Overview
This course offers an exciting opportunity to learn about environmental and manmade hazards, vulnerability and risk, planning and logistics, disaster response and crisis management. You’ll develop your skills as a confident, professional emergency planner and responder, able to manage people and situations in the field.
Uniquely to Portsmouth, students take part in SIMEX – the UK’s largest annual international disaster response simulation exercise – for responders and agencies to practise and learn from disaster response.
You'll graduate with the skills you need for a successful career in the emergency planning and disaster management and response, either in the governmental or non-governmental sectors, anywhere in the world. You'll also get transferable skills in project planning, data analysis and communication, putting you in a strong position to pursue a career in other industries.
Course highlights
- Learn new skills including disaster management techniques, Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing for mapping, social surveying methods, approaches to risk analysis, and the design of emergency management training exercises
- Be supported by expert staff and practitioners who are active in the field, with extensive industrial and consultancy experience working for government agencies, businesses and NGOs
- Have the opportunity to complete a work placement with an emergency planning, crisis management or disaster response organisation and complete a final project based on your experience
- Take part in field training with UK and international emergency services, the military and NGOs, building your skills in emergency management, disaster response and safety issues within hazardous environments
- Gain transferable skills such as project planning, data analysis, report writing, team work, presentation and communication
- Hear from experts with organisations such as the Red Cross, NHS, local authorities, the Environment Agency, the Met Office, the armed forces, Oil Spill Response, NGOs, humanitarian and United Nations agencies
- Careers our graduates have progressed into include emergency management and response for 'blue light' services (police, ambulance, coast guard, fire and rescue), city and county council contingency planning, the oil industry, and as risk management and continuity specialists in business
Careers and opportunities
When you graduate, you'll have the knowledge and practical skills needed for a career in the emergency planning, crisis management or disaster response sectors anywhere in the world. The research and analytical components of the course, will support you in applying research positions, for example at PhD level.
Graduates of this course have gone into areas such as:
- Humanitarian agencies and NGOs
- Emergency management
- Emergency logistics and contingency planning
- Flood management
- Military-civilian emergency liaisons
- (Re)insurance and risk management
- Utility companies
- Civil defence
- Disaster relief
- Epidemiology
Graduates of this course have gone onto roles such as:
- Built environment lecturer
- Auditor
- Technical adviser
- Emergency planning and resilience officer
- Business resistence executive
- Catastrophe analyst
- Civil contingencies officer
- Emergency planning and resilience officer
- Policy and international engagement advisor
- Technical adviser
