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New partnership sees University blaze a trail in crisis management

University of Gloucestershire has launched a groundbreaking partnership with the Institute of Strategic Risk Management (ISRM) that will provide students with a powerful voice around current issues in risk and crisis management.

The University – home of the Gloucestershire Business School – has become the world’s first ISRM University Chapter, with a pioneering vision to build a community that enables students to become part of the local, regional and multi-stakeholder dialogue.

The Chapter allows the students to participate in knowledge and information exchange through webinars and networking events, along with opportunities to share and publish academic work with peers, academics and professionals.

Gloucestershire Business School in the evening

Since 2021, the Gloucestershire Business School has been working with the ISRM to embed crisis education into its postgraduate curricula, including the delivery of core modules on business continuity management and crisis communications on its MBA Global programme and the upcoming validation of a Master’s stage award in Strategic Risk and Crisis Management.

Internationally, the ISRM is a strategic partner in the implementation of the Erasmus+ funded capacity building project ‘Building Universities in Leading Disaster Resilience (BUiLD)’.

Led by the Gloucestershire Business School (pictured left) , the project attracted nearly €1 million of EU funding and has created eight Centres of Excellence in Disaster Resilience across Indonesia’s main regions.

Based on a common framework, the Centres are hubs for advancing institutional governance, disaster response capability, disaster management education, research and knowledge transfer, disaster awareness training, community outreach and fundraising.

The Executive Director of the ISRM, Dr David Rubens, said: We are delighted to announce that, having enjoyed a strong partnership with University of Gloucestershire over the last couple of years, this has now been formally recognised with the establishment of the ISRM University of Gloucestershire Chapter.

“With 250 of the Business School postgraduate students already being ISRM Student Members, this is the first time that we are launching a dedicated University Chapter.

“We look forward to seeing how the Chapter develops its own personality and place in the ISRM ecosphere. We are planning to use this as pilot for establishing similar ISRM University Chapters across our networks, focusing initially on our partners in Indonesia.”

ISRM University of Gloucestershire Chapter Director, Nadine Sulkowski, said: “We are delighted to be the first ISRM University Chapter worldwide.

“Its launch marks a milestone in us bringing together the curriculum development, research activities and international project work that we have been pursuing over the past four years.

“Having established eight unique Centres of Excellence in Disaster Resilience to lead on disaster management education, research and knowledge transfer across Indonesia, it naturally follows that we would like to remain connected by creating a similar entity within the Gloucestershire Business School.

“As a platform bringing together academia, industry, and the public and third sector, the ISRM University of Gloucestershire Chapter allows us to do this.”

Main image: The Executive Director of the ISRM, Dr David Rubens, at University of Gloucestershire