INTRODUCTION
With a steadfast vision to become a distinguished center for scientific research and training in pursuit of excellence, the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies (IDMVS), University of Dhaka along with its diverse academic endeavors offers a rigorous one-and-a-half-year (3 semesters) Professional Master of Disaster Management (MDM henceforth) program wrapped with versatile approaches of learning. It is uniquely configured to pertinently educate various leaders from different backgrounds who will shape the future. At the beginning, the program was launched with financial and technical support from Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) of the Government of Bangladesh; over the years, it has successfully partnered with many international academic institutions and some of the world’s major development collaborators like UNDP, DFID, Oxfam, IFRC, European Union, and other development organizations.
The professional master’s program has been designed as a multidisciplinary learning and research platform extending beyond conventional notions for a holistic grounding in calibrating innovative ideas in varied fields. The program welcomes prospective individuals from different disciplines and backgrounds who aspire to master a further specialization, acquire expertise, and craft a career in disaster and emergency management, climate change, and other development practices with specific focus on scientific and technological, economic, socio-cultural, environmental, political, gender, and social inclusion issues. The MDM program covers a wide range of academic research areas including natural and human-induced hazards and disasters; theories and approaches to disaster management; society, environment, and ecology; vulnerabilities and theories of vulnerabilities; cycles of disaster and emergency management; multiplicity of disaster management policies; institutional and regulatory frameworks; population, resources, and development; global warming, anthropogenic climate change, carbon management, limiting global mean surface temperature “well below 20C”, and adaptation; disaster response and preparedness; structural and nonstructural measures to emergency; gender rights, gendered dimensions, and other issues; poverty and food security; coping and adaptation mechanisms; risk, early warning, and mitigation; mainstreaming disaster risk reduction, community risk, environmental and social impact assessment; damage, loss, and need assessment; public health, water security, sanitation, and drinking water management; urban-rural differences to disaster responses etc. The overall objective of the program is to provide students with some unique opportunities to critically analyze the theories and conceptual approaches on the one hand and apply them in the practical world on the other.
RESEARCH AND LEARNING CONCENTRATIONS
The professional MDM Program is orchestrated to impart comprehensive scientific and technological learning on disaster, emergency, environment, development, and climate change related knowledge to the graduates coming from diverse disciplines. The specific objective as mentioned earlier is to create an expert talent pool of trained professionals with profound knowledge, skills, and innovative acumen to contribute further to the society. Encouraging relentless pursuits of creativity and innovations, inspiring breakthroughs, designing futuristic solutions, and producing original scholarships are the fundamental ethos and always remain at the central cores of the Institute. The degree, to be awarded by the University of Dhaka, is configured in the contexts of interdisciplinary spectra involving research concentrations in various areas of disasters, emergencies, and vulnerabilities; diverse impacts and implications of anthropogenic climate change; environmental science, policy, and management; ecology, ecosystems, and biodiversity; risk assessment, reduction, mitigation, and adaptation; sustainability, innovation, capacity building, leadership, and resilience; appropriate technology design, production, and transfer-diffusion dynamics; policymaking and effective planning engineering; crisis and emergency responses; science-policy-actions synergy. Along with, understanding predominant global trends and future possibilities, galvanizing solution mechanisms, incorporating state-of-the-art knowledge systems, and viable ideas are also emphasized.
UNIQUENESS OF THE MDM PROGRAM
28 courses · 87 credit hours across 3 terms
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMC 501 | Introduction to Disaster Management | 3 | The principal objective of this course is to orient the students primarily with an overarching synopsis of disaster and emergency management; besides, introducing the advanced science, ideas, issues, the most important ideas, and concepts i.e., the basics of disaster, environment, climate change, vulnerabilities, and an overview of the necessary management policies, and implementation techniques. |
| DMC 502 | Science of Hazards and Disasters | 3 | This course aims at providing an essential overview of the known disaster scenarios |
| DMC 503 | Climate Crisis, Sustainability, and Resilience | 3 | The central objective of this course is technically sketched to translate the students’ basic understanding of the overarching issues of climate change and sustainability viz. fundamentals of climate science, scientific consensus on anthropogenic climate crises, and ongoing debates over climate politics to a framework of workable actions and solutions for sustainability and resilience. |
| DMC 504 | Society, Ecology and Environment | 3 | This course is pertinently tailored to primarily address varying issues of disaster and its management processes from social, more specifically sociological perspectives which are believed to be a vital focus in the study of holistic disaster management |
| DMC 505 | Disaster Management Systems in Bangladesh | 3 | The course aims to make understand of Disaster Management Scenario in Bangladesh through the knowledge on evolution of Disaster Management in Bangladesh, to understand the institutional and legal framework for Bangladesh, Policy and Programmers for Disaster in Bangladesh, Roles, and Responsibilities of Local and national bodies in Disaster Management |
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMC 506 | Disaster Risk and Vulnerability Assessment | 3 | The salient features of this course are meant to offer a comprehensive scientific understanding to the students about the key concepts of disaster risk management, and risk and vulnerability assessment. |
| DMC 507 | Humanitarian Action and Project Management | 3 | The key objective of this course is to orients its students with the humanitarian actions carried out by different humanitarian organizations during dire situations |
| DMC 508 | Gender, disaster and Intersectionality | 3 | The core aim of the course is to orient the students with the concepts and ideas of gender and intersectionality, and applicability of in the field of disaster and emergency management. |
| DMC 509 | Advanced Research Methodology | 3 | This course provides students with understanding of the distinct character of both quantitative and qualitative research process and its roles in scientific research. |
| DMC( Optional) 510 | Disaster Mitigation and Preparedness | 3 | This course consists of two important phases of disaster management cycle: mitigation and preparedness |
| DMC( Optional) 511 | Disaster Response and Recovery | 3 | This course is designed to develop knowledge in the area of disaster response and recovery – and its planning and management |
| DMC( Optional) 512 | Water Security and Flood Management | 3 | Water security appears to be one of the core components in disaster risk reduction studies |
| DMC( Optional) 513 | Disaster Governance and Global Protocols | 3 | In this course will orient students on the global treaties and protocols related to environment, disaster management and climate change and will be able to relate those clauses with national policies. |
| DMC( Optional) 514 | Disaster and Development | 3 | The course is meant to provide a consolidation of awareness that what we consider a disaster |
| Code | Course title | Credits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DMC 601 | Public Health in Disaster Management | 3 | This course will cover necessary knowledge and skills for understanding basic epidemiology, public health emergencies and preparedness of disasters for improving capacities and resilience to disasters |
| DMC 602 | Geographic Information System and Remote | 3 | This highly specialized course has architectonically been designed to bolster the learners’ technical and quantitative acumen for a deeper and fuller understanding of the physicality of climate and weather extremes and other aspects of any disaster of gigantic magnitude |
| DMC( Optional) 603 | Thesis | 6 | The thesis will be supervised by the faculty member(s). As part of the defense, a thesis student must attend in a thesis seminar which will be organized by Institute before submitting the final report. |
| DMC( Optional) 604 | Research Monograph | 3 | A student who belongs to non-thesis group can work for research monograph which will be supervised by a faculty member |
| DMC( Optional) 605 | Internship | 3 | A student willing to engage in disaster management or relevant organizations as part of academic work can choose Internship |
| DMC( Optional) 606 | Urban Disaster Risk Reduction | 3 | The aim of the course is to provide knowledge on rapid urbanization in developing countries and the management of urban disasters |
| DMC( Optional) 607 | Earthquake Preparedness and Management | 3 | This course focuses primarily on the geologic causes and physical effects of earthquakes and understanding of strategies for reducing potential damage and loss of life due to this destructive hazard |
| DMC( Optional) 608 | Disaster and Risk Communication | 3 | The principal objective of this course is to introduce concepts and ideas dealing with appropriate communication strategies to address unprecedented immediacy, for communication plays vitally in the whole gamut of emergency management |
| DMC( Optional) 609 | Disaster Economics | 3 | The objective of this course is to make the students comprehend about the economic aspects of hazards, disasters, risks, vulnerability, response, and management, which is essential for economic analysis, designing strategies, policymaking, developing, and implementing project or program. |
| DMC( Optional) 610 | Agriculture, Food Security and Disaster | 3 | This course primarily aims at addressing various aspects and dimensions of agriculture, food security, and related key indicators along with their possible pitfalls |
| DMC( Optional) 611 | Occupational Health and Safety | 3 | This course will provide the students a fundamental understanding of occupational health and safety |
| DMC( Optional) 612 | Child Protection in Emergencies | 3 | The main objectives of the course is (i) to know causes of vulnerability of children to disasters around the world especially in developing countries;(ii) to analyze the vulnerabilities of children from physical, mental, educational, and other perspectives, (iii) to know the process and guidelines to ensure the children’s need, special support, and care in emergencies, (iv) to examine how the international drivers and national policies assist in this regard, (v) understand the protection mechanisms followed by different organizations/countries/ communities in addressing the practical and strategic need of the children in emergencies, (vi) to explore the community and children`s capacity to protect themselves from inclusion point of view by child protection programming |
| DMC( Optional) 613 | Disability, Autism and Disaster | 3 | Aiming at meeting the needs of a growing body of information, knowledge, and expertise on disaster, autism, and disabilities form interdisciplinary perspectives, this course predominantly focuses on the disability, psychology |
| DMC 614 | Comprehensive and Viva-voce | 3 | At the end of final semester, the students will appear a general viva voce (oral) containing 50 marks before examination committee and a written comprehensive examination (written) containing 50 marks where a general evaluation will be done based on all appeared compusary courses in last 3 semesters. |