Academic role in disasters and crises management: opportunities and challenges

Abstract

There is growing global interest in offering the science of disasters and crises management as an option through the academic universities and research centres, especially after the increase in human and material losses owing to natural and man-made disasters. In this paper, we studied the academic role to be played by universities and research centres in Arab States to reduce future losses. We found that there is a limited interest to introduce crises and disasters management as an academic option within Arab States universities and research centres. The main objective of this research is to raise awareness in academia of the importance of scientific research in the field of crisis management to prevent or reduce future losses of organisations and assist them to return to normal life after a crisis. It is hoped this topic will be included in future seminars and conferences.