PGCert Disaster Risk and Resilience draft

Program Overview

This postgraduate program in Disaster and Emergency Management equips students with advanced skills in risk assessment, humanitarian response, and disaster resilience. Through a blend of online and on-campus learning, students gain a comprehensive understanding of disaster management principles, policies, and practices. The program emphasizes practical application through simulated disaster scenarios and sector-appropriate assessments, preparing graduates for careers in humanitarian organizations, government agencies, and disaster response teams.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

There will be opportunities to take part in simulated disaster response scenarios in our immersive Simulation Centre. Upon successful completion of the course, you should understand the 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 transformation.

Outline:

Full-time study is one year and part-time study is normally up to two years.

Modules:

• Disaster Risk, Resilience, Adaption and Sustainability (15 credits): Provides you with an understanding of the concepts and interrelationship between the concepts of disaster risk, resilience, adaptation, development and sustainability from the perspective of historical and current international events, strategy and policy drivers.
An understanding of the disaster-development continuum is critical to those working or intending to work in international development, disaster risk reduction (DRR) and emergency practice in increasingly complex environments.
• Humanitarian Principles, Preparedness and Response (15 credits): equips you with an understanding of the contemporary theoretical perspectives of humanitarian action and management approaches to disaster preparedness and humanitarian response.
It aims to provide you with an understanding of the organisational architecture, drivers and standards in humanitarian response as well as current challenges and changes for organisations operating in the humanitarian response sector.
• Community Preparedness, Recovery and Resilience (15 credits): Despite the recent popularity and frequent use of the community resilience concept in emergency and disaster management research and policy programmes, there is a confusing range of theoretical interpretations and an equally broad range of operational interpretations.
This module aims to provide you with a high-level conceptual understanding of resilience and its relationship with preparedness and recovery activities done by and on behalf of communities.
• Disaster Interventions, Evaluation and Learning (15 credits): Reviews a good governance approaches to mainstreaming effective and sustainable disaster interventions and reviews the links between international policy and local projects.
Thereafter the module focuses on analyse of traditional emerging approaches to disaster interventions in order to evaluate opportunities and good practice perspectives for Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL).
• Supporting Transition to Postgraduate Study (0 credits): These online sessions will assist and prepare you in the transition to postgraduate education by developing your academic skills, to improve and enhance your personal effectiveness as a learner.
It is particularly useful if you are new to Higher Education or have been away from study for some time. We will look at areas such as critical reading, academic writing and referencing skills. It is compulsory.

Assessment:

This course is be assessed using a variety of sector-appropriate methods which vary depending upon the module. All written assignments are submitted online and presentations can be recorded. Assessment methods include reports, proposals and business cases, presentations, posters etc.

Teaching:

Delivery is supported by our innovative online social learning platforms, allowing you to undertake substantial parts of your study at home whether you are studying on campus or online, where you can revisit content and find additional materials. You also have access to our library's electronic resources 24/7, including thousands of books, ejournals and newspapers.

Teaching and learning methods may include:

• Seminars and discussion
• Practical sessions and workshops
• Simulation exercises
• Study visits

Careers:

On successful completion of this course, you will have knowledge 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.

• Policy and approaches for mitigating, preparing for, managing and recovering from crises, conflict and disasters for responding agencies, organisations and affected communities.

• 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.

• Stakeholder analysis and 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.

• Challenges and approaches for information management, evaluating uncertainty, ambiguity and complexity in knowledge, appropriate and defensible decisions for managing complex disaster situations.

• Issues and challenges at the forefront of research and practice in disasters and resilience.

Other:

• This course was first established 20 years ago and is still a leading provider of Higher Education courses and Consultancy services in emergency and disaster management.
• International and UK students take classes together, benefiting from the personal experiences of other students, as well as staff who are typically from other parts of the world.

Tuition Fees and Payment Information:

• UK: £3,733
• International: £6,200
• The following are additional costs not included in the tuition fees:
• Any optional overseas field trips or visits: £400+ per trip.
• Any costs associated with securing, attending or completing a placement (whether in the UK or abroad).