Course Curriculum

The Torrens Resilience Initiative (TRI) is one of Australia’s most established research institutes dedicated to advancing disaster preparedness, management, and resilience at a global scale. As a World Health Organisation (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Mass Gatherings and Global Health Security, TRI plays a pivotal role in shaping international responses to disaster health and global health security challenges. Through its innovative and outcome-driven research, TRI supports organisations, communities, and nations to strengthen their capacities across emergency preparedness, prevention, relief, and recovery.A PhD aligned with TRI offers candidates the opportunity to contribute to ground-breaking research in disaster health management and resilience. Potential areas of focus include world health emergencies, disaster health practice, and health systems research with an emphasis on resilience and complex systems thinking. Other research opportunities explore the analysis of emerging risks and vulnerabilities, enhancing national health security through improved mitigation and response capacities, and preparedness for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRNe) emergencies.Additional areas of study may address health in mass gatherings and crowded places, biosecurity and pandemic response, deliberate events such as terrorism, humanitarian relief, environmental health emergencies, and leadership, management, and decision-making in crisis contexts. TRI also strongly supports interdisciplinary approaches, enabling students to examine disaster and health security issues through diverse lenses, from public health and policy to emergency management and social sciences.Candidates are encouraged to bring forward their own project ideas, ensuring flexibility to pursue research aligned with their personal and professional interests. TRI is committed to inclusivity and warmly welcomes applications from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates, as well as those with lived experience of disability or marginalisation.By joining TRI, PhD candidates will contribute to vital research shaping global best practice in disaster preparedness and response, while building expertise to influence policy, practice, and leadership in health security.