Master of Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering

Master of Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering

The Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering (NHRE) master’s degree program has a strong international orientation. It trains students to apply themselves to demanding engineering tasks with regard to specific external influences, such as earthquakes. We teach students how to use modern equipment to assess the dangers and damage potential of natural phenomena, we show them how to create models and simulations, and we prepare them for conducting projects and- risk analyses of their own. In this way, the program provides students with key qualifications for engineering positions which require innovative, enterprising solutions for dealing with a wide variety of natural dangers, like earthquakes, floods and storms.

The occurrence of an increasing number of natural hazards all over the world and their various effects on individuals, societies and modern economies is one of the major challenges for future decades. The master course in "Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering" faces this challenge by providing indispensable tools for taking into account those phenomena in the different design processes in civil engineering. Thereby, the master course aims at combining practical structural engineering with state-of-the-art concepts regarding computational mechanics, dynamics and probability theory/stochastic analysis. Consequently, the master course provides key qualifications for innovative work in the field of earthquake, flood and wind engineering and offers an international setting in which students will achieve both technical success and personal advancement.

Main areas covered by the master course in "Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering" are earthquake engineering and structural design, Geo- and hydro-technical engineering, Finite element methods and structural dynamics, non-linear analysis of structures under extreme loading, stochastics and risk assessment, as well as disaster management and mitigation strategies. The course program covers, thereby, both theoretical and application orientated topics.

Objectives and goals of the degree program

The master’s degree program in “Natural Hazards and Risks in Structural Engineering” is an intensive and application-based advanced course of study. The program is highly supervised and research- oriented. It provides students with a solid technical basis in the key areas of structural engineering through a coherent and coordinated degree program, integrating research and practical applications. The degree program enables students’ excellence in oral and written skills. By providing students with advanced, scientifically-based, interdisciplinary knowledge, they are able to take on demanding engineering tasks in the areas of planning, construction and realization of structures under specific conditions. They are also able to carry out site, or structure, specific risk analysis using modern tools to estimate the threat of natural hazards. In addition to strengthening their theoretical and scientific competence, students are able to develop skills in modelling, simulation and application of performance-based design, fieldwork and laboratory investigations. In order to structure and reflect the complexity of the chain reactions inherent to natural hazards, this program explores in detail various engineering disciplines and engineering-related areas of the natural sciences, social sciences and economics. It examines the central role that structural engineering plays in reducing the impact of natural disasters. Furthermore, it focuses on the engineering methods that are used to assess and reduce the vulnerability of structures. The program highlights the demands on engineering technology at both regional and global level by using international projects as models. The elective compulsory modules expand on specific lines of development; they equip and prepare students systematically for future professional careers or further research positions.

The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar is an international research university that is committed to the idea of Bauhaus and therefore has a traditionally international orientation. Its aspiration is to combine arts with sciences and technics which leads us to run a path that is unique in Germany . The aspiration for internationalization is no empty phrase but an integrative component of our self-understanding and the orientation.

With faculties and areas of study such as Architecture , Art and Design , Civil Engineering and Media , the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has a distinctive identity.

The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has become well-known for its wide range of teaching and research activities based on civil engineering and architecture-oriented disciplines. Today the University offers an extensive spectrum of instruction with about 40 courses of study , including free art , design , web design , visual communication , media design , media culture , architecture , civil engineering , materials science , processing technology , environment , and management .

The term »Bauhaus« stands for an eagerness to experiment, openness, creativity, a close link between industrial practice and internationality. Building on the tradition of the Bauhaus movement, all the faculties are involved in the creation of public spaces. The goal is to get science, art, and technology working together analytically, creatively and innovatively in the planning, construction, and design of current and future spaces of habitation. Practical experience plays an important role in all academic fields, as well as in artistic development.

Testing, certification and product development are just as important to civil engineers as they are to media developers and designers.

In order to define its international image and to establish itself successfully as an international university , it is the university’s strategy to internationalize in all areas. Especially in the areas of teaching, research, and creative-artistic development, the international orientation should improve through different means and promoting instruments. On that account, internationalization was enshrined into management by the principle of the university. Moreover, the position of the Officer for International Strategic Cooperations was created. Her task is to update the internationalization strategies and to take diverse measures.