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Emergencies and Disasters: Trends and Issues

Understand the common characteristics of emergencies and disasters, and explore the challenges they create.

1,418 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours
This course is part of the program Integrated Emergency Management: Policy and Issues, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Emergency Management and Resilience. Find out more.

Evaluate the trends and issues of emergencies and disasters

Emergencies and disasters are usually viewed as one-off events without consideration of similar events that have previously occurred. By investigating the common elements of these events, you can better understand how emergencies and disasters should be managed.

On this course, you will uncover the common trends and issues surrounding emergencies and disasters, and understand how these issues impact the ability of stakeholders to intervene. You will also explore the challenges that emergencies create for policymakers and examine how these events are shown to the public.

What topics will you cover?

  • Trends and issues in emergencies and disasters
  • Characteristics of emergencies and disasters such as scale, complexity, and uncertainty
  • Presumptions of responsibility for emergencies and disasters, together with their public profile, and the implications for intervention in these events

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Investigate, interpret and evaluate some of the major trends and issues surrounding emergencies and disasters
  • Investigate and interpret the significance of specific issues, such as public profile and presumptions of responsibility, in respect of emergencies and disasters
  • Evaluate the implications of such issues for intervention in emergencies and disasters
  • Investigate and evaluate how key terms and concepts relevant to emergencies and disasters are an intrinsic part of alternative perspectives on those events, and how these terms and concepts shape intervention

Who is the course for?

This course is for those currently working or looking to work in emergency management within the public or private sectors.

Please note that the individuals detailed in the ‘Who will you learn with?’ section below, are current staff members and may be subject to change.

Who will you learn with?

A former London Fire Brigade SEVESO emergency planner, teaching emergency preparedness, the UK Civil Contingencies Act, and public policy and political economy approaches to emergency intervention.

Who developed the course?

Coventry University

Coventry secured 5 QS Stars for Teaching and Online Learning in the QS World University Ranking 2020 and has received No. 1 in the world for Massive Open Online Courses in MoocLab’s World University Ranking 2021.

  • Established

    1992
  • Location

    Coventry

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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Advance your career with a degree

Since 2017 you have been able to take a degree on FutureLearn. This free course is a bit like a starter course for a degree — it should give you a flavour of the degree subject but can also be your first step towards a degree qualification.

If you enjoy this course you can apply to join the program it’s part of to start working towards a degree on FutureLearn.

Don’t worry, you can still take the course without doing a full degree!

Do the free course
Join and complete the program
Get academic credit for an online degree from Coventry University
This course is part of the program Integrated Emergency Management: Policy and Issues, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Emergency Management and Resilience.

The program considers integrated emergency management and explores theoretical approaches to gain fresh insights and improve professional practice.

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