Short course on risk assessment methods

This short course includes an optional 3-week field trip to Bangladesh.

Assessing risks is a crucial task in any serious attempt to substantially reduce disaster losses. Without an understanding of the relevant risks, it is impossible to effectively prepare for or reduce them.

This intensive course focuses on the entire risk assessment process, from different methods for analysing risk to evaluating their results. The concept of vulnerability is vital in this context, as it allows us to understand why some individuals or systems are at more risk than others, thus widening our scope of possibilities for risk reduction.

The students of this course have the option to go on a three-week field trip to Bangladesh. This gives the student a chance to work in a developing country with the risk assessment methods they learn during the first week of the course. Students who choose not to go to Bangladesh will be doing a three-week desk study on a risk assessment case chosen by the course coordinator.

On completion of the course, students will be able to critically analyse different types of hazards and their potential consequences, as well as the central underlying aspects that influence the vulnerabilities and capacities of individuals and societies. Through insight into a variety of methods for risk analysis, students will gain the professional skills to provide an adequate response based on evidence.

Course plan

• 4-8 March: Full time lectures in Copenhagen
• 11-29 March: Field work in Bangladesh (or the alternative desk study, which can be done from anywhere)
• 12 April: Exam submission