Program Overview

Crisis Management, Leadership and Strategic Foresight (IRDR0003)

Key Information

• Faculty: Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
• Teaching department: Risk and Disaster Reduction
• Credit value: 15
• Restrictions: N/A

Alternative Credit Options

There are no alternative credit options available for this module.

Description

Emergency and disaster planning and management are set to become a fully-fledged profession. They require practitioners to coordinate complex operations that involve many different kinds of expert and widely diverse problems that must be solved rapidly and efficiently. This module will deal systematically with specialised emergency planning and management, as applied to different sectors. We will promote a better understanding of systemic risk, identifying and addressing the new emerging challenges for crisis management. The lectures will analyse the interactions between technology, society, and the environment for developing strategic and tactical considerations that are aimed at ensuring operational capacity.

The module will include topics such as:

• Critical infrastructure disruptions, including a focus on electricity, satellite systems, and NATECH events
• The challenges of compound events, such as concurrent climate extremes
• The contextual differences associated with drivers like cultural heritage and vulnerable groups
• The role and challenges of supply chain resilience

Ample use will be made of case histories and scenario-based classroom discussions and exercises.

In today's hyper-connected world, turbulence, and uncertainty in one country have a ripple effect that could lead to shortages in the delivery of essential goods and services across the globe as witnessed in the recent supply chain global crisis. The module will help students to develop a thorough understanding of the fundamental principles of supply chain resilience, and the impact of disruptions on the financial, information and material flows between organisations.

Shortages of critical items such as food, fuel, medical supplies or semiconductor chips don't just impact on manufacturing and operational capacities, but they affect livelihoods. The module will introduce students to tools necessary to mitigating supply chain risks through improving the resilience of the entire system
etwork of organisations, and it aims at preparing students to evaluate supply chain risk drivers and mitigating strategies to quickly minimise damage after disruptions and support long-term recovery.

Module Deliveries for 2026/27 Academic Year

• Intended teaching term: Term 2
• Postgraduate (FHEQ Level 7)

Teaching and Assessment

• Mode of study: In person
• Methods of assessment: 100% Exam
• Mark scheme: Numeric Marks

Other Information

• Number of students on module in previous year: 15
• Module leader: Professor Gianluca Pescaroli

Last Updated

This module description was last updated on 10th March 2026.