PhD Programme in Risk Management and Societal Safety - technological science

The area covers a broad risk perspective with focus on risk management in projects and companies, as well as general structures and societal safety. The programme makes use of technical, economic, financial and social science approaches in order to give a holistic approach to risk in complex systems and to make good use of resources.

Key topics are risk and vulnerability analyses, risk acceptance problems, risk management, emergency planning and crisis management, societal planning, regulation and security; contracts and types of trading, vulnerability, technology and organization; risk perception; management of uncertainty and decision-making analysis.

The programme has been divided into the following specialization areas: risk analysis and management, financial risk management and societal safety.

The area of risk analysis and management has traditionally focused on a technical risk approach to risk and vulnerability analyses and risk management, but in recent years, the specialist environment has used broader perspectives on risk and vulnerability in accordance with development of the field of Risk Management and Societal Safety. The oil industry has been important with regard to applied problems. A lot of research has also increasingly focused on other applications and includes topics such as traffic, patient and aircraft safety, and operational risk in finance.

The area of economic risk management employs an economic and financial approach to the impact of risk, uncertainty and risk management and the importance of regulation. The oil industry has also been an important area here for applied problems, but studies involve numerous other industries, sectors and markets, including fish and fish farming, electricity, finance, agriculture, medicine and on different levels of the value chain, such as the supplier industry, retailers, exporters.

In the area of societal safety, the research topics are mainly angled toward risk and vulnerability analysis and management, especially in relation to public authorities and regulatory problems and in areas, such as transport, communication, health and emergency preparedness.

The PhD programme in Risk Management and Societal Safety is linked to research within each of these specialist areas, in addition to problems that involve multi-disciplinary approaches. In the area of societal safety, the programme is also closely linked to a corresponding programme in the Faculty of Social Science.