A deeper level of training to engage knowledge and experience in resilience and emergency management 

Major emergencies, including natural, human-caused and terrorist incidents, all demonstrate the need for resilience in both planning and response to crisis.

_{Calling the next generation of emergency professionals: Today's risks and emergencies show that the need for professional development and training in the field of emergency management, disaster preparedness and response is increasing (image: Maksim Harshchankou/123rf)}

Recent extreme events – such as the heatwave and floods in Australia, the polar vortex in the USA and the eruption of Krakatoa – have highlighted that natural hazards are increasing both in frequency and intensity. This, coupled with world population currently standing at over seven billion and growing exponentially, means that more people are at risk from both natural and human caused hazards.

The need to be prepared for these types of incidents has never been so important and the Emergency Management and Resilience Centre at the University of Wolverhampton has developed a suite of awards that address the issues of emergency planning, disaster management, resilience and response at a local, regional, national and international level.

These courses explore the key underpinning concepts of emergency/disaster resilience and response and will support the discovery and understanding of the theoretical foundations of practice in the professional field. Such merging of academic and practical knowledge, including the examination of international frameworks, recent journals and lectures by current researchers and practitioners, will engage your knowledge and experience – taking it to a deeper level.

Our staff are all ‘pracademics’, with collective experience of 50 years in emergency management, all with a keen interest in strengthening the links between academia and practice.

The PGC/MSc Emergency Planning, Resilience and Response taught course is designed to provide an advanced level of understanding in this field; this course is widely popular with practitioners, and is growing in demand.

Professionals in emergency management from across the UK and beyond, particularly seek out these courses owing to their integration of practice underpinned with theoretical concepts – a specific commitment of the University’s Emergency Management & Resilience Centre (EMRC). These courses cater for a wide range of backgrounds and those within the emergency services, local authorities, National Health Service, utilities, the military and other emergency responder organisations have found the course particularly useful. 

Another key aspect of our courses is the academic support provided forthose students returning to study, those with limited higher education experience, or those worried about writing and research skills. Study skills development support is included in scheduled taught sessions and individual support is also available both on-campus and online for students based away from campus.

The EMRC is currently recruiting to a new BSc in Emergency and Disaster Management for those who wish to embark on a career in emergency planning, disaster management, or a related field.  The course is designed to develop awareness and knowledge of the issues that form the foundation within the profession, both from a UK and international perspective, and to assist in cultivating practical skills for the delivery of emergency preparedness, disaster management, resilience and recovery as part of an organisation and a wider multi-agency response co-ordination.

The Emergency Management Review is the double blind peer reviewed journal of the Emergency Management and Resilience Centre, written for the resilience community. The next issue will be released in June 2019 and will include a range of papers written by recognised and respected researchers in the emergency management field.

The university is also in the process of developing a suite of high quality, competitively priced training courses to complement the current academic offer and that will be launched in September 2019.

As part of the ongoing development of the University of Wolverhampton and the establishment of the EMRC, a new training facility was built last summer at the Telford Campus. The vision for the facility came out of a desire to improve its ability to enable lecturers from other countries to teach directly into class while maintaining, and improving the ability of collaborative group work to enhance learning. The room builds on existing collaborative room designs to incorporate a specialist audio/video tracking capability, which allows direct person-to-person engagement between students within the facility and the remotely based lecturer. This capability, which is embedded within a modern and professionally styled room, while reflecting the corporate university presence, provides students with engaging teaching from professionals and academics around the world that would otherwise not be possible.

For more information on the courses on offer, click here or email here