The topics of risk and crisis are very much intertwined, and have a profound impact on individuals, institutions and society as a whole. Crisis is risk realised, and both are central factors affecting decision making. In addition, how a crisis is managed and portrayed in the media affects risk perceptions. This module gives a background of risk and crisis from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives including; economics, communications, journalism, history, neurology, and risk management. Students will understand the magnitude of risk and crisis within society, and how it transcends multiple contexts, and disciplines. This can only be achieved by an holistic examination of risk and crisis through multiple lenses. The students will learn how risk is portrayed, quantified, and processed. After this module, students will have an awareness of risk and risk information processing, how crises impact risk assessments, how risk is communicated in the popular media, and understand crisis response strategies. This course will have potential appeal and interest across the university, as it transcends disciplines. In the majority of courses, students have to debate and consider the issues of risk/crisis in their own primary discipline (e.g. engineering, politics, public health & medicine, psychology, business, law, sociology, maths, life sciences, etc.).

Risk and crises are powerful forces that affect and shape human behavior, and society, defining the lives of people and institutions in the 21st century. Crisis is risk realised, and both are central factors affecting decision making. Students will understand the magnitude of risk and crisis within society, and how it transcends multiple contexts, and disciplines, analysing the topic from several different perspectives. Students will gain knowledge of how individuals and organizations quantify and perceive risk, broadening their understanding of risk and crisis portrayal from a physiological, historical, economic, scientific, and communications perspective. The module comprises of six learning units; Risk in Society; Historical Perspectives of Risk & Crisis; Economic Perspectives of Risk & Crisis; The Neurobiology of Risk; Portrayal of Risk & Crisis in the Media; Risk and Crisis Communications. This module brings together insights from the fields of business, economics, communications, history, journalism, and medicine.

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: • Articulate the impact of risk/crises on individuals, institutions and the wider society • Apply strong knowledge about risk information processing concepts, techniques, strategies and theories • Propose risk knowledge techniques and solutions to complex scenarios

• Adopt a responsible approach to resolving conflicting issues surrounding beliefs on risk/crises and ethical considerations. • Commit to a proactive analysis of the origin and impact evaluation of risk/crisis

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The module will be taught through the contributions of several faculty from multiple disciplines who will provide different lenses under which to critically engage with the concepts of risk and crisis. Each faculty responsible for a unit will formulate an exercise for the students, that has to be completed by a certain timeframe. In completing this exercise, students will use a popular blogging site platform. These blog posts can incorporate text, images, video, info-graphics, slide shows that articulate their arguments that are aligned the unit exercise. Thus we are tapping into the strengths of the 'digital natives'. For example, for the unit, Economic Perspectives of Risk & Crisis students will be asked to complete an economic assessment based on data provided. The assessment will adopt a holistic approach so as to accurately reflect the learning outcomes of the module. Central to the module is the development of a students' ePortfolio. All the students will be placed in groups of four/five. Assessments will combine both group and individual level of assessments. Fulfilling UL Graduate Attributes; Knowledgable -Multi-Disciplinary, Boundary Spanning Subject, Demonstrate Critical Thinking Proactive -Multiple Lenses of Risk & Crisis Creative - Innovative Course, Use of Technology, Class Involvement & Interaction Development of ePortfolio Responsible - Being a Peer Observer & The Use of Feed Forward Collaborative - Use of Social Network & Blogging Platform, Creation of Peer Learning Environment Articulate - Need to express arguments through web 2.0 Design Team Conor Carroll, Department of M&M Tom Felle, Department of LLCS David Fleming, Department of History John Garvey, Department of A&F Stephen Kinsella, Department of ECON Martin Mullins, Department of A&F William O'Connor, Graduate Entry Medical School