Disaster Management and Sustainable Development MSc
1 Year Full-Time | September Start

In this rapidly expanding field, you will learn through real scenarios and case studies and live research projects, developing your personal and professional responses to disaster and development challenges.

Guided through lectures, seminars and workshops by staff with vast experience in applying expertise to current world issues, you will develop the knowledge and practical skills needed to prepare for, take action within, and recover from a crisis. You will also develop a specialism in an area such as health and wellbeing in disaster management, integrated emergency management, or exploring a specific thematic subject of your own choice. The course culminates in a Masters dissertation which can take the form of a traditional research dissertation or a work related project.

Assessment is designed to provide an authentic learning experience, using techniques and approaches common in professional practice and subject-based academic research and consultancy. We provide constructive ongoing and forward feedback to develop your understanding within and between modules.

Taught modules are regularly reviewed to ensure they deliver up-to-date material and new knowledge that has been generated across the diverse range of topics in the global Disaster Management and Sustainable Development arena.

Our MSc was the first of its kind in the world and retains uniqueness through its Social Development integration. Over the last two decades our staff and graduates have informed policy at an international level, regularly advising and researching with the United Nations and national development organisations.

With many modules directly relating to the research expertise of teaching staff, you will learn from lecturers who lead knowledge creation in their specialist fields. Through collaborations with scholars, practitioners and senior policy makers across the world, our academics have connections with organisations such as the United Nations, the World Bank, national Emergency Management and Environment Agencies, as well as international and national charities and governments and agencies at various scales in a range of countries around the world.

If you’re looking for specialist software packages or group study areas, our facilities have been developed to help you through your studies.

We also make use of technology in module delivery. Modules take a ‘virtual field study’ approach where real-world examples are brought into the classroom via video clips, podcasts and online discussions with external experts and practitioners. 

Lecture materials, learning resources and assessment details are accessible on the eLearning portal (Blackboard), a university-wide system that also provides access to discussion boards where you can communicate with your fellow students and lecturers.

Research-led teaching and learning is used to guide you from the very start of your studies. We embed research into lectures, seminars and workshops, drawing on staff and visiting lecturers’ research findings and consultancy.

You will be encouraged to debate key readings and actively engage in critical discussion of research strategies in interactive seminars and workshops. This is reinforced by assessments where you critically evaluate case studies, concepts, applications and research outputs.

Our research into Disaster and Development was ranked among the top 20 impact case studies within the Research Excellence Framework for contribution towards global development.

Northumbria is one of three Europe wide groups to represent Europe and Africa in the new Global Alliance of Disaster Research Institutes, and a leading member of a new UK national research network for implementing the UK research strategy for the Sendai Framework.

In your studies you will experience the direct results of contemporary research work in fields such as climate change impact, humanitarian aid provision and social development whilst encountering project management techniques and analytical skills through developing your own live projects with the support of specialist knowledge.

This postgraduate course is designed to support the development of those seeking to enter a career in the disaster and development fields, as well as to broaden and deepen the career options of those already working in the field.

Our connections with professionals working in the sector ensure that the course content is aligned with current practice and relevant to the world, while staff research helps to inform new innovations, reflected in the taught modules of the MSc.

Professional links are maintained by the programme staff and such connections could lead to placements in countries such as Sri Lanka, the Philippines, India, Nepal, Australia and a number of African countries, as well as with EU and UK-based organisations.

Our graduates are highly employable, equipped with the skills to address hazards, disasters, risks, vulnerabilities and complex emergencies, working with/in relief and development organisations, national authorities and emergency services at a local or global level.

Graduates go on to careers in a widely diverse range of related areas, for example:

1. Emergency Planner/Emergency Planning Manager;

2. Disaster and Development Academic and/or Researcher;

3. Business Contingency Manager;

4. Humanitarian and United Nations Consultant;

5. Deputy Head of Field Officer of the Office of the United Nations for Humanitarian Assistance (OCHA)

and are often working for Environmental Agencies, Local Authorities and International, National, Regional and Local Non-Governmental Offices - often at managerial level.

A number of students who already worked in the sector have subsequently progressed to senior roles in United Nations bodies, World Vision and UK Emergency Planning. Others have successfully gone on to PhD research before pursuing a career in academia in a range of countries around the world, both so-called developed and developing.