MSc Disaster Management and Sustainable Development

Course Overview

From climate change, impact of global warming, hazards, vulnerability and human-made disaster, to environmental sustainability and community resilience, this Disaster Management and Sustainable Development Masters at Northumbria University explores contemporary real-world problems and provides you with the skills and knowledge to conceptualise and address these issues.

This course is equally relevant for those working in the field who wish to strengthen their academic and professional standing, as it is to those seeking to change direction and develop new knowledge and skills with new areas of expertise. You will learn how to prepare for and respond to a crisis and develop the planning skills to help minimise impact and avert problems. You will develop advanced knowledge, project management and analytical skills whilst exploring a specialism in an area of your choice. Disaster management, disaster preparedness and disaster reduction is intertwined with sustainability of solutions responding to needs for humanitarian aid across the globe.

The Masters course is supported by the Disaster and Development Network (DDN) hosted by Northumbria University, which can lead to placements across the world. Our highly employable graduates have moved into a range of exciting careers, including in the UN, governments, development, humanitarian aid organisations, charities and local authorities.

Your Future

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.