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Researching Risk, Disasters and Emergencies

Learning how to research disasters and related fields so you can understand how to help people during moments of crisis.

999 enrolled on this course

  • Duration

    2 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours
This course is part of the program Researching Perspectives and Practice, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Emergency Management and Resilience and MSc Disaster Management and Resilience. Find out more.

Understand how to research risk, disasters and emergencies

How can we help other people before and or during disasters? How we can improve water and sanitary facilities in refugee camps? How can drones and virtual reality technologies help with emergency response exercises? Get answers to these questions and more with this course that explains the vital research processes necessary for responses to emergencies and disasters.

You will have the opportunity to learn how to design, prepare and carry out research into these and other areas. You will examine the approaches to summarising and writing up your research.

What topics will you cover?

  • The wider research process
  • How to identify a meaningful title
  • Writing an effective literature review
  • Choosing the best data collection methods
  • Research ethics issues

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...

  • Explore what research is and why it is important
  • Explore the research process
  • Develop and derive a suitable research question
  • Explore how to utilise library resources for research
  • Compare effective research strategies
  • Summarise and effectively review literature

Who is the course for?

This course is for anyone interested in carrying out research into risk, emergency, crisis, disaster and resilience disciplines.

Who will you learn with?

I am senior lecturer in disaster management at Coventry University. I am interested in pedagogy for emergency and crisis response training/exercises and risk communication.

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

Want to know more about learning on FutureLearn? Using FutureLearn

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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 Researching Perspectives and Practice, which is one of the building blocks that leads to a degree in MSc Emergency Management and Resilience and MSc Disaster Management and Resilience.

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