MSc in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation

Programme overview

The trend of increasing disasters and related losses is a truly global challenge. The changing global risk landscape due to processes such as climate change, urbanisation, and the increasing complexity of modern society poses major challenges for sustainable development and must be addressed with an interdisciplinary approach. A growing number of governments and international organisations acknowledge the necessity to increase their efforts in disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in order to successfully adjust to changing environments and develop safe and sustainable societies.

The Master’s programme in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation has support from important national and international institutions, e.g. UN agencies, the Red Cross/ Red Crescent movement, NGOs and national authorities.

The programme contributes to meeting the need for qualified professionals who can:

• Contribute to resilient and sustainable societies through the use of interdisciplinary concepts, methods and tools within disaster risk management and climate change adaptation.
• Apply skills in risk assessment, capacity assessment, preparedness and contingency planning, and risk-based land-use planning.
• Work with capacity development and project management for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in local, national and international organisations or agencies.
• Utilise and contribute to research in this field.

The programme offers a mix of practical and theoretical learning with a strong focus on group work and interaction between students and teaching staff as well as with important actors within this field of study. Examples of the latter are involvement of experts from national and international organisations in some of the courses and the possibility of taking an elective internship-based course. The programme has connections with potential hosts for interns and students conducting research for their Master’s thesis within the UN-system, the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement and Governmental agencies on different administrative levels in various parts of the world.

Students come from all over the world and from various academic disciplines, such as engineering science, social science, political science, natural science and environmental science. Even if previous work experience is not a requirement to enter the programme, most of our students have professional or volunteer experience.

Programme structure

Compulsory courses:

• Societal Resilience (7.5 credits)
• Foundations for Risk Assessment and Management (7.5 credits)
• Capacity Development (7.5 credits)
• Direction and Coordination in Disaster Management (7.5 credits)
• Risk-Based Land Use Planning (7.5 credits)
• Climate Smart Risk Reduction (7.5 credits)
• Preparedness and Planning (7.5 credits)
• Risk Perception, Communication and Human Behaviour (7.5 credits)
• Humanitarian Logistics (7.5 credits)
• Research Methodology (7.5 credits)
• Master’s degree project (30 credits)

Electives:
30 credits in total

• Internship-based course (15 credits)
• Critical Infrastructure Resilience (7.5 credits)
• Geographical Information Technology – Introduction (15 credits)
• Fundamentals of Logistics and Operations Management (7.5 credits)
• Integrated Water Resources Management: International Aspects (7.5 credits)

Additional courses might be available, e.g. in areas of public health, gender, migration and development.

Career prospects

Students graduating from the Master’s programme in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation will be attractive for a career with actors contributing to a more resilient and sustainable society, ranging from local and national authorities to international actors as well as private consultancies. Graduates have acquired a broad understanding of the field and have the ability to apply skills and generic tools in various working contexts. The programme provides qualifications for both professional activities in society and for research studies at the PhD level.

The network of organisations supporting the programme have in their letters of support for the programme emphasised the need for professionals with qualifications in e.g. resilience, risk assessment and management, preparedness/contingency planning and capacity development, topics which are at the core of the programme.