Program Overview

If you are looking to start your career in disaster management and humanitarian action, or currently work in a local or national government disaster management agency, an NGO or civil society organisation and need to further your career; this course could provide you with the advanced skills and knowledge you need.

• This course is designed to enable you to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to anticipate, assess, mitigate, critically analyse, prepare, plan for and successfully manage increasingly complex disasters; operating confidently in policy development, strategy implementation, and response and recovery planning and management.
• The overall aim is for you to be able to contribute to the strengthening of community, professional, organisational, national and international capacity to deal with complex multifactorial disasters, developing strategies that could increase resilience to acute and chronic threats to both economies and societies.
• During your studies, you should advance your skills in evaluating complex situations, developing creative and innovative solutions, and implementing lessons learned. There will be opportunities to take part in training and exercises through simulated emergency scenarios in our immersive Simulation Centre

Why you should study this course

• Climate change, urban pressure and lack of disaster preparedness are increasingly transforming natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions or tsunamis into disastrous events causing life and economic losses.
• Upon successful completion of the course, you should have an advanced understanding of concepts, theories policy and practice within the areas of risk, humanitarian practice, development, disaster risk reduction, and climate change adaptation so that you are better able to evaluate the activities of NGOs, government organisations, multilateral agencies and institutions and drive necessary improvements.
• Coventry University was the first UK university to establish courses in disaster management and emergency planning over 20 years ago (Hulse & Moseley 1998) and is still a leading provider of Higher Education courses and Consultancy services in emergency and disaster management capabilities. We have more than 25 years of alumni who sit in senior positions in organisational resilience across the world.
• There is dedicated support available for those who are new to Higher Education, or returning after a long break, with additional modules designed to transition you into postgraduate study and support you as you learn to research.
•     You will have the opportunity to carry out an independent piece of research of your choosing, producing an industry-facing working paper which should be of publishable quality.