The rise of disaster studies
Disasters happen more often — these programs explore the whys and hows.

Preventing, managing, mitigating and understanding disasters and emergencies requires expertise bolstered by evidence. Such events can be national, international, local, or just affect one organization. They can include floods, fires, crashes, product malfunctions, disease outbreaks and mass murders.
Natural disasters are on the rise, with Statistics Canada reporting in October 2024 that the year was already the costliest ever for weather-related insurance payouts. So, more universities in Canada are offering programs in disaster studies and emergency management. These programs train people to be emergency managers, policy makers, or business continuity experts, and contribute to research in an interdisciplinary, applied and increasingly busy field.
York University is the most recent to join the fray. It recently launched a PhD program in the field of disaster studies, with the first cohort starting in fall 2025.
“We want to push the boundaries of knowledge of disaster and emergency management,” said Aaida Mamuji, director of the graduate program in disaster and emergency management. “There are not many programs in this field [in Canada]. We’re helping to grow the community. It’s necessary. Disasters are increasing in severity, frequency and complexity.”
York also runs undergraduate, master’s and certificate programs in this field of study. Other universities offer a variety of options as well: Brandon University (BU) in Manitoba offers an undergraduate degree and Royal Roads University in Victoria has master’s and graduate diploma options available. Both Toronto Metropolitan University and University of Victoria offer certificates through their continuing education departments. The Université du Québec à Montréal offers a postgraduate diploma, plus operates the Canadian Research Institute on Humanitarian Crises and Aid (OCCAH).
This niche field of research was actually started in Canada. In 1920, Samuel Henry Prince of New Brunswick published the book Catastrophe and Social Change about the Halifax explosion, which was based on his PhD work being done at Columbia University. It is now considered the first systematic study of disaster.
Then, not a whole lot happened for more than 80 years. In early September 2001, Jack Lindsay, associate professor in the applied disaster and emergency studies program at BU, taught one of the first-ever classes focused on disasters in the country. There were no other comparable offerings in Canada, and just a handful around the world. A week later, the field changed forever.
“Sept. 11 really kicked it off. The money started flowing,” he said, noting that some U.S. programs even changed their names to add in phrases such as “homeland security” to attract philanthropic dollars and money via the likes of the Emergency Management Institute (FEMA). A 2003 study counted 89 emergency management programs in the U.S. up from five total in 1995.
Nowadays, there are hundreds of programs in the U.S., with 23 doctoral programs alone. In Canada, polytechnics and colleges offer first responder-focused training in emergency management while university programs blend management-level practical training with theory.
“Our applied skills are around writing briefing notes for government ministers or how to prepare public awareness campaigns,” said Mr. Lindsay.
Courses tend to span emergency management — based around four pillars: mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery — risk assessment, law, public health, social impact and business continuity. Programs may delve into urban planning, communications, environmental science and gender. Most degrees involve research projects and internships.
BU markets its program as a practical degree to train emergency managers, for leadership roles in the growing profession of emergency management, and for a whole slew of government and private sector jobs that tackle emergency and risk management and planning. For instance, Mr. Lindsay – who studied urban planning – was the emergency manager during the 1998 Auckland power crisis, where the core of the city had no power for six weeks. He also spoke to the Ottawa People’s Commission, which had to deal with the Ottawa convoy protests in 2022, about how to avoid declaring a state of emergency.
Royal Roads president and vice-chancellor Philip Steenkamp said its disaster and management graduate programs, which were launched in 2006, are influenced by conflict studies, its master’s in climate action leadership and its resilience by design lab, a climate change research initiative.
The university seeks to connect to the labour market, so professionals come to level up for roles in the military, government, Indigenous leadership and corporate communications, but gain big-picture knowledge, too. “These programs look at disaster and emergency management from the complex social and ethical dimensions of disasters. [They focus] on how different cultural, social and policy factors can shape emergency management,” said Dr. Steenkamp.
At York, the programs reside in administrative studies, so students often explore business courses, but it’s otherwise highly interdisciplinary. Associate professor Dr. Mamuji has a PhD in public administration, during which she studied how Canada offers humanitarian aid to other countries during times of crisis. Her more recent work has looked at disability-inclusive disaster management during flooding in Muskoka and how minority groups fared during the 2016 Fort McMurray wildfires. Her colleagues specialize in studying flooding, wildfires and remote sensing.
Launched in 2007, York’s master’s program prioritizes research. It was followed by the undergraduate degree two years later, and now a new PhD program. The university also provides opportunities for partnerships via its collaboration for emergency management, policy, and preparedness research lab.
Disasters impact many fields, including journalism, so Sean Holman, the Wayne Crookes Professor of Environmental and Climate Journalism at UVic’s writing department, launched the Climate Disaster Project in 2021.
It started as a course and has now expanded internationally to train more than 230 writing students in a trauma-informed approach to interviewing survivors of climate events and getting informed consent to publish their as-told-to stories. “It allows students to not just report on disasters and work with survivors effectively, but it allows them to work with lots of different kinds of difficult knowledge and people who have experienced a range of humanitarian crises,” said Mr. Holman.
As disasters escalate, so does demand for people who can help prevent, manage and recover from them, who can provide best practices via academic research.
“We need more programs, and we need to spread the word more,” said Dr. Mamuji, who sees demand for people with training at all degree levels. “We don’t have enough to build this community of experts in disaster emergency management. There are positions opening up everywhere and not enough people have this academic grounding in the field. There’s definitely a need.”
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