Master of Arts in Disaster and Emergency Management

Program Description

The MA in Disaster and Emergency Management program is a two-year interdisciplinary degree dedicated to educating both aspiring and existing disaster and emergency management professionals. The program explores the theoretical foundations of disaster and emergency management as a growing field of practice and study. The program emphasizes an integrated and holistic approach to disaster and emergency management built on the understanding that disasters are more than hazards, and are products of the inter-relationship and mutual construction of the environmental, social, economic, and political spheres. This approach supports the notion that disaster and emergency management processes and practices can and should contribute to risk reduction, community resilience and sustainable communities.

A one-year Graduate Diploma in Disaster and Emergency Management is also offered.

Delivery Model

Online learning

The majority of this program is experienced through online learning. Online courses enable you to meet the demands of work and family while studying. Using our web-based learning platform, you will access your reading materials, complete individual and group assignments, and engage with the rest of your classmates and instructors; online from anywhere. Each online course will be nine weeks in length, with a two-week break between courses.

Residency

During the course of your two-year program, you will attend two, two-week on-campus residencies. Here you’ll interact face-to-face with your instructors, cohort and team. You’ll have set class hours as well as homework and meetings outside of class hours, making this an intensive and rewarding time.

Completion Options

During the first year of study, all students will take the same set of courses. During the second year, students can select from the following options:

Thesis track

Students taking the thesis track will be required to take a second research course during their second residency.

Course-based track

Students taking the course-based track will be able to continue their studies online during the second year, choosing from a suite of electives designed to appeal to students in all three Humanitarian Studies graduate programs.

Course-based track with internship

Within the course-based track, students may choose to take a 6-credit internship. Students who choose an internship will gain field experience. This experiential learning will help students apply their theoretical knowledge by demonstrating their ability in a real-world setting and documenting their experiences.

Learning Outcomes

Royal Roads University works with an outcomes-based learning model. Learning outcomes are clear, plain language descriptors of knowledge and performance tasks that students demonstrate in order to successfully complete a program.

Within the MA in Disaster and Emergency Management, there are five key learning outcome domains:

1. Critical Thinking
2. Communication
3. Research
4. Knowledge
5. Professional Skills & Practice

Using learning outcomes helps to clarify a program’s focus, helps students connect their program to their workplace, provides a focus for assessment/evaluation, and helps employers understand the benefits of the program.

Who it’s for

This degree is designed for existing and aspiring disaster management and emergency services professionals. Many students come from the fields of government, emergency management, healthcare, education, NGOs, military, police, fire and community planning.

Applicants who do not have the formal academic education to qualify for admission may be assessed on the basis of both their formal education and their informal learning, in accordance with the Flexible Admission Process. Applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis. For more information, please visit our Admissions Requirements page.

Courses

• DEMNSOL: Student Orientation to Learning
• HUMSIP: Internship Preparation and Career Management Skills
• ITAI: Introduction to Academic Integrity
• CPWB500: Foundations: Reframing Child Wellbeing in Complex Global Realities
• DEMN502: Foundations in Disaster and Emergency Management
• DEMN503: Facilitation, Coordination and Decision Making in Multi-Stakeholder Environments
• DEMN504: Human Dimensions of Disasters
• DEMN552: Hazard and Disaster Risk Management
• DEMN553: Disaster Response and Sustainable Recovery
• HUMS551: Foundations of Research
• PJMN501: Managing Complex Projects
• DEMN601: Disaster and Emergency Management Planning: From Policy to Practice
• DEMN602: Advanced Professional Practice: Planning for Resilience in an Age of Uncertainty
• HUMS611: Intercultural Competence
• HUMS630: Advanced Research Methods
• HUMS641: Foundations of Policy and Practice in Humanitarian Action
• HUMS642: Psychosocial Interventions: Managing Stress, Trauma, and Loss
• HUMS643: Ethnopolitical Conflicts in the Canadian Context
• HUMS644: Internship
• HUMS651: Case Studies in Humanitarian Action: Advanced Policy and Practice
• HUMS652: Adaptive Management for Complex Humanitarian Problems in the 21st Century
• HUMS653: Environmental and Resource-Based Conflict Management
• HUMS661: Risk and Crisis Communication
• HUMS662: Professional Practice in Conflict and Change Management
• HUMS671: Transdisciplinarity in Practice
• HUMS672: Public Images of Justice and Fairness
• HUMS673: Indigenous Perspectives on Humanitarianism
• HUMS674: Glade Report Writing
• HUMS691: Short Paper
• HUMS695: Thesis

Critical thinking

• Apply a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to the DEM field of study and practice.
• Examine and situate one’s own personal beliefs.
• Demonstrate openness to ideas and actions.
• Evaluate evidence, its sources, meanings and intentions.
• Identify, select, and sort relevant information in order to be able to describe, draw inferences, synthesize and validate that information.
• Identify and explain the ethical dimensions of professional conduct and practice.
• Critically reflect on the impacts and consequences of decisions and resulting actions.

Communication

• Articulate ideas and arguments effectively in oral and written formats.
• Demonstrate competence in interpersonal and intercultural communication skills.
• Critically analyze the influence of new, emergent and collaborative technologies on the DEM field of practice.
• Select and employ different communication mediums based on an assessment of situation and context.

Research

• Illustrate the use and limitations of knowledge and theory in the field to professional DEM practice.
• Identify and explain the core concepts and constructs of research.
• Contribute to knowledge in the field of study or practice using systematic and recognized research design and methods.
• Critically evaluate the rigour and validity of information and academic materials.
• Recognize gaps in professional knowledge and seek out information to address deficiencies.

Knowledge

• Analyze historic and contemporary evolution of how societies have come to understand the relationships between hazards and disasters.
• Differentiate, assess and apply the theoretical foundations of disaster and emergency management as an evolving field of study and practice.
• Examine key factors (e.g. social, political, and economic) that impact how hazards and disasters are perceived, experienced and acted on or managed.
• Identify and assess the barriers and opportunities for applying theory to practice.
• Explain and analyze the historic and contemporary norms, values, principles, and policy and legal frameworks guiding disaster and emergency management practice in domestic and international contexts.
• Compare and analyze the connections and relationships among disaster and emergency management, disaster risk reduction, sustainable development, and climate change adaptation activities.
• Identify and analyze a range of models (e.g. decision making) and frameworks for enhancing resilience, reducing risk and managing disasters in local, regional and international contexts.
• Identify and explain the implications of stress for self, disaster and emergency management professionals, other stakeholders and populations.

Professional skills & practices

• Identify stakeholders relevant to DEM activities and develop collaborative processes that account for various interests, needs, capacities and capabilities.
• Facilitate group processes, taking into account the influence of personal styles and interpersonal dynamics on decision-making and group interactions.
• Employ outcome-based planning that incorporates shared values, long-term orientation and strategic perspectives.
• Select or develop a range of disaster management strategies that:

1. Integrate analysis of risk and resilience;
2. Account for variance across and within population groups and contexts;
3. Incorporate monitoring and evaluation.

• Analyze, monitor and evaluate complex DEM problems and situations.
• Facilitate and/or lead decision-making and adaptive planning in anticipation of and in response to rapidly changing, uncertain and complex environments.
• Analyze and integrate ethical implications in decision-making and planning processes.