Public Risk and Disaster
The world faces evolving challenges, from pandemics and natural disasters to technological risks and cyber threats. How we prepare for, respond to, and manage these issues is crucial. In this minor, you'll explore and address these grand challenges, seeking solutions for the future.
Is this the right minor for you?
When global pandemics, earthquakes, and tsunamis strike, they leave a lasting impact on societies around the world. Alongside these natural hazards, man-made risks, such as industrial or nuclear accidents, technological failures, and cyber threats, present complex challenges. These risks remind us of the costs that come with human progression and the interconnected vulnerabilities embedded in modern systems. The evolving landscape of security concerns includes issues related to privacy, digital surveillance, and the unintended consequences of emerging technologies.
To tackle today’s grand challenges, we need a multidisciplinary approach that considers political, social, and economic dimensions alongside technical and systemic vulnerabilities. This minor will provide you with tools to analyze instability as a multifaceted phenomenon, examining regional security frameworks, infrastructural dependencies, and risk management models. Additionally, you will explore qualitative and quantitative risk assessment methodologies and develop governance skills to navigate disaster-related challenges effectively.
Combination of social sciences and engineering concepts
Risk and disaster studies encompass a wide array of research topics, including technology assessment, ethical analysis, system analysis, multi-actor analysis, risk assessment, vulnerability analysis, and political analysis. This minor provides you with essential knowledge from all these fields, helping you understand and address today’s complex risks. What sets this minor apart is its multidisciplinary approach, blending social sciences and engineering concepts to analyze and evaluate contemporary risk and disaster-related issues. Through courses on disaster studies and technological risks, you will explore both theoretical perspectives and real-world case studies.
Leiden University and TU Delft
The minor is multidisciplinary in nature, and is taught by lecturers from both the Faculty of Governance & Global Affairs at Campus The Hague, and from the Faculty of Technology, Policy & Management of TU Delft.
The courses take place in The Hague and Delft, respectively.