Students positive to new multidisciplinary course in health crises preparedness
To improve preparedness for future health crises, the next generation of scholars and professionals must understand the complex and uncertain nature of crises. That is the core thinking behind a new course that the Centre for Health Crises at KI is co-organising. After four weeks of studies, the first cohort of students are positive about what they learnt and how the course was set up.
The course Preparedness for health crises: a multidisciplinary approach is a four-week hybrid course that mixes practical assignments, personal and group reflection exercises and simulations, with the objective being to analyse health crises from international and interdisciplinary perspectives, enhancing understanding and preparedness for global health threats. The first instalment of the course ran for four weeks in September and October 2026.
It is taught by a group of European universities, with the Pandemic Center at the University of Bergen leading the work, and NOVA University Lisboa, Bielefeld University, Erasmus University Rotterdam and the Centre for Health Crises at KI making up the rest. The Centre for Health Crises got involved in the course through their Nordic Health Crises University network, which is an interdisciplinary network where Nordic universities collaborate on topics related to health crises and preparedness. Caroline de Groot coordinates the network and has this to say about the course:
– “The Pandemic Center at Bergen University approached us after we had met when the Nordic network hosted a meeting here at KI last April and asked if we wanted to join the group that organises the course. Since it is just the kind of interdisciplinary training of future generations of health crises experts that we want to do, it was an easy decision to get involved and so far, we’re happy with how it has turned out”.
Interdisciplinary set-up offers opportunities to learn beyond the classroom
The content of the course is truly multidisciplinary, bringing together elements from epidemiology and public health, law and democracy, surveillance and community health care, mathematical modelling, communication, biology, economy and health systems resilience. The interdisciplinary nature is also reflected in the broad student cohort that attended the course, creating many opportunities for peer-to-peer learning between students from different fields.
Mostafa Monier Othman, PhD student at the Department of Global Public Health at KI, was one of the students who attended the course:
– I though the course was very useful, for several reasons. It provided me with some knowledge about fields that I have never studied and was almost like logarithmical algorithms before for me. Moreover, the scenario-based workshop by Bart Blokland and Alois Kessener from the Pandemic and Disaster Preparedness Center (PDPC) about pandemic preparedness brought me back to the times COVID-19 where we had to make decisions that we were not prepared before. In many ways, it would have been nice to have this experience before not after the pandemic. It also added more value, by including a social science prospective, which we lacked during that time. Finally, it brought up a very interesting political discussion related to the preparedness of the international law for the next crises, which remains a critical gap that is still overlocked. I appreciate that Siri Gloppen and Francesca Maria Pessina brought that up.
Conference attendance added bonus to participating in person
For those who attended the last week of the course in person in Bergen, which was an option to add on for extra credit to the otherwise online based course, it also included participation in the conference What does Preparedness mean today? Health, Climate, and Power at a Crossroads, which Mostafa appreciated:
The conference was an incredible opportunity to network and engage with policy makers. I had the privilege of sharing a table with Katrín Jakobsdóttir, Iceland previous prime minister. Listening to her presentation and sharing feedback about the sessions was a true privilege and highlighting her sharp intellect, influence and humbleness.
I also had the chance to present a poster we had made during the course. Under the guidance of Esperanza Diaz, who mentored us through the course, students supported one another during the preparation phase. It was highly collaborative effort. In addition to developing my own poster, I helped three other students to develop theirs. Three of the posters were successfully presented in the conference, making it a very rewarding experience.
The Pandemic Center at the University of Bergen, together with the rest of the organisers, are now in the process of reviewing the course and looking at what the next step for it might be. Updates and information about potential future applications to the course will be posted on the Centre for Health Crises website.
The Centre for Health Crises and the Nordic Health Crises University Network also organises PhD and postdoc exchanges. Click here to find out more!