The Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree in Public Health in Disasters (EMJMDPHID) is a joint university educational programme organized by the Unit for Research in Emergency and Disaster of the Universidad de Oviedo, Spain (Coordinator), the Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters of the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, and the Department of Primary Care and Population Health of the University of Nicosia Medical School, Cyprus. It is designed to deliver high quality education and training in the field of Public Health in disaster situations. The programme is co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union and it involves associated universities and institutions around the world.

The degree provides a solid background in the understanding, analysis and response to disasters focusing on health systems and the reduction of disaster risks. It is aimed at professionals interested in Public Health disaster research and management, particularly those involved in disaster risk reduction, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. It also includes those involved in research from a wide variety of professionals such as doctors and nurses, engineers, risk managers, policy and decision makers, public services officials, logisticians, researchers and social scientists, staff of public and private national and international relief organisations (UN, NGOs etc.). The approach and content of the degree is the response to the main Public Health challenges caused by disasters to communities and countries, using the basis of the United Nations Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and focusing on disaster risk reduction.

The role of UNIC Medical School in this partnership is to offer those courses that lead to the specialization track ‘Epidemiology and Research in Disasters’ and which are drawn from its MPH degree.

The programme will be offered from September 2019 and several full scholarships are available to interested students.

More details about the programme and how to apply can be found on the Erasmus Mundus webpage at http://publichealthdisasters.eu/.