Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc
A multi-disciplinary Master's course that equips you with an academic underpinning to your career relating to disaster risk reduction.
Create safer, stronger futures
Join UCL’s world‑leading experts in risk, disaster and resilience.
Apply nowVoiceover: What if disasters aren't natural, but human made and human solved?
At UCL’s MSc in Risk, Disaster and Resilience, students from all backgrounds learn to challenge assumptions, tackle real-world crises, and shape a safer future. This is more than a degree, it's a launchpad for change.
Kim-Anh Chau (alumna), PhD student UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction: The Master at UCL changed the way I understand disasters from this more technological understanding of disasters that were centred about nature and hazards, to an understanding of disasters as the outcome of social processes as well.
Professor Punam Yadav, UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction: We must not forget the human element; looking at how different human beings are impacted differently.
Ihsan Prebaswara, MSc student: It introduced me a new knowledge about how to mitigate disaster from the business perspective, from the social perspective, from the cultural perspective and also from the economical perspective.
Professor Ilan Kelman, UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction: One approach will simply not solve the connections and complexities and difficulties which society has to face.
Dr Myles Harris, UCL Risk & Disaster Reduction: We have a multidisciplinary department. Every member of staff has a completely different background and we share that in the classroom.
Professor Punam Yadav: Students who join the MSc programme should expect to be challenged for their worldview because they will learn different theories from different perspectives.
Professor Ilan Kelman: Our Master's has core modules and then they have a suite of optional modules where they can create their own pathway. Whether they want to dive deeply or think more generally, they have that choice to set themselves up specifically for the next steps in their career.
Rich Lawrence, MSc student: One thing I've really enjoyed about some of the modules is a variety of speakers that we've had in to engage with this. We had everyone from members of the military, NGOs, international organisations, frontline professionals all providing different approaches and understandings of the realities of working on the ground.
Professor Punam Yadav: In the department we have world leading scholars bringing case studies, stories and experiences from the field to the classroom to illustrate complex theories.
Dr Myles Harris: Students have an opportunity to engage with both research and field work to go into the field and learn about how to manage risk in a real life environment.
Kim-Anh Chau: I think this bridge between theory and practice, this background that comes from many different disciplines really prepare people for a career in this field.
Professor Ilan Kelman: Possible jobs which are available could be with the insurance sector or financial sector. It could be a resilience officer with a local authority. We've had students go and work in humanitarian and conflict situations with the Red Cross and Red Crescent. Career pathways are open for everyone to build their own and to select. Or perhaps joining us for a PhD here at UCL.
Jonathan Price (alumnus), Director of Programmes, Berwick Consultants: The skills and knowledge that I've learned to be able to take from UCL has enabled me to speak with confidence with all of our clients. So we're actually getting more business. So it's had a pretty profound impact on my career.
Dr Myles Harris: We hope to see graduates come out of this programme that have leadership skills, technical skills, research skills that are able to tackle some of the really complicated issues in risk and disaster around the world.
Voiceover: UCL's MSc in Risk, Disaster and Resilience. Your path to shaping a safer future.
Teaching and Learning
Learn from world-class researchers and professionals delivering the course through a combination of lectures, class discussions, problem-solving exercises, practicals, field trips, directed reading, student-led dialogue, and a practitioner-led real-time disaster scenario event.
Assessment involves individual and group presentations, coursework, written examinations, and a research project.
What you’ll learn
Physical and social science of natural and anthropogenic hazards
- What is known and unknown.
- Current research and uncertainties.
Building resilience
- What are the barriers to risk and disaster reduction and how do we overcome them?
- Developing a common language to communicate complex concepts in an accessible way.
Understanding vulnerability
- From fragility curves describing damage to buildings to social vulnerability of individuals and society.
Quantifying risk
- What is risk and how do we measure it?
- Components of risk: exposure, hazard, vulnerability.
Multidisciplinary holistic approaches
- Integrating scientific knowledge into disaster risk reduction research, policy and practice.
- Communicating with stakeholders.
- Conduct and appraise research and policy.
Managing disaster
- How to apply plans to manage real emergencies.
Funding
The UCL Risk and Disaster Science MSc is one of the eligible courses for the Commonwealth Shared Scholarship Scheme. This scholarship is available to Commonwealth citizens, refugees or British-protected persons who are permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth Country. The scholarship covers full tuition fees, a maintenance allowance, and air travel to and from the UK at the beginning and end of the course. You must have applied for the MSc by the scholarship application deadline.
Careers
Whether you wish to start a new career in risk and disaster reduction or you already have experience we are here to support you. With a Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc you will have excellent academic credibility coupled with practical and analytical skills. We run an annual Careers Discovery Evening that offers expert and targeted advice, and hosts stalls from a range of employers and recruiters in the field of risk and disaster reduction. Our alumni are highly sought-after in the following sectors: insurance, catastrophe modelling , risk management, public policy, humanitarian development, NGOs, business continuity, government, emergency services, consultancy, and academia.
Where do our graduates go?
- Verisk
- UK Research and Innovation
- Surrey Heath Borough Council
- British Red Cross
- Sector&Segment
- Societe Generale
- Marsh Commercial
- Mitsubishi Corporation
- PwC
- Quick Release
- Goodson Removals
- Guy Carpenter
- Lancashire Insurance Services Ltd
- 4C Strategies
- Arthur J Gallagher
Master’s courses
Discover PhD courses
All postgraduate modules
Get in touch
UCL RDR Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc course leader
Dr Myles Harris
email: myles.harris@ucl.ac.uk
UCL RDR postgraduate admissions enquiries
email: rdr-education@ucl.ac.uk
Educating Leaders
Discover prize-winning student dissertations and research focusing on future leaders and influencers in the humanitarian and disaster risk reduction sphere.
Alumni Testimonials
”I chose to study Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc at UCL because the variety of topics and the teaching staff looked really exciting! I was interested in being able to take a module from another department as part of my studies and enjoyed a topic in terrorism. During my programme, I enjoyed meeting new students from diverse backgrounds and with different experiences, which helped me in building my network for my future career. I now work for the UK government in resilience and found that my studies at UCL set me up with a good foundation in understanding how resilience and emergency management work. It has been interesting to use my learnings and apply them to developing policy. I’d highly recommend studying at RDR for anyone looking to go into the resilience policy space!”
–– Kirsty Johnson (Risk, Disaster and Resilience MSc, 2020)
Lead disaster recovery efforts
Secure your place on the MSc and prepare to tackle tomorrow’s global challenges.
Apply today