Disaster and Health Crisis Management

The Master of Science in Disaster and Health Crisis Management is a two-year MSc entirely in English. It is a blended program, offering a combination of online and on-campus activities. The face-to-face classes are held in Vercelli.

It aims at equipping its students with essential skills for understanding national and international crisis scenarios and implementing a systemic approach to emergencies, disasters, and health crises.

Despite the emergence of global challenges such as natural and technological disasters, conflicts, migratory crises, climate change, and pandemics, there is still a lack of Master's degree programs that train highly professionalized individuals with advanced skills for managing disasters, crises, and health emergencies.

For free access master’s degrees there will be the possibility to enroll between January and April 2025, the second teaching period.

• Pronounced international dimension: students are encouraged to spend time abroad through international mobility schemes (e.g. Erasmus), internships and thesis projects in collaborating institutions.
• Several professors and lecturers teaching in the Master’s Degree come from Universities and Research centers across the globe.
• Solid theoretical foundations combined with practical and applicable skills, implemented through internships, seminars, workshops, and apprenticeship in the field.
• The Master’s Degree is a blended course, with a combination of on campus and online activities. This particularly benefits international students and students already working.

Degree program Master’s degree.
Course LM 81 - Scienze per la cooperazione allo Sviluppo.
Access Access is granted to graduates holding a Bachelor’s Degree in specific classes or having acquired at least 18 CFUs in a combination of scientific-disciplinary specified on the course website.
A B2 level in English is required. Students who cannot prove their linguistic level through an international certification (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL) must undergo an online assessment.

The curriculum proposed is highly interdisciplinary. It includes training activities in the fields of psychology, sociology, and politics in emergency, disaster, and humanitarian crisis contexts, as well as in international humanitarian law and disaster management. It covers also historical and geographical aspects related to disasters and humanitarian crises, and provides economic knowledge in the field of integrated emergency management, including resilience, capacity building, and business continuity.

In the fourth semester, all students must complete a non-paid internship of 450 hours (18 CFU) in an institution, company, research center, NGO, or governmental body active in the field of health crisis management.

The training path includes seminars, distance and in-person group work, virtual reality simulations, tabletop exercises, and full-scale exercises based on real events, with the aim of applying the knowledge acquired during the course of study and providing both technical and non-technical skills considered essential for fieldwork.

Graduates from this Master’s Degree can hold key positions in organizations involved, in crisis and emergency management or in their prevention and mitigation, for example:

• Officers in organizations working in the field of cooperation and aid to developing countries;
• Design and implementation of activities for NGOs and other non-profit organizations;
• Researchers at Universities and Research Centers dealing with issues such as Civil Protection, Disaster Medicine, Climate Change, Cooperation, and Development;
• Officials in international organizations such as the European Union, WHO, IFRC, ICRC, IOM, UNHCR, OCHA, etc;
• Consultants in risk management, crisis management, Business Continuity Management.

Request more information about the course and find out the Open Day dates.