Crisis and Disaster Management

Overview

The Crisis and Disaster Management course from Aston University will give you a solid understanding of the core approaches to manage crises and disasters (such as Covid-19 and other similar ones) and of the wider impact on stakeholders, including the implications of mismanaged situations through relevant case studies, discussions and exercises. In the second semester you will also advance your knowledge in either the humanitarian stream or business crisis stream, helping you to progress your learning and career path in the area that interests you most. 

A good crisis manager has a wide range of skills, from being able to create crisis management plans, including testing them and putting processes and resources in place, to implementing the plans. In addition, during a crisis, they need to be able to influence senior leadership teams and provide sound, compelling advice, using strong communication skills to get their point across as well as being able to make analytical, objective decisions under pressure.

On this course, not only will you learn about the theoretical aspect of the crisis lifecycle and the role that ethics and technology play, you’ll also develop your research skills to help you examine the strengths and weaknesses of the methods and the techniques used. You’ll develop your skillset around simulation modelling, data collection, group work and predictive and prescriptive analytics, as well as presentation skills.

Career prospects

A postgraduate qualification in this subject prepares you for many different careers within the field. Graduates from this programme may seek careers working in academia, business, government and non-profit organisations in areas such as emergency planning, disaster response, crisis communication, and risk management both in the UK and overseas. 

Typical roles that graduates from this programme would take are: Crisis Management Consultants, Emergency Planning Officers, Planning Officers, Emergency Planners, International Humanitarian Coordinator, Disaster Risk Reduction Analyst, Deployable Emergency Response Managers. As an example, mid-to-senior Crisis Management Consultants’ salaries can be around £50k-70k.