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Institute of Hazard, Risk and Resilience
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Dissertation by Research Examples (MA and MSc)

Examples of previous dissertations on topics of hazard, risk and resilience. Many other options are possible to suit your interests.

Meteorological and climate change

  • The Emergent Nature of UK Heatwaves: Identifying the Predictors of Risk Perception and Adaptive Behaviours Using the Health Belief Model
  • An exploration into defining a heat-health season for Tokyo, Japan, using 15 years’ worth of daily climate and health data
  • An Assessment of the Impact of El Niño Southern Oscillation on health in the Pacific Island Countries
  • Hurricane Irma: Controls upon storm surge risk
  • An investigation into the climatic influences on the spatial distribution of precipitation across the Guiana Shield
  • Using satellite data to track tree mortality from drought events through analysis of canopy characteristics of beech forests

Flooding

  • An Investigation into the Effects of Climate Change on Flooding and Potential Mitigation through Natural Flood Management in Pendle Catchment
  • Can sustainable urban drainage systems reduce flood risk
  • Flood risk modelling: A Sensitivity Analysis of St Blazey, Cornwall.
  • Spatial patterns of water routing and the connectivity of flood sources under projected climate change: implications for the management of future fluvial inundation risk in a north-west England (UK) river catchment
  • Relationships between a rainfall-runoff model parameters and physical catchment characteristics for flood estimation in ungauged sites
  • Urban Flood Risk Assessment: A Case Study of Edinburgh
  • Hydrological Modelling of the Seti Catchment and Vulnerability Analysis of Pokhara City, Nepal

Seismic

  • Seismic Risk Assessment of Southern California: A Scenario Ensemble Model approach
  • A Seismic Risk Assessment of Nepal
  • Effect of Seismic Hazards on low-cost Mountain Roads
  • Seismic vulnerability research on school buildings in greater Chengdu

Earthquake

  • Ensemble Loss Modelling of Earthquakes in Java, Indonesia
  • Landslide and debris flow impact to mountain roads in Nepal; consequences of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake
  • Localising transient landslide rates
  • Hazard mapping shallow landslides on the Isle of Wight
  • Comparing Fuzzy Logic and the Factor of Safety to assess the Thirlmere-Helvellyn Landslides caused by Storm Desmond

Landslides

  • Landslide and debris flow impact to mountain roads in Nepal; consequences of the 2015 Gorkha earthquake
  • Localising transient landslide rates
  • Hazard mapping shallow landslides on the Isle of Wight
  • Comparing Fuzzy Logic and the Factor of Safety to assess the Thirlmere-Helvellyn Landslides caused by Storm Desmond

Tsunami

  • Understanding Data Quality within Tsunami Risk Maps of Vancouver, Canada
  • Developing a windstorm map for La Reunion

Wind

 

  • Developing a windstorm map for La Reunion

 

Tornadoes

  • An investigation into the synoptic climatology that leads to tornadoes in the UK
  • Climatic and Ecological Influences on Wildfire in the Great Basin: Understanding Risk and Predicting Future Change

Wild Fires

 

  • Climatic and Ecological Influences on Wildfire in the Great Basin: Understanding Risk and Predicting Future Change

 

Glacial-hazards

  • Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Scenarios, Tsho Rolpa Lake, Nepal
  • Hazard Assessment of Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in the Shughnon District, south-eastern Tajikistan
  • Glacial Lake Outburst Flood Hazard in the Tajik Pamir: An investigation of the Vanj Valley
  • A Regional Scale, GIS-Based Investigation of the Risk Posed by GLOFs in the Central Swiss Alps

Nuclear

  • An Assessment of the 2020 Chernobyl Power Plant Wildfire: Its Impacts and Predictability'
  • A Critical Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding Subsidence Rates and the Implications on Coastal Policy in the Mississippi Delta

Subsidence

 

  • A Critical Analysis of the Controversy Surrounding Subsidence Rates and the Implications on Coastal Policy in the Mississippi Delta

 

Fracking & Fossil Fuels

  • An Environmental Risk Analysis of Hydraulic Fracturing
  • Understanding the Risks associated with Oil and Gas exploration on the Environment: a case of the Albertine Graben, Uganda

Pollution

  • Modelling The Temporal and Spatial Variability of PM2.5 Pollution Risk in Xi’an, China
  • A study of phosphorus flow and climate change using HBV-light

Volcanic

  • Can global physiochemical data of volcanic ash be used to predict the characteristics of ash for future eruptions for respiratory health hazard assessment?
  • Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest Cover Change in Bangladesh from 1974 to 2020: A Remote Sensing Approach
  • Coastal Cliff Retreat Hazard Assessment in Norfolk - Spatial & Temporal Analysis Centred on the Extreme Winter Season of 2013-14
  • Simulating Soil Erosion in Small-scale Watershed of Loess Plateau of China based on WEPP Model
  • Exploring the Extension of Previous Shoreline Analysis Methods to Atoll Islands

Land-cover change

  • Tropical Moist Deciduous Forest Cover Change in Bangladesh from 1974 to 2020: A Remote Sensing Approach
  • Coastal Cliff Retreat Hazard Assessment in Norfolk - Spatial & Temporal Analysis Centred on the Extreme Winter Season of 2013-14
  • Simulating Soil Erosion in Small-scale Watershed of Loess Plateau of China based on WEPP Model
  • Exploring the Extension of Previous Shoreline Analysis Methods to Atoll Islands

Multi-hazards

  • Plugs and Floods: Assessing the Potential Hazard and Exposure of Coseismic Landslide Dam Outburst Floods in the Sindhupalchok District, Nepal
  • The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant: Sea wall cost benefit analysis based on Earthquake/Tsunami recurrence intervals and sea level projections up to 2100

Vulnerability and Resilience

  • Kashmir Earthquake- 2005: Private Housing Reconstruction in District Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan – A study of Owner Driven Approach
  • Flood Risk and Resilience in the Greater Manchester area - A study of the impact on the elderly population
  • An investigation into the impact of the equal vulnerability assumption
  • The Roles of Indonesian NGOs in Building Community Resilience to Terrorism in Indonesia from 2012 to 2014
  • Practical and innovative research for Community Flood Disaster Resilience Indicator System. A case Study of Walker, Newcastle
  • Has the GPS-Tracking of Reindeer Enhanced the Resilience of Reindeer Husbandry in Northern Sweden?

Early warning systems

  • Optimization of flood early warning system based on 2D Hydraulic Modelling—a case study of Morpeth, Northumberland
  • Instrumenting Indigenous Knowledge: Low Cost Landslide Early Warning Systems in Nepal
  • Increasing Flood Resilience in Pakistan: Strengthening Early Warning Systems in Muzaffargarh Punjab

Disaster Risk Management and Mitigation

  • A Game Theoretic Approach to Disaster Risk Management
  • Functionality of Open Spaces for Post-Earthquake Humanitarian Relief Activities in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal
  • Children’s Roles in Disaster Risk Reduction in the UK
  • Colliding fields of risk: future based approaches to the intersection of disaster and disease
  • Build Back Better: A Case-study of Reconstruction in Education Sector in Pakistan Administered Kashmir after the 2005 Kashmir Earthquake
  • Risk and Resilience, and disaster risk management
  • The Roles of District Government in Building Community Preparedness to Natural Disaster
  • A gender perspective of the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake disaster relief work and recommendations for future disaster management in China
  • Putting the Sendai Framework to Work: Building Resilience Against Fire Hazards in Sinai Slums - Kenya Through Disaster Risk Reduction

General Risk Management

  • Sea-Level Rise Related Risks in the United States and United Kingdom: An examination of the risk management process
  • Evaluation of current practice to improve catchment and water management: The Case of Stung Pursat Catchment, Pursat Province, Cambodia

Adaptation

  • Evaluating Exogenous Forces in Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study of Bandar Lampung, Indonesia
  • Communications, Resilience and Disasters: A Case Study of Peru
  • What Makes an Earthquake Interesting? An investigation into the controls on public attention towards earthquake events
  • The Role of the Environment Agency’s Flood Hazard Maps in Flood Risk Communication
  • Roles of Risk Communication in Risk Perception: A Case Study of the 2017 A/H7N9 Avian Influenza Outbreak in Human in China
  • See it. Say it. Sorted.': The role of public vigilance campaigns in communicating risk and enacting responsibilisation
  • Analysis of the change in the communication of risk within the media after a high impact natural event

Risk Communication

  • Communications, Resilience and Disasters: A Case Study of Peru
  • What Makes an Earthquake Interesting? An investigation into the controls on public attention towards earthquake events
  • The Role of the Environment Agency’s Flood Hazard Maps in Flood Risk Communication
  • Roles of Risk Communication in Risk Perception: A Case Study of the 2017 A/H7N9 Avian Influenza Outbreak in Human in China
  • See it. Say it. Sorted.': The role of public vigilance campaigns in communicating risk and enacting responsibilisation
  • Analysis of the change in the communication of risk within the media after a high impact natural event

Risk Perception

  • Secure the future from environment in urban city— study the risk perception in NCL city
  • Humanitarian Workers' Experiences and Perceptions of Risk and Resilience
  • Rethinking Flood Risk Perception and Communication, Lessons from Storm Desmond
  • Perceptions of Risk Behaviour: Evaluating the links between Race and Risky Individuals in the American Education System

Participatory Research Methods

  • A combined approach to assessing flood risk through quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methods: a case study of the Congresbury Yeo
  • The Value of Physical Demonstration on Enhancing Earthquake Knowledge at Community Level in Nepal

Socio-economic

  • Socio-Ecological Risks Associated With Oil and Gas Exploration, Drilling and Extraction in Albertine Region- Uganda
  • Food vs. Fuel The Risks of Competing for Land Use
  • An examination of the effects of Hurricane Katrina on the socioeconomic interactions of the New Orleans Metro Statistical Area
  • Risk, Security and Profit: The case of ENI's Oil Business Operations in Nigeria
  • Analysis of the Socio-Economic Consequences of Storm Surge Inundation on the Wirral Peninsula
  • Assessing the financial feasibility of flood risk reduction strategies for Appleby-in-Westmorland, Cumbria
  • Understanding the Relationship between Water Security and Poverty: The Case of Urban Slums in Dhaka, Bangladesh  
  • From Risk to Opportunity: Climate Change and Flood Policy in Bangladesh
  • An investigation into attitudes towards muslims in Britain

Geo-political

  • Risk Imaginaries of War from the Cold War Nuclear Threat to the War
  • A critical perspective on the use of foreign military assets in international disaster relief
  • An analysis of immigration discourse in British Parliamentary Debate
  • The Political Ecology of Highland Conflict: A Contextual Investigation into the Interrelationships between Scottish Grouse Moors, Peatlands and Climate Change
  • Risk and the War on Terror: Securing Civil Aviation after 9/11
  • Analysing the Risk of State Failure in Tajikistan: A Study of Economic, Political, and Religious Factors
  • China-Kazakhstan Transboundary Water Governance Under the Framework of the Belt and Road Initiative: A case study of Horgos River
  • The visualisation and analysis of maritime boundary delimitation from geographical and social perspectives

Governance

  • Risk, Response and Responsibility: Civil Enrolment in World War Two and the 21st Century
  • The future of the minority group in Hong Kong and resilience of the next generation
  • Race and Security in Policing Risk Assessment Policies in England
  • The Liberal Government of Fire on the London Underground through Risk and Uncertainty
  • Uncertainty & Governance: An Analysis of the Global Risk Dashboard

Activisim

  • Risk & Activism in City Plaz
  • Engineering and Anticipating Risk: Comparing the Impact of Machine Learning Algorithms and Big Data in Political Campaigns and Security Practices
  • Creating the future: the impact of machine learning and data mining on risk and uncertainty
  • Business Consulting and Big Data Analytics: A New Variant of Risk?
  • More Than Face Value: An Exploration into the Emerging Use of Facial Recognition Technology Across the UK
  • Rethinking Risk and Resilience through the Smart Grid - How the introduction of the ‘Smart Grid’ changes the approached to (critical) infrastructural and security
  • Opportunities and risks of a new digital world: Is the smart grid an infrastructure of the Anthropocene?
  • Governing the Cyborg: Social Media Data and the August Riots

Digital risks

  • Engineering and Anticipating Risk: Comparing the Impact of Machine Learning Algorithms and Big Data in Political Campaigns and Security Practices
  • Creating the future: the impact of machine learning and data mining on risk and uncertainty
  • Business Consulting and Big Data Analytics: A New Variant of Risk?
  • More Than Face Value: An Exploration into the Emerging Use of Facial Recognition Technology Across the UK
  • Rethinking Risk and Resilience through the Smart Grid - How the introduction of the ‘Smart Grid’ changes the approached to (critical) infrastructural and security
  • Opportunities and risks of a new digital world: Is the smart grid an infrastructure of the Anthropocene?
  • Governing the Cyborg: Social Media Data and the August Riots

Insurance and capital

  • Donations from the economy to natural disasters (2006-2011)
  • Governing people’s behaviours: A case study of garbage clinical insurance in Malang, Indonesia
  • Safety in Numbers: An Evaluation of Regional Risk Pooling in the Caribbean
  • Selling Sustainability: a Critical Evaluation of the Role of Sustainability & Climate Change Consultants in Developing a Business Case to Go Green. A PWC Study
  • The Financialization of Climate Change Security
  • Disasters and their Relationship with the Insurance Cycle
  • Social Vulnerability to Flood Risk in the Fenland Basin: Refining the Approach to Index Construction
  • Insurance and business
  • Explore the impacts of the Flood Insurance Reform on Housing Market across the Vulnerable Communities
  • Insurance – A Technology of Power? A Critical Analysis of Climate Risk Insurance in the Context of the Developing World
  • The Insurance Industry: Governing through Data
  • The relationship between state and insurance industry: a comparison of UK and China's flood insurance systems
  • Bridging the Urban/Rural Divide: Investigating the Role of Social Capital in Trinidad and Tobago - A Case Study of two areas

Security

  • The Social and Political Implications of the Securitisation of Europe in Reaction to the Migrant Crisis: An Investigation
  • Lockdown London? Reviewing the Security, Surveillance Practices, and Legacies of the London 2012 Olympic Games
  • Safe Enough to Shop: The Commercialisation of Airport Border Security
  • A Neo Liberal Approach to Security? Micro and Macro Politics of Kidnap and Ransom Insurance

Terrorism

  • Proportionality in the UK legislative response to terrorism 2001-2005: Rule of Law v ‘Rule of Risk’
  • Counter Terrorism Risk Governance: Forecasting Unkniwns Through Online Social Network Analysis
  • Securitisation Theory and Migration: The response of FRONTEX to the migrant crisis
  • The Construction of Risk in Britain's EU Referendum
  • The No-Fly List: an apparatus of disciminatory punishments masquarading as an 'inconvenience'
  • Factors Influencing Individuals Risk Preparedness: A Case Study of flash flood Management in Sultanate of Oman
  • Building Climate Change Resilience: The engagement of communities in the French Alps with the building of climate change resilience in alpine tourism

Health

  • The London Urban Heat Island: Investigations of the Relationship between Urban Heat and Mortality
  • Flood Risks and Children with Disabilities in the United Kingdom: Insights from York
  • Visual Impairment in England: An Analysis of Socioeconomic Risk Inequalities
  • Analysis on potential influencing factors of sex difference in childhood obesity in Guangdong Province, China
  • Ecological Niche Model for Phlebotomus orientalis (Diptera: Psychodidae) under climate change scenarios: Risk Map for Visceral Leishmaniasis in Sudan
  • Health Inequalities among Residents with Different Household Registration Status in Wuhan,China and the Impacts of Hukou Institution upon it
  • Socio-economic factors affecting the knowledge, awareness and risk of snake bite in India taking the case study of Jasdan Taluka
  • Understanding of Temporal and Spatial Variability of PM2.5 pollution and health risk in Tianjin, China
  • Child Marriage in Nepal: Risks and Consequences on Reproductive Health of Women
  • Lived experiences of the healthcare workers sustaining needle stick injuries in the hospital setting in Palpa, Nepal
  • Socio-economic risk imbalance for the Deaf community in England
  • Maternal and Child Health Services in Nepal: Analysis of Absolute and Relative Inequalities and Impacts of Current Efforts to Address Disparities
  • Risk factors associated with hospitalization due to diarrhoeal disease in children aged 2-59 months at Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health, Kabul, Afghanistan