Effective disaster risk communication depends not just on what we say, but on who we are saying it to, and the cultural, social, and institutional context in which we say it. This course provides a foundational understanding of Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience, and explores how intersectionality and social vulnerabilities shape these concepts across diverse communities.
Through comparative case studies from Japan, the Netherlands and Italy, you will analyse real-world approaches to resilience in different cultural settings, examining how policies are designed, what makes them transferable, and how they can be strengthened.
By the end of the course, you will be able to critically assess resilience policies and develop feasible plans to improve their impact. Combining theoretical frameworks with applied examples, this course is relevant for anyone working at the intersection of risk, society, and policy — whether in research, professional practice, or organizational roles where understanding how communities prepare for and respond to disaster makes a real difference.
Course content
Learning outcomes
After this course, you will be able to:
- Remember the basic concepts of Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
- Link categories of Intersectionality and Social Vulnerabilities with Climate Change, Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience
- Analyse resilience case-studies in multi-cultural context
- Use a specific framework to improve resilience of existing policies