy, strategy and practice in the in the developing and developed world.
Disaster management has been taught at Coventry for over 20 years and this postgraduate course covers the advanced research skills, knowledge and management expertise, to deal effectively with future disasters, encouraging you to adopt a strategic and holistic perspective. It aims to develop your expertise and capacity to identify, analyse, interpret and manage risk and disaster issues successfully focusing on less economically developed contexts across the world, focusing on sustainable solutions and building community resilience.
Our Learning Platform
Coventry University has partnered with FutureLearn*, a leading online social learning platform, to deliver 100% online degrees to learners across the globe.
From short taster courses to undergraduate and postgraduate diplomas, certificates and fully online degrees, we aim to offer a seamless high-quality learning experience on your mobile, desktop or tablet. You can pay for your degree module by module, making it possible to gain a qualification upon successful completion in a flexible and affordable way that can fit your lifestyle and existing commitments.
*Please note that the platform provider may be subject to change.
Flexibility
Short 2-week learning blocks combined with a pay-as-you-go payment modelValue
Spread the cost with our flexible pay-as-you-go payment optionsEmployability
Earn a full Coventry University degree upon successful completionCommunity
Truly international in scale, learn with over 10 million other users across the worldRegister your interest
What our tutors say
We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching.
Course information
This programme is designed to provide you with the opportunity to develop the knowledge and practical skills needed to identify, critically analyse, assess and successfully manage increasingly complex disasters, operating confidently in policy development, strategy implementation and response management.
It aims to enable you to deal with complex multifactorial disasters, in a professional, organisational, national and international capacity, through developing strategies which will increase our resilience to risks and threats to both economies and societies.
You should gain a solid understanding of the key theories within the areas of humanitarian practice, development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction. You should be equipped with skills needed to evaluate the activities of NGOs, multilateral agencies and institutions and undertake risk and vulnerability assessments at an appropriate level of seniority, including important developments in the field of humanitarian relief and operations.
We will help to expand your knowledge of the legal and political framework of international humanitarian and disaster risk reduction sectors, taking account of the social, ethical and environmental contexts of disaster management. You will also be required to carry out an independent piece of research of your choosing, intended to enable you to develop skills in personal organisation, research and critical thinking, as well as advancing your knowledge in the subject area.
Modules
We regularly review our course content, to make it relevant and current for the benefit of our students. For these reasons, course modules may be updated.
In more detail...
In recent years, the world has witnessed a steady rise in social and economic cost of weather-related and geological natural disasters, such as the recent floods in India, South America and East Africa, or the earthquakes in Nepal, Indonesia, China and Mexico. As the in-country capacity of many nations is developed to deal with disasters, international agencies are left to deal with the most complex and protracted emergencies, such as food insecurity, famine and conflict.
Increasingly, an integrated global disaster response is called for, spanning multiple agencies and often many nations and governments. Responding agencies and their staff are facing new levels of complexity when trying to deal effectively with the management of large-scale, cross-country disasters.
This master’s course aims to reflect the growing need for disaster managers to have practical solutions and be responsive and innovative in identifying, assessing and managing risks, hazards, emergencies and disasters. It covers a range of exciting and relevant topics within the interdisciplinary field of disaster management. Focusing on the theoretical, policy and operational aspects of disaster management, we aim to use international case studies, guest speakers and workshops to illustrate how applied and theoretical knowledge complement each other.
- You will be taught by full time experienced and qualified lecturers. All our teaching staff have experience in preparedness, development and response; evaluation of the long-term sustainability of post-disaster housing reconstruction, advising on the formulation of a National Community Resilience Framework and on policy and strategies for warning and informing the public.
You will be taught by full time experienced and qualified lecturers.
The course is primarily designed to be studied part-time by students currently in employment.
To be awarded a master’s degree you must successfully complete modules worth 180 credits. All content will be delivered through a flexible model where students choose the number of modules they will study across a given academic term. Each 13 week term is comprised of 5 sets of 2 week blocks of learning (e.g. 5 x 2 weeks) with the remainder of the term used for assessment (e.g. 3 weeks).
For each module we will provide engaging video lectures and a variety of interactive content and activities. The online contact between lecturers and colleagues will help you stay motivated and committed to learning.
This online course allows busy professionals to fit their studies into other commitments, and maximise work-study balance
This course will be assessed using a variety of methods which will could vary depending upon the module. Online assessment methods include watching videos, reading articles, doing tests and completing assignments online.
The Coventry University Group assessment strategy ensures that our courses are fairly assessed and allows us to monitor student progression towards the achieving the intended learning outcomes. Assessments may include exams, individual assignments or group work elements.
On successful completion, you should have knowledge of:
A comprehensive evaluation of risk, its components and influencing factors, approaches to assessment, and prioritisation and organisational role in planning, managing and recovering from humanitarian crises and disasters.
A detailed knowledge of policy and approaches for mitigating, preparing for, managing and recovering from crises, conflict and disasters for responding agencies, organisations and affected communities.
A thorough comprehension of approaches to assessing complexity and interaction and developing, monitoring and evaluating resilience in processes, systems, organisations and communities at risk from known and emergent threats in a sustainable way.
A detailed analysis of multi-stakeholder engagement, communication, co-operation and governance in all aspects of policy and strategy development, implementation and management, at all scales in disaster contexts.
An ability to manage information, evaluate uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity in knowledge, method and management and to make appropriate and defensible decisions for managing complex disaster situations.
A critical awareness of issues and challenges at the forefront of research and practice in disasters and resilience.
An ability to evaluate and use appropriate methods of enquiry and analysis, and to progress good practice in the discipline over the course of their career.
The skills demanded to research, evaluate high level material in order to produce an independent working paper that meets ethical requirements of the university, synthesises both academic and sector perspectives and presents findings and recommendations in a professional way.
Each 50 credit module will consist of 150 hours activities.
The activity time will be made up of a mixture of guided and self-guided study. Students will have access to an experienced team of tutors and lecturers who will support their studies. Each module will have dedicated online tutorials to support the learning.
This course focuses on disaster management within an international context, drawing on case studies and the experience of agencies working across the globe. You will have opportunities to collaborate with students from around the world via our online platform FutureLearn. The international nature of our course design and delivery team will provide you with a diverse range of experiences from a global perspective.
What our tutors say
We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching.
Entry Requirements
What our tutors say
We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching.
| Module Code | Module Name | Credits | Fee per module |
| 7087EXQ | Community Preparedness, Recovery and Resilience | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7019EXQ | Disaster Interventions, Evaluation and Learning | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7017EXQ | Disaster Risk, Resilience, Adaptation and Sustainability | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7016EXQ | Humanitarian Principles, Preparedness and Response | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7095EXQ | Researching Perspectives and Practice | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7091EXQ | Resilience, Security and Emerging Technologies | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7089EXQ | Risk, Incidents and Leadership | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7093EXQ | Training and Exercise Design and Delivery | 15 | £ 1,166.66 |
| 7002CRB | Global Professional Development - Consultancy | 10 | £ 777.77 |
| 7122EXQ | Working Paper | 50 | £ 3,888.88 |
What our tutors say
We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching.
Career prospects
The course aims to enable you to develop your skills in problem-solving, teamwork and leadership, project management and communication, all of which are qualities employers demand Our part-time students are often sponsored by their employers and our graduates have gone on to work for a range of organisations, including, governments, NGOs and private sector organisations.
We strive to produce graduates who can make difficult decisions whilst being culturally sensitive, ethical and compassionate, the capabilities required by international relief and development organisations, private sector consultancies, national government, local authorities and United Nations agencies operating around the world.
Where our graduates work
Graduates from the on-campus version of this course have gone to work in the UK and in countries all over the world, including Denmark, Finland, Germany, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, the United States and Canada. Some have taken up roles as planning officers, emergency planners, international humanitarian coordinator, disaster risk reduction analysts and deployable emergency response managers, while others have joined emergency services, public administration or pursued research and lecturing within education.
Employers of our graduates include: UNICEF, United Nations, Action Centre La Faim (Toronto, Canada), the Institute for Risk Management and Climate Change (Bogota, Colombia), WWF, Danish Refugee Council, Deutsche Bahn, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (Mumbai, India), United Nations Population Fund (Jakarta, Indonesia), the British and German Red Cross, The Netherlands Institute for Safety, Medecins Sans Frontieres and the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency.
What our tutors say
We are committed to providing our students with the best possible experience. We continue to invest in both our facilities and our innovative approach to education. Our students benefit from industry-relevant teaching.
Disclaimer
By accepting your offer of a place and enrolling with Coventry University, a Student Contract will be formed between you and Coventry University. A copy of the student contract will be made available to you via the dedicated Admissions Teams, during the enquiry/application stage. The Contract details your rights and the obligations you will be bound by during your time as a student and contains the obligations that the University will owe to you. You should read the Contract before you accept an offer of a place and before you enrol with the University.
