MSc Humanitarian Action

Who is the MSc Humanitarian Action for?

The UCD Masters in Humanitarian Action (MHA) is an inter-university, multi-disciplinary postgraduate programme that provides high quality academic education and professional competencies for personnel working in or intending to work in the area of humanitarian action. Applicants from all backgrounds are encouraged to apply with particular emphasis on experienced professionals and recent graduates.

What is the MSc in Humanitarian Action about?

Over the past generation, the scale and awareness of global humanitarian crises has escalated dramatically. War, famine, persecution and natural disasters have increased the demand for more professional managers and specialists to work in disaster setting and in subsequent recovery programmes.
The UCD MSc Humanitarian Action programme aims to provide humanitarian professionals with the competences to work effectively and efficiently in these challenging environments.

How will I benefit from the MSC in Humanitarian Action?

MHA students benefit from a holistic and multi-disciplinary education. Such an approach is fully exploited in the Core Modules in the first semester, when students have the opportunity to explore subjects such as Geopolitics, International Humanitarian Law, Anthropology, Public Health, and Management, all from a humanitarian perspective.

If UCD MSc Humanitarian Action students choose to avail of second semester mobility, they will have the opportunity to specialise in subjects of particular interest to them which are offered by one of the six other partner universities. UCD MSc Humanitarian Action students are strongly encouraged to participate in mobility. The specialisation at UCD is ‘Societies in Transition’.  Third semester mobility allows MHA students the opportunity to undertake research in one of the Erasmus Mundus Partner universities outside Europe. To learn more about the third semester mobility we encourage you to read an interview with former NOHA students.

There is an emphasis on competence based learning throughout the programme. This allows graduates to avail of an applied approach to humanitarian action and equips students with the required knowledge and skills to address humanitarian issues when entering employment.

The NOHA Master Programme is both well established and respected since its inception in 1993. This affords the graduate the opportunity of valuable exposure to partner stakeholders such as the UN and countless other humanitarian institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Furthermore, the graduate's relationship with the programme can evolve and develop after the period of formal education through participation in the NOHA Alumni Association and the benefits it entails.