BSc Disaster Risk Analytics

UCL Department of Risk and Disaster Reduction

Draft for consultation, November 2026. The programme is subject to UCL approval; module descriptions may change.

Modules by stream and by year and term

Module grid: modules by stream (columns) and by year and term (rows) — On a small screen, scroll sideways or zoom in.

Modules by stream, with their contents

Catastrophe Modelling
Exposure in Catastrophe ModellingYear 1 · Term 2	Exposure data for catastrophe models: building attributes, data standards, geocoding, data quality and accumulation management.
Vulnerability ModellingYear 2 · Term 2	Modelling how earthquakes, floods and windstorms damage buildings, and how that damage becomes financial loss.
CAT Model Design and EvaluationYear 3 · Term 2	Building, calibrating and validating a catastrophe model end to end, evaluating commercial models and forming a view of risk.
Hazard and Risk
Natural and Climate HazardsYear 1 · Term 1	Earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, heatwaves, droughts, floods and sea level rise, and how climate change affects them.
Human-made and Health RisksYear 2 · Term 1	Technological, nuclear, cyber, systemic and health risks, including epidemic and pandemic modelling.
Probabilistic Hazard ModellingYear 3 · Term 1	Probabilistic hazard analysis for earthquake, flood and wind, and combining the perils.
Insurance, Finance, and Resilience
InsuranceYear 1 · Term 1	The principles, markets and products of insurance and reinsurance, including catastrophe insurance and protection gaps.
Disaster and Climate FinanceYear 2 · Term 1	Financing disaster and climate risk beyond conventional insurance, from sovereign disaster risk financing and insurance-linked securities to climate and adaptation finance.
Resilience and SocietyYear 3 · Term 1	How societies reduce risk and build resilience, from households and infrastructure to governance and climate adaptation.
Disaster Economics and Geopolitics
Applied MicroeconomicsYear 1 · Term 2	How individuals, households and firms make decisions under scarcity and risk, with the economics of disasters and climate change.
Macroeconomics for DisastersYear 2 · Term 2	How disasters affect economies and public finances, and how economic systems shape risk, recovery and resilience.
Geopolitical RiskYear 3 · Term 2	Analysing, measuring and forecasting geopolitical risk and conflict, including political violence and war in insurance.
Statistics
Probability and StatisticsYear 1 · Term 1	Probability and statistics to describe and simulate risk from hazard and loss data, including return periods and average annual loss.
Statistics and Machine LearningYear 2 · Term 1	Regression, Bayesian inference, time series, spatial statistics and machine learning foundations for risk data.
Statistics for Risk AnalysisYear 3 · Term 1	Extreme value statistics, Monte Carlo simulation, dependence, emulators and AI methods for estimating rare losses and analysing complex risk data.
Data, Evidence and Decision Making
Technology for Disaster and Humanitarian ActionYear 1 · Term 2	Programming, online data portals, Earth observation, drones and geospatial mapping for disaster and humanitarian work.
Principles of ClimateYear 2 · Term 2	The physics of the climate system, the drivers and impacts of climate change, and the tools used to observe and model it.
Risk-Informed Decision-MakingYear 3 · Term 2	Using risk evidence to make and defend decisions, from retrofit and adaptation investment to warnings and insurance purchasing.
Interdisciplinary Research
Interdisciplinary SkillsYear 1 · Term 1	Critical thinking, professionalism, secondary data analysis and communicating evidence.
Quantitative Research MethodsYear 2 · Term 1	Designing and critically reading quantitative research based on measurements from instruments, sensors, remote sensing and fieldwork.
Independent Research ProjectYear 3 · Term 3	Students design and conduct their own independent research project.
Risk Communication
Communicating and Visualising Risk DataYear 1 · Term 2	Communicating risk and uncertainty clearly through numbers, graphics, maps, dashboards, writing and presentations.
Warnings and Anticipatory ActionYear 2 · Term 2	Designing, communicating and evaluating warning systems, and acting early on forecasts through anticipatory action and its financing.