Postgraduate modules

Module Tutor: Professor David Alexander 
Module code: IRDR0002, 15 credits
Department: IRDR
Keywords: Emergency, Crisis, Disaster, Emergency plan, Business continuity planning, Response, Recovery

This module provides a comprehensive introduction to emergency planning and management for crises, major incidents and disasters. It covers the standards, principles, templates and research methods involved. Students will learn about the techniques used to assess vulnerability, risk and impact, plan for emergency response, and create a system that enables events to be managed effectively and efficiently. They will learn about the systems used in emergency response and the dynamics of emergency situations. Students will learn how to create, utilise and maintain emergency plans in both generic terms and for specific sectors. They will learn how to research, write, implement and verify plans, and how to mount a successful emergency response coordination operation. Students will learn to construct scenarios for different contingencies and use their outcomes as vital ingredients in plans. Students will be encouraged to treat planning as a process rather than an outcome. They will learn about the logistical, organisational, administrative, policy and legal contexts of emergency and crisis planning and management, and how to communicate effectively in emergencies. Examples will be drawn from contemporary practice, including the current emergency.
 
The module will cover the following topics:

Evolution of emergency management; disaster myths and misassumptions; vulnerability, risk and resilience; urban hazards and megacities; scenario methodology; case-study methods; cascading disasters; operational capability and evaluation of civil protection systems; standards; Internet resources and professional associations; emergency planning overview and plan structure; emergency management; command systems; emergency operations centres; interoperability; warning and evacuation; policy and legal aspects of emergency response; urban search and rescue; helicopters in emergency work; emergency logistics and feeding; mass media communication and the role of the spokesperson; social media; simulation exercises.

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Module Tutor: Professor Patty Kostkova, Dr Bayes Ahmed
Module code: IRDR0004, 15 credits
Department: IRDR

This module aims to equip students with tools for analyzing qualitative, quantitative and spatial data relating to risk and disaster reduction and public health emergencies including interviews, surveys and mapping.

As a student on this module you will learn basic statistical methods for survey design, and statistical and qualitative techniques for data analysis. You will gain hands-on programming experience in order to equip you with the tools to conduct independent research and analysis work in risk and disaster reduction. This will include analyzing data using an example programming language. Additional computing skills will be gained through an introduction to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensitng (RS) which provides both scientific and practical knowledge of industry-standard software used to analyse geographical data.

Through lectures, seminars, class discussions and computer exercises featuring examples relating to disaster risk reduction, you will learn:

• Planning and designing data collection
  - Introduction to statistics
  - Statistical distributions
  - Samples and Populations 
• Qualitative data analysis
  - Deconstructing responses to surveys, interviews and questionnaires
  - Software for analysing social science data 
• Quantitative data analysis
  - Probabilities
  - Hypothesis testing (parametric and non-parametric)
  - Linear regression (single and multi variable)
• Introduction to Programming
  - Pseudo code
  - Programming for practical data analysis 
• Spatial data analysis through Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS)
  - Scientific and practical knowledge of industry-standard software to analyse geographical data

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Module Tutor: Dr Yasmine Sabri
Module code: IRDR0005, 15 credits
Department: IRDR

This module aims to equip students with the tools required to plan, implement, present and evaluate primary research relating to risk and disaster reduction.

As a student on this module you will learn about the research project chain including the process for proposing research ideas, acquiring funding and approval for such work, logistical planning of fieldwork for both research and emergency response, designing your data collection strategy, practical techniques for fieldwork, presenting your own findings and placing them in context by being able to critique the work of others.

Through lectures, seminars, class discussions and exercises featuring examples relating to disaster risk reduction, and practical fieldwork experience  you will learn:

• How to evaluate research from presentations and papers

How to write effective research, consultancy and funding proposals
How to formulate the research question
How to structure a literature review in a proposal
How to assess resource needs
Apportioning time and resources in a project
What makes proposals attractive - and pitfalls to avoid

• Research Presentation

Audience-appropriate research communication through talks, papers, reports and posters

• Effective data collection

How quantitative and qualitative data research differs
How to conduct interviews
How to write surveys 
How to plan questionnaires

• Fieldwork requirements

Risk Assessment
Fieldwork Ethics

• Responsive fieldwork planning

Participate in a simulated real-time event scenario run by practioners:
Real-time experience of logistical decision making in response to a disaster, led by current practitioners.
What kind of decisions need to be made, how the decision process works, constraints imposed by lack of detailed information and the need for urgency, the need to balance planning and adaptability in response to the developing situation, and the importance of team work in a high-pressure environment.

• Conducting Fieldwork

Hands-on experience in collecting and recording quantitative and qualitative data in the field
An appreciation of different perspectives from professionals in both the private and public sector assessing risks posed to the UK
Practice delivering evidence-based arguments within a structured debate about risk using various types of data

Module tutor: Professor Ilan Kelman
Module code: IRDR0006, 15 credits
Department: IRDR

Conflict continues to take an excessive toll on humanity with humanitarianism for all forms of disasters continuing to be an important sector. Despite many notable successes, why are disaster risk reduction and conflict resolution efforts not solving all the challenges? 

This module aims to help students understand the importance of a disaster risk reduction perspective for conflict and humanitarianism, to experience how communication in such situations is made to and from various stakeholders, to discuss field sites with disaster risk, and to improve their own awareness in terms of identifying which of their own skills they need to develop to adequately deal with conflict and humanitarian situations from a disaster risk reduction perspective.

The lectures, assessments, and seminars will meet the growing and recognised need for those in the field of risk and disaster reduction to understand better the meanings and contexts of conflict and humanitarian settings and how to take a disaster risk reduction perspective of conflict and humanitarianism.

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Transcript for IRDR0006

Transcript for IRDR0006

Module Tutor: Dr Yasmine Sabri
Module code: IRDR0012, 60 credits
Department: IRDR

The independent project provides an opportunity for the student to focus on a particular research question that interests you. An independent project must represent original research. The project may involve collecting and analysing new data, analysing existing data, or presenting a new theory. Students have the option to propose their own master's project topic and discuss this with a potential supervisor or select one from a list of suggested projects.

See module in UCL Module Catalogue

Module Tutor: Dr Punam Yadav 
Module code: IRDR0016, 15 credits
Department: IRDR
Key words: Gender responsiveness, structural vulnerabilities, sexual minorities, violence, disaster, conflict, peace, policy, gender theory, intersectionality, LGBTQI, climate change, migration, IDPs

Our experience of any crisis is largely determined by gendered power relations and unequal social structures. Women, men and sexual minorities are impacted differently in conflict and disaster. In general, more men are likely to die in conflict, whereas more women die in disaster. This is due to their gender roles, social expectations and unequal power relations. Women are faced with different forms of violence in conflict and disaster, as they are in their everyday life. Hence, this module aims to advance students’ understanding around differential gendered impacts of conflict and disaster, and gender responsiveness in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), by analysing the structural causes of vulnerabilities and marginalisation.

The module engages with theoretical debates in the three core domains: gender, disaster and conflict, discusses policies (from the global to the local) and practices (where gender inequality, and resistances to it, are manifest) and examines real-life experiences of people living in conflict and disaster vulnerable countries and contexts. All classes are interactive, and students are encouraged to engage in the class discussions and debates, and to share their own experiences and knowledge throughout all sessions. 

As a student on this module, you will learn about the following topics through lectures, seminars and discussions: Gender Theories; Masculinities and Femininities; Intersectionality; Continuum of Violence: relationships between Gender, Conflict and Disaster, including Gender-based Violence (GBV); critical perspectives on Vulnerability and Resilience; Gender and DRR; LGBTQI and DRR; Gender and Covid-19; Gender and Climate Change; Gender and Migration; and Gender analysis of DRR Policies and Frameworks. After completion of this module, you will have a better understanding of gender responsive approaches to DRR and humanitarian crises.

This module received excellent students’ feedback.

This module offered so much more than I was expecting, and I am sad to leave it behind. The seminars never failed to disappoint; always highly informative and challenging and I enjoyed the class discussions. The involvement of guest lecturers brought diversity to the syllabus. Punam is very good in encouraging discussion and comment around difficult topics, and she is skilful in managing positive group participation. I find this unique amongst the modules I have taken over the course of my Masters, and would encourage anyone to take this thought-provoking module (student’s feedback from batch 2020-2021).

This was module was my favourite module of my Masters course. The well-structured material, coupled with the seminar interactive sessions made this module a great learning experience. The small class size made contributing to discussions easy and the group breakout discussions worked really well. I also thought the critical reading and blog assessments were really interesting (Student’s feedback from batch 2020-2021).

The module has completely changed how I now view and analyse disasters. I started the Gender, Disaster and Conflict module, with little understanding of gender studies. However, not only have I gained knowledge in gender theory, and its applications within the disaster and conflict context, but I have also had the opportunity to participate in discussions with leading academics and practitioners, that have undertaken incredibly meaningful research. Without doubt I will take this new perspective forward with me in my future work and career. Emma, MSc student 2019-2020. 

I thought adding conflict into the module was an excellent addition to what is mainly a disaster focused course. By incorporating gender with disaster and conflicts, it allowed for wider discussions on topics which I have never previously studied or had the chance to study, especially by professionals in the field. Olivia, MSc student, 2019-2020 

Recommended readings 

1.    RW Connell and Rebecca Pearse (2015). Gender: In world perspective. Polity Press
2.    Judith Butler (2006). Gender Trouble: feminism and the subervision of identity. Routledge
3.    Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge (2016). Intersectionality. Polity press 
4.    Punam Yadav (2020). Can women benefit from war? Women’s agency in conflict and post-conflict contexts. Journal of Peace Research, vol 58 (3): 449-461 https://doi.org/10.1177/0022343320905619 
5.    Gaillard, J.C., Gorman-Murray, A. and Fordham, M. (2017) Sexual and gender minorities in disaster, Gender, Place and Culture, Gender, Place and Culture 24 (1), pp. 18-26.
6.    R W Connell (2020): Masculinities, University of California Press 
7.    Carol Cohn (2013) (ed.). Gender and Wars. Polity press
8.    Punam Yadav and Denise Horn (2021). “Continuum of violence: feminist peace research and gender-based violence”, in Tarja Väyrynen, Swati Parashar, Élise Féron, and Catia Cecilia Confortini (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/continuums-violence-punam-yadav-d...
9.    Yadav, P., Saville, N., Arjyal, A., Baral, S., Kostkova, P. and Fordham, M. (2021). A feminist vision for transformative change to disaster risk reduction policies and practices, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, Vol 54, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2020.102026 
10.  Meriläinen, E., Joseph, J., Jauhola, M., Yadav, P., Romo-Murphy, E., Marin, J. and Gadhavi, S. (2021), "Examining relational social ontologies of disaster resilience: lived experiences from India, Indonesia, Nepal, Chile and Andean territories", Disaster Prevention and Management, https://doi.org/10.1108/DPM-02-2021-0057

Managing operations, supply chain distributions

Module Tutor: Dr Gianluca Pescaroli
Module code: IRDR0017, 15 credits
Department: IRDR

This module aims to give the understanding of Business Continuity Management (BCM) as an essential process for enhancing organisational resilience in the public and private sectors. It aims to enable students to integrate resilience in “business as usual” management, supporting them in understanding of how developing the analysis of requirements, design and implement solutions, validating the objectives and procedures put in place. The students will be able to critically analyse the challenges for organizational resilience in different contexts, building up on good practices and procedures shared during the course. Finally, they should also be able to recall the tools explained in the course, such as threat and risk analysis, and be familiar with the collaborative approach required to implement them in a comprehensive process. 

The module consists of an overview of Business Continuity Management (BCM) and its application for building organizational resilience, including:

• The BCM Lifecycle
• ISO standards

The core lectures will be supported by group exercises to give familiarity with BCM as a process, while a set of guest speakers will share their experiences. The participants are encouraged to actively contribute to the lessons.  

• Analysis of requirements; 
• Design and implementation of solutions;
• Validation of the objectives and procedures;
• Business impact analysis and threat and risk analysis;
• Good practices for integrating BCM in “business as usual” management.

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