School of Geography ‘Natural Hazards; Human Disasters’ course wins international award

New course ‘Natural Hazards; Human Disasters’ has won an award for helping ‘create learning experiences that are more engaging, effective and supportive for students.’

Lecturer Dr Liam Taylor, pictured above and collaborator Edd Wilson-Stephens from the Faculty Digital Education Enhancement team have been recognized with the Blackboard Exemplary Course Program (ECP) Award for Liam’s module ‘Natural Hazards; Human Disasters’.

The award-winning module was co-created with undergraduate Geography students following one of the school’s annual Student Voice Summits.

The module is designed around four interdisciplinary and research-led units that allows students to learn from academics working in disaster risk reduction around the world. The module blends physical and human geography in a way that allows students to focus on communicating hazard risk effectively to saving lives in disaster.

Hazards Communication Project

Students are given the opportunity to design their own assessment model in the module. They are first asked to communicate a series of complex datasets to a broad public audience in any visual medium they feel most appropriate. Then, they write a Hazards Communication Project that either takes the form of designing an app for the public, or a briefing for a policymaker to inform them about a natural hazard. This allows students to develop their skills in producing professional outputs that would authentically be used in the NGO or policy sectors.

Fire blaze

Collaborating with Digital Education Enhancement

The award-winning module was a collaboration between Dr Liam Taylor and Edd Wilson-Stephens from the Faculty Digital Education Enhancement team.

Edd was instrumental to supporting the development of the module via his EdExE-funded project 'Enhancing the visual identity of module teaching'. His pedagogic research involved creating a professional visual identity – a 'branding' – to the module and its resources to capture engagement and provide a more accessible learning experience.

Through this, he recruited a Course Multimedia Team – six students who worked to create content for the module that summarised each taught component. The team was shortlisted at the University-wide Partnership Awards for the 'Innovation' category in 2025.

We are proud to recognize educators like the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, whose work reflects the creativity, care and intention behind impactful course design.

Dr Lisa Clark, Associate Vice President of Academic Transformation at Blackboard.

Clarity, authenticity, and student-centred design

Blackboard had the following praise for the course:

"The emphasis on student voice, both in how feedback can be provided and how it has shaped the module over time, reinforces a sense of partnership."
"Across all areas – course structure, assessment, learner support, and standout practices – there is a consistent emphasis on clarity, authenticity, and student-centred design. The module demonstrates a strong alignment between pedagogy and practice, with innovative yet practical approaches that enhance both engagement and outcomes."

The ECP Award recognizes faculty and course designers from schools, colleges, and universities around the world who develop engaging and innovative courses that represent the very best in technology and learning.

“We are proud to recognize educators like the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, whose work reflects the creativity, care and intention behind impactful course design,” said Dr Lisa Clark, Associate Vice President of Academic Transformation at Blackboard.