新英格兰大学

The Master in Planning and Management of Natural Hazards takes a multidisciplinary approach to looking at natural hazards and how society can build resilience in the face of natural hazards. The course will build from a broad knowledge of natural hazard situations towards questions of policy development in the field of hazard mitigation. The course will cover the following topic areas:

Environmental factors that combine to produce natural hazards

The ecological, social and economic consequences of natural hazards and disasters

Methods relevant to studying aspects of natural hazards and disasters

Mitigation strategies

Challenges and opportunities for policy development in the natural hazards field

Future trends in planning for and managing natural hazards.

The course also provides various opportunities to expand expertise in the context of natural hazards via a choice of elective units. These opportunities include units that provide skills in population, physical and/or economic geography, land use planning, risk management, and Graphical Information System applications. The course also fosters the development of advanced skills in academic research via a supervised dissertation.

The course is offered full time or part time. It can be taken on-campus or by distance.

Career Opportunities

Environmental and town planning; Natural resource management; Emergency management; and Disaster insurance

Course Aims

To provide graduates with a multidisciplinary knowledge of Natural Hazards and how these can be best planned for and managed from a resilience perspective.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• demonstrate a body of knowledge in relation to natural hazards and their planning contexts, including historical backgrounds and contemporary perspectives, in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region;
• demonstrate a body of knowledge concerning the role of planning systems and policy in the mitigation of natural hazards, including a critical appreciation of contemporary developments in the field;
• demonstrate a body of knowledge relating to the environmental, economic and social contexts of natural hazards, including different disciplinary perspectives; and
• demonstrate the ability to independently undertake original research in the field of natural hazards; to answer a research question competently and ethically using appropriate research principles and methods; present a critically coherent argument based on current research; and to communicate the problem, approach, results and conclusions effectively.