First Erasmus Mundus master on coastal hazards starts
Twenty-one students have embarked on a four-semester international postgraduate programme to learn about Coastal Hazards, Risks, Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation (COASTHazar). The inaugural COASTHazar Erasmus Mundus master’s programme opened 5 September in a ceremony held at the Universidad de Cantabria, Spain.
The new master’s course is a joint effort by IHE Delft (the coordinating institution), Universidad de Cantabria and University of Algarve, Portugal, that prepares students for professional careers in which they will help societies address and adapt to coastal hazards and associated risks.
The programme seeks to help meet the world’s needs for qualified professionals able to address existing problems in the coastal areas, set to increase with climate change. The programme graduates will be well into their careers in 2040-2050, when the harm to coastal areas caused by climate-change induced sea-level rise is expected to start having its highest impact.
A dream coming true
COASTHazar student Maysha Kazi from Bangladesh had some busy days with lots of paperwork before the start of the programme, but is excited to start and said it is like a dream coming true.
She signed up because the programme offers all the necessary elements she needs to enhance her research background in coastal vulnerability reduction.
“It is my absolute desire to gain professional skills in climate forecasting with the application of modelling and scientific thinking that will help to build a sustainable coastal area against climate change. And this is the specific resource that my maritime country Bangladesh highly needs,” said Kazi.
More information
More information about the programme and how to apply is available at: www.coasthazar.eu – applications for the 2024 intake can be filed as of 15 October 2023.
IHE Delft also coordinates three other Erasmus Mundus programmes: The International Master of Science in Environmental Technology and Engineering (IMETE), Groundwater and Global Change - Impacts and Adaptation (GroundwatCh) and the International Master’s Programme in Flood Risk Management.
Alvaro Milho Semedo
Associate Professor of Coastal Oceanography