Undergraduate Course: Natural Hazards and Risk (EASC11008)
Course Outline
| School | School of Geosciences |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Year 5 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | A comprehensive introduction to Natural Hazards and Risk at Honours level 11 open to final year undergraduate or undergraduate masters students. The first part of the course is concerned with fundamentals of measurement and observation, the relevant principles of probability and statistics, the quantification of uncertainty and handling of extreme events. The second part concentrates on applications in forecasting hazards, using earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, climate, extreme weather and flooding events as exemplars. The final part includes assessment of vulnerability and risk, and societal issues such as planning, resilience-building, and disaster risk reduction in a social context, including a seminar you will present as part of a group on a case study of your choice. This part of the course addresses UN Sustainable development goals 11 Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable and 13 Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts respectively. See - https://sdgs.un.org/goals |
| Course description |
This is a quantitative 'applications' course- building on the generic skills taught in the Junior Honours programmes. Students are introduced to a range of natural hazards and risks, including the underpinning science, the necessary statistical analysis, and issues of forecasting and decision-making under uncertainty in a societal context. The course is fundamentally multi-disciplinary, and is taught by staff with strong research interests in these topics, including the interface with wider society. It will open up significant new research and career opportunities for course graduates in Environmental Risk Assessment, Management and Mitigation, as well as providing a basis for a career that addresses risk in a more general context.
S1 Week 1 Introduction to course and to group projects. Summary of each project from supervisors. The nature of the research literature. Referencing and how to do it properly. Use of Web of Knowledge and citation searches. Introduction to literature review exercise and talk. Assignment of papers to be reviewed.
S1 Week 2 Typesetting skills. Use of LaTeX. Common pitfalls in presentation of scientific documents.
S1 Week 3 Working in a group
S1 Week 4 Figures and captions in scientific documents. What makes a good figure? What makes a bad figure? How to avoid common mistakes.
S1 Week 5 Scientific writing. The conventions that people tend to stick to. What makes good scientific writing and what makes bad scientific writing?
S1 Week 6 Giving presentations. What makes a good (and a bad) presentation.
S1 Week 7 Deadline for literature review. Class time held in reserve
S1 Week 8 Student practice presentations: part 1
S1 Week 9 Student practice presentations: part 2
S1 Week 10 Simple use of GIS
S1 Weeks 5-10 Work on group projects
S2 Weeks 2--3 (provisional) Ethics
S2 Weeks 1-9 Work on group projects
S2 Week 10 Group presentations on group projects
|
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2026/27, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Full Year |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
50 %,
Coursework
50 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Assessment details
Semester 1: Exam 50%
Semester 2: Assessed practical exercise 23%; Essay: 23%; Formative presentation:4%.
1) Written Exam, covering parts 1 and 2 of the course
2) Formative Oral presentation on a 'specific historical natural disaster', to be chosen by the students and delivered in small groups. Students receive a small mark from peers based on levels of effort in this group exercise.
3) Assessed exercise on 'Analysis of extreme weather events' (case study of a flood or drought- e.g. Louisiana floods in 2016, UK floods in 2015, European heat waves in 2006 and 2016).
4) An essay on disaster risk reduction, based in part on an inspiring presentation and discussion by an invited external speaker.
Feedback for test 1 as in text and summary feedback. Feedback on exercise 2 from staff and fellow students on feedback sheets sent out within one week. For exercise 3 and the assessed essay 4, the submission date for the report/essay will be 12 noon, two weeks after the exercise is completed or the essay is submitted.
Assessment deadlines
Class test: S1, Week 12 (tbc)
Oral Presentations: (Formative) Case Study event - Semester 2, Week 4
Practical Exercise: (Assessed) Extreme Meteorological Events - Semester 2, Friday, Week 7, (Turnitin)
Set Essay: (Assessed) Disaster Risk reduction in Volcanology - Semester 2, Friday, Week 10, (Turintin)
Students must attain an overall mark of 40% (or above) to pass the course.
AI usage Statement:
AI-Assisted Generation
We expect you to return work that is your own, and that you would be happy to defend in a discussion. AI tools may be used to identify ideas, key themes, and plan your assessment, but not to generate content. If you use AI, you must acknowledge it in your submission.
|
| Feedback |
1) Exam in December exam diet. Feedback will be provided by annotation of the exam scripts.
2) Oral presentation. Feedback sheets will be given out at the start of each presentation and completed by peers in the class and the course lecturers. The course organiser will collate and go through these individually with the students.
3) Assessed exercise. The Met/Climate lead (shared with allied discipline staff if the class is large) will provide detailed written feedback, and demonstrators support students during the computational part of the assessment.
4) Assessed essay. Detailed feedback will be given to the student, again with marking and feedback shared between the course team.
The marking for all coursework and exam material will be moderated.
|
| Exam Information |
| Exam Diet |
Paper Name |
Minutes |
|
| Main Exam Diet S1 (December) | Natural Hazards and Risk | 100 | |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Understand the science and statistics underpinning natural hazard estimation.
- Estimate hazard and risk quantitatively, incorporating all sources of uncertainty.
- Demonstrate practical skills in data analysis, integration and interpretation in hazard and risk applications.
- Understand societal issues affecting vulnerability, risk and resilience, and disaster risk reduction.
- Have a capacity for a professional career in risk quantification and management.
|
Reading List
Bryant, EA, 1993. Natural Hazards. Cambridge
Keller, EA & RH Blodgett, 2006. Natural Hazards, Pearson Prentice Hall
Not, J., 2006. Extreme events, Cambridge
Woo, G., 2011. Calculating Catastrophe
|
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Not entered |
| Keywords | Natural Hazards,Risks,Disaster Risk Reduction |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Ian Main
Tel: (0131 6)50 4911
Email: Ian.Main@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Sarah Jones
Tel:
Email: sarah.jones@ed.ac.uk |
|
|
University Homepage