Master's Programmes for Disaster Risk Management: Existing Approaches and Future Directions

The escalating frequency and complexity of disasters worldwide, driven by climate change, environmental degradation, and societal vulnerabilities, underscores the critical need for highly skilled disaster risk management (DRM) professionals. Postgraduate education has emerged as a cornerstone in developing such expertise, with numerous programmes globally offering advanced qualifications tailored to address specific aspects of DRM. These range from resilience-building and disaster mitigation to crisis response and recovery. Institutions in different parts of the world provide specialised Master's programmes that integrate scientific research, field-based training, and policy-oriented curricula to prepare graduates for interdisciplinary challenges in civil protection, humanitarian action, and disaster governance. Moreover, lifelong learning plays a pivotal role in this field, as it supports professionals in adapting to emerging challenges and new areas of expertise, which are increasingly incorporated into Master's programmes.

Despite these advancements, variations in programme structure, scope, and accessibility have created gaps in standardisation and knowledge exchange across European regions. Recognising this, the aim of this contribution is to provide an overview of existing approaches, with a particular focus on the role of geosciences within DRM, and highlight their potentials and limitations. On this basis, we try to leverage best practices and develop recommendations for the optimisation of postgraduate Master's programmes in the broad field of DRM.