Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation - Master's Programme

Special features of the programme:

The programme contributes to meeting the need for qualified professionals who can:

• contribute to resilient and sustainable societies through use of interdisciplinary concepts, methods and tools within disaster risk management and climate change adaptation
• apply skills in resilience, risk assessment, risk communication, capacity assessment, risk-based land use planning, preparedness and contingency planning and disaster response management
• work with capacity development and project design for disaster risk management and climate change adaptation in local, national and international organisations or agencies
• utilise and contribute to research in this field

The programme offers a mix of practical and theoretical learning with a strong focus on group work and interaction between students and teaching staff as well as with important actors within this field of study. Examples of the latter are the involvement of experts from national and international organisations in some of the courses and the possibility of taking an elective internship-based course. The programme has connections with potential hosts for interns, where students can apply, and for students conducting research for their Master’s thesis within the UN-system, the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement and Governmental agencies on different administrative levels in various parts of the world. Students come from all over the world and from various academic disciplines, such as engineering science, social science, political science, natural science and environmental science. Even if previous work experience is not a requirement to enter the programme, most of our students have professional or volunteer experience.

Programme courses:

Mandatory courses

• Societal Resilience
• Foundations for Risk Assessment and Management
• Capacity Development
• Introduction to Disaster Response Management
• Risk Based Land Use Planning
• Climate Smart Risk Reduction
• Preparedness and Planning
• Risk Perception, Communication and Human Behaviour
• Critical issues in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation
• Research Methodology
• Master’s degree project

Information about the courses of the programme - lth.se 
Information about the programme overview, structure and courses- lth.se

Career Prospects:

Students graduating from the Master’s programme in Disaster Risk Management and Climate Change Adaptation will be attractive for a career with actors contributing to a more resilient and sustainable society, everything from local and national authorities, NGOs, private sector, academia and think tanks to international actors as well as private consultancies. Graduates have acquired a broad understanding of the complex and dynamic field, of proactive and reactive approaches and have an ability to apply skills and generic tools in various working contexts. They will be a bridge between risk/climate experts, project managers and policymakers. The programme provides qualifications for both professional activities in society and for research studies at PhD level. The network of organisations supporting the programme emphasised the need for professionals with qualifications in e.g. resilience, risk assessment and management, risk communication, preparedness/contingency planning and capacity development.