This course is included in your IHSCM Membership, at no extra cost. Please log in to access the full course.
Welcome to our short course masterclass, an Introduction to Emergency and Crisis Response Leadership. This course has been developed and delivered by Colonel David Bates FIHSCM, who leads University of Cumbria’s postgraduate programmes in disaster, crisis and humanitarian response.
David has a distinguished career spanning over 35 years in the Army Medical Services, and brings a wealth of experience in both military and civilian healthcare settings. He began his career as a Registered General Nurse, specialising in Burns and Plastic Surgery nursing, and his military service took him across the globe, including operational deployments in Central America, Germany, the Middle East, the Balkans, Northern Ireland, Eastern and Central Africa, and Southeast Asia.
David’s expertise extends to nuclear, biological, and chemical defense, and he has been recognised for his excellence in international military medicine with the Ambroise Paré Award.
In addition to his role at the University of Cumbria, David volunteers with several international NGOs, providing aid and advocacy in disaster-stricken communities. He also supports military initiatives as a Fellow of the Centre for Military Global Health Engagement and contributes to the Land Warfare Centre through contract work in Red Teaming and Wargaming.
David has developed 5 modules to introduce the principles of emergency and crisis response leadership, exclusively for IHSCM members. There are 4 lessons, and 1 reflective exercise, designed to equip learners with essential skills and knowledge in an emergency and disaster and crisis response. By the end of the course, learners will have a clear understanding of key concepts, practical applications, and the ability to critically analyse and apply what they’ve learned in real-world scenarios. The learning objectives for each module emphasise both theoretical knowledge and hands-on experience, ensuring learners can successfully integrate these skills into their professional practice.
Module 1 – Introduction: This module aims to develop advanced knowledge, skills and behaviours in multi-professional working through the context of humanitarian action.
Module 2 – Principles of Disaster Response: This modules covers principles of disaster response including preparation, planning, execution and evaluation. It considers the unique aspects of incident management, medical intelligence (aetiology, epidemiology, pathology, morbidity and mortality) and application in practice. It will refer to local policy, available doctrine and clinical evidence, public health, and ‘how to’ develop professional decision-making, command, leadership and management, problem-solving techniques, and physical and mental resilience.
Module 3 – Principles of Humanitarian Action: This modules aims to develop your professional decision advantage and superiority through awareness and the application of intelligence. It covers resources management, reflective/reflexive practice, local policy, available doctrine and evidence, and physical and mental resilience. It also addresses human security, capacity building, social capital, mainstreaming gender, Security Sector Reform, the Law of Armed Conflict (Hague and Geneva Protocols), Rule of Law, safeguarding, diversity and inclusivity, and ‘how to’ develop problem-solving techniques to lead teams. International Humanitarian Law, the European Court of Human Rights, and participatory planning and monitoring/evaluation and learning will be referenced to build a multi-agency approach.
Module 4 – Leadership in Crisis: This module builds upon modules 2 and 3 to provide critical reflection and develop problem-solving techniques for use when operating in a non-permissive environments, such as care under fire, tactical field care, prolonged field care and evacuation, and threat training and exposure. You will learn about the acronyms TRiM, POSM and mental health first aid.
Module 5 – Evaluation: This is your opportunity to provide a reflective account of the skills, knowledge and behaviours learned from participating in the course, and discuss how you will embed these in practice (with examples).
Typically, this course should take 8 hours to complete, and upon completion, learners opted-in to our HPL competencies Framework will achieve points towards all IHSCM’s 5 core high-performance leadership competencies. You will attain 16 points in total:
- 2 points towards Me, Myself and I
- 3 points towards Innovation
- 3 points towards Leadership Excellence
- 4 points towards Workforce
- 4 points towards Operational Leadership
