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Risk Management and Citizen Science (GEOG90020)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
For information about the University’s phased return to campus and in-person activity in Winter and Semester 2, please refer to the on-campus subjects page.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
Please refer to the LMS for up-to-date subject information, including assessment and participation requirements, for subjects being offered in 2020.
Overview
Availability | July |
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Fees | Look up fees |
Interactions between risk managers and publics represent the ‘coalface’ for disaster risk reduction. Despite the centrality of these relationships, they are rarely the focus of teaching and learning. This challenge is acute in the context of ‘risk management’, where competing theories and the diversity of cases and factors contribute to masses of content, often with little connection to skill development for students. Furthermore, risk is by its nature difficult to study and often dangerous, making experience-based inquiry exceptionally rare but desperately needed. This subject addresses this gap by providing students with active participation and experience with community engagement through self-directed field research.
This subject will train students to utilise the Community Engagement for Disaster Risk Reduction (CEDRR) methodology, which uses traditional door-knocking between the emergency services and publics, but alters those interactions in order to nurture inter-personal relationships. The subject and method is premised on research that demonstrates that publics do not respond to ‘top-down instructions’ nor to awareness raising. In this subject, students will learn community engagement by doing it with individuals in their social networks (e.g., friends, neighbours, family).
Students will use the web-application for data collection, producing data that will form the basis of their assessments. The subject will deliver skills not currently taught in Australian universities, skills that organisations are increasingly seeking given acceptance that community engagement, participation, and citizen science are required for effective governance.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject students will:
- Understand and be able to compare a range of risk theories, recognizing the strengths and weaknesses of different theories;
- Be able to apply numerous methods designed to elicit and assess perceptions relating to risk;
- Be able to recognize and apply different risk framings (e.g., deficit model; citizen science), including the debate over expert-public knowledge;
- Be aware of the complicated process of risk communication and management (i.e. government-stakeholder interactions);
- Appraise the challenges of community engagement to construct a strategy for their data collection and analysis;
- Design and conduct data collection on perceptions of risk with sub-populations;
- Create an original summary document using data that they collected.
Generic skills
Students will learn how to conduct community engagement through experience and practice-based learning.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
Students must conduct fieldwork as part of this subject – the data that they collect will be the basis for their final essay (see assessment).
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Assessment
Due to the impact of COVID-19, assessment may differ from that published in the Handbook. Students are reminded to check the subject assessment requirements published in the subject outline on the LMS
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Online Quizzes, 4 hours in total (n=10) | Due every second day | 30% |
Mid-term essay
| 2 Weeks after the end of teaching | 30% |
Final essay, due in the last week of the assessment period
| During the assessment period | 40% |
Hurdle requirement: Students are required to conduct Community engagement survey and analysis, 3 hours, 10 individuals interactions | Week 1 | N/A |
Additional details
Additional information: Students are also required to conduct an additional Community engagement follow-up survey and analysis, 1.5 hours total, 10 individuals interactions in week 2.
The engagement survey is the basis of this class, in which students will conduct interviews with friends, family, or neighbours using the CEDRR methodology; they will also conduct a rapid follow-up survey with those same individuals in the following week.
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Dates & times
- July
Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours Teaching period 13 July 2020 to 24 July 2020 Last self-enrol date 15 July 2020 Census date 24 July 2020 Last date to withdraw without fail 7 August 2020 Assessment period ends 23 August 2020
Time commitment details
170 total time commitment
Last updated: 3 November 2022
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Readings and materials will be posted online through the LMS.
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Master of Environmental Science Course Master of Geography Major Integrated Water Catchment Management Major Integrated Water Catchment Management Major Tailored Specialisation Major Climate Change Major Development Major Development Major Environmental Science Major Tailored Specialisation Major Tailored Specialisation Major Waste Management - Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
This subject is available to students studying at the University from eligible overseas institutions on exchange and study abroad. Students are required to satisfy any listed requirements, such as pre- and co-requisites, for enrolment in the subject.
Last updated: 3 November 2022