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

You will be given the opportunity to critically explore a topic of your choice into a specialised cutting edge dimension of disaster management and sustainable development drawing on contemporary themes and sub themes. This may be theoretical / philosophical / ethical in nature, or into an applied professional area in disaster management and sustainable development. The latter may be, if you so prefer, related to exploring the trend of professionalisation, enterprise and entrepreneurship in the disaster and development field, but there are no pre-selected topics due to the tailored individualised learning concept of this module.

Real scenarios and case studies will be engaged with during the module through directed learning activities, but for the predominate part of the module you will be working individually on your chosen topic which will need to be agreed with the module leader as appropriate. This topic of yours could be a virtual or real research or advisory / consultancy project (widely defined).
You will individually reflect on your interaction and learning with the issues focussed on, but also benefit from peer learning. You will take your findings into a mode of communication to share this more widely, which ordinarily would be a report but a negotiated alternative mode of presentation (website, visualisation etc) can be negotiated with the module tutor if equivalent to the report in length and effort.

You will learn about how climate and environmental change weave through contemporary debates, challenges and practice in Sustainable Development from Global North and Global South perspectives. The module starts by covering the physical processes of climate change, broader environmental change and their impacts as an essential aspect of understanding the contemporary challenges of sustainable development. This serves as an essential foundation for learning about disasters (including adaptation, management and resilience) and their relationship to development. We focus on concepts, interpretations and principles of sustainable development, as well as the global institutions, policies, conferences and landmark contributions to the sustainability debate, policy and practice. We then mobilise this knowledge to focus on the developing world to learn about approaches to poverty alleviation, livelihoods, One Health, human security, natural resource management, and disasters. You will learn the appropriate conceptual frameworks to understand and approach these issues in depth. Finally the module explores how these problems intersect with dynamics in urban industrial societies.

This module provides an excellent foundation to employment in the development sector, for example by enabling you to better understand sector-wide debates, issues and processes. You will understand the different roles of various organisations and sectors in the development process as well as the language and frameworks they use in research, policy and practice. The module supports the development the key skills of giving oral presentations, writing a logical, reasoned argument and applying theory to practice which will prove valuable in terms of enhancing employability.

You will learn about hazard, vulnerability, disaster and emergency paradigms in different development contexts, and the evolution of disaster management from a response focus to a risk reduction perspective. Within the context of disaster risk reduction, you will explore the role of international, national and local actors in reducing disaster risk. Within the context of disaster response, you will explore how relief is managed, the role of the Humanitarian Charter and minimum standards. To do this, we will consider a range of geophysical and hydrometeorological hazards and associated disasters, including in the context of human conflict, drawing on a range of examples that map onto the research expertise of the module’s teaching staff. The specific topics you will study include:

• The range of interpretations of disaster management in different development contexts
• The range of institutions, stakeholders and processes at various levels and the role of intergovernmental, governmental and non-governmental organisations with reference to disaster risk reduction and response
• The principles, practices and policies of disaster risk reduction and disaster management at various levels
• The circumstances that give rise to disaster risk or disaster resilience through case studies and the application of conceptual frameworks
• How to recognise good practice in interventions for disaster management and sustainable development

You will learn approaches to physical, psychological, social, political, economic, cultural and environmental aspects of health and well-being associated with immediate crises and longer-term health burdens. This lays foundations for comparing and contrasting strategic policy for preparedness and responses to emergent health hazards, complex political disasters, resilient health care and ways of looking at communities and the socio-economic, political, psychological and environmental characteristics they exhibit. This agenda is based on a demand to understand the nature and context of changes in human health and well-being in response to local and global crisis. It provides grounding in applied principles and practices of health and well-being centred disaster risk reduction and health care relative to conceptions of ‘health and well-being’ in emergency’, and transformations, bottom-up capabilities, leadership and hopes from inside and outside a community. Critical issues in both minority and majority worlds are examined either in terms of health hazards, vulnerability, resilience, coping, individual and institutional health care and societal responses and in terms of a virtual or real project in community well-being. These central themes, which are adjustable to most health and well-being phenomena, are addressed for the cases of infectious disease, nutrition, mental health and well-being, primary and emergency health care systems, the political economy of care, self-care, one health and other integrated well-being perspectives. A prime purpose of the module is that students from varied backgrounds will be equipped to contribute to policy and practice debates or health disaster avoidance, survivability and sustainable well-being.

Through your journey on this module you will learn how integrated emergency management (IEM) can be applied to deliver resilience across communities, businesses, infrastructure, etc. You will learn to define and then apply key terms like ‘hazard’, ‘risk’, ‘emergency’ and ‘major incident’ within the context of anticipating and assessing the impacts from emergencies before then appraising mechanisms of preventing the emergency, or otherwise preparing to respond to it, and how we recover after an incident happens.

Included in your learning is an appraisal of international frameworks but the focus is primarily on seeing how these principles apply in practice. So you will learn about, for example, the United Nation’s The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (UNISDR, 2015) and the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) manual for The Public Health Management of Chemical Incidents (WHO, 2009). Equally, you are encouraged to share your own country’s approaches, and your own experience, as additional examples of practice in this area. As an example of IEM you will appraise the UK’s civil contingencies structures and through real case studies from incident mangement, some where possible will be delivered by guest speakers, you will see how theoretical incident management is delivered into practice. Alongside civil contingencies structures you will evaluate how other regulatory frameworks support community resilience such as the application of the European Serveso Directive promotes resilience in anticipation of chemical incidents from defined high risk sites.

You will learn to identify research questions and project ideas by critically evaluating current research and /or practice in a discipline and identifying an appropriate topic for your own exploration through reviews and analyses of appropriate literature and the planning, development and management of a study. The module enables you to design your research using appropriate project methodologies including through analysis and evaluation of data and within the context of existing literature. You will learn to apply concepts, models or theories to consolidate an extended knowledge in your chosen field of study whilst being aware of your own influence on the research and project process. In formulating, researching, and writing your dissertation you will be guided by your dissertation supervisor. The dissertation is the culmination of your taught experience and will enable you to deploy the skills develop during the taught programme.

The module enables you to apply combinations of theoretical, empirical or practice-based analysis in proceeding to further research and/or practice and to present findings effectively using academic conventions. You will learn to comprehend the importance and application of research and project ethics, good practice and health and safety aspects of field research and projects including confidentiality and data protection. You will be able to write up the research in the form of a 20,000-word dissertation. The dissertation module equips you to cope with an extended piece of work that significantly increases your employability in the sectors represented by the MSc programme. This may include through an internship with an external organisation.

You will learn about the foundations (research theories), benefits / advantages and limits /drawbacks of a range of advanced standard social science research methodologies. You will thus be in a better position to design a research strategy and operationalise this, particularly for your Masters Dissertation or Project, but also for future graduate employment in knowledge societies and research-rich or informed careers and professions. You will also be better prepared to scrutinise other people’s / organisations’ research, and to what extent it is appropriate, robust and meaningful – particularly the connection between research objectives / questions and methods and interpretation of findings.
Research methods covered will include both qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques to explore issues in disaster and development studies, and global development from a human / societal / social processes / organisations / communities perspective. Particular attention will be devoted to evidence-based policy making and “wicked issues”. “Natural” environmental processes will be within the scope of the module as far as a social science-based exploration of “produced nature” is fruitful and necessary.

Key topics/themes/issues covered can include, but are not limited to: Approaching Research Methods, Designing Your Research Process, Ethics and Risk Assessment, Fieldwork Research Issues, Consultancy / Stakeholder issues, Case study research, Qualitative / Institutional Research Methods and Analysis, Quantitative Research Methods and (spatial and thematic) Data Analysis, Development Fieldwork through Interviewing, Participatory methods, Survey research, qualitative versus quantitative research and its applications, mixed methods research, research analysis and communication (writing-up and for of presentation).

Academic skills when studying away from your home institution can differ due to cultural and language differences in teaching and assessment practices. This module is designed to support your transition in the use and practice of technical language and subject specific skills around assessments and teaching provision in your chosen subject area in the Department of Architecture and Built Environment. The overall aim of this module is to develop your abilities to read and study effectively for academic purposes; to develop your skills in analysing and using source material in seminars and academic writing and to develop your use and application of language and communications skills to a higher level.

The topics you will cover on the module include:

• Understanding assignment briefs and exam questions.
• Developing academic writing skills, including citation, paraphrasing, and summarising.
• Practising ‘critical reading’ and ‘critical writing’.
• Planning and structuring academic assignments (e.g. essays, reports and presentations).
• Avoiding academic misconduct and gaining credit by using academic sources and referencing effectively.
• Listening skills for lectures.
• Speaking in seminar presentations.
• Giving discipline-related academic presentations, experiencing peer observation, and receiving formative feedback.
• Speed reading techniques.
• Discussing ethical issues in research, and analysing results.
• Describing bias and limitations of research.
• Developing self-reflection skills.

This is an innovative experiential module that will involve you preparing for, taking part in and reflecting on an overseas study visit. Visits will take place in various locations and will draw on the expertise, partnership, and experiences of the teaching staff. You may visit India, Indonesia, Peru, Uganda or other countries where teaching staff maintain well-established research projects and professional relationships. The location of each study visit will be advertised in advance.

Through this module you will (a) seek to develop a sound knowledge and understanding of the development trajectory of the country/region you are visiting, (b) engage with key civil society development actors and educational partners in that context, (c) deepen your understanding of development practice, (d) develop key transferrable fieldwork skills and (e) develop a critical appreciation of the importance of experiential learning in your own personal and academic development.

The central part of this module will be your experiences whilst overseas in which you will be supported through a range of activities to engage with development practitioners and development challenges as well as the cultural life of the location visited. In order to prepare you for this, workshop will focus on cultural awareness training, the development of core fieldwork skills and planning for enhanced group work activities.