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This paper argues that extractivist logic creates the environmental conditions that produce “natural” hazards and also the human conditions that produce vulnerability, which combined create disasters. Disaster Risk Creation is then built into the current global socio-economic system, as an integral component not accidental by-product.

As part of the movement to liberate disasters as discipline, practice and field of enquiry, this paper does not talk disasters per se, but rather its focus is on “extractivism” as a fundamental explanator for the anthropogenic disaster landscape that now confronts us.

Applying a gender lens to extractivism as it relates to disaster, further highlights that Disaster Risk Management rather than alleviating, creates the problems it seeks to solve, suggesting the need to liberate gender from Disaster Risk Management, and the need to liberate us all from the notion of managing disasters. Since to ‘manage’ disaster risk is to accept uncritically the structures and systems that create that risk, then if we truly want to address disasters, our focus needs to be on the extractive practices, not the disastrous outcomes.

The fundamental argument is that through privileging the notion of “disaster” we create it, bring it into existence, as something that exists in and of itself, apart from wider socio-economic structures and systems of extraction and exploitation, rather than recognising it for what it is, an outcome/end product of those wider structures and systems. Our focus on disaster is then misplaced, and perhaps what disaster studies needs to be liberated from, is itself.

This article provides an introduction and assessment of the English and Spanish literatures on gender relations in disaster contexts. We analyze regional patterns of differences and similarities in women’s disaster experiences and the differing research questions raised by these patterns in the scholarly and practice‐based literature. The analysis supports the claim that how gender is theorized makes a difference in public policy and practical approaches to disaster risk management. We propose new directions in the field of disaster social science and contribute a current bibliography in the emerging gender and disaster field.

This paper aims to report on an externally‐funded project and forms part of its dissemination.

The objectives are achieved through a theoretical framing of the project and an alignment of these with the contexts for the project – namely the Professional Standards Framework of the HEA, its use in postgraduate programmes of Academic Practice in England and the development of teacher resources by the IT in Teacher Education association. Findings – The result of the design process is a nine‐unit course which carries 30 credits on the English Higher Education Framework at level 7. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of the paper are that it reports only on the design and production of a course of postgraduate education. It does not report on the actual implementation as this has not yet happened at the time of writing.

The intention is for this course to be adaptable for use in a range of different contexts. This is facilitated by its design being carried out with a community of practitioners supported by an online space for discussion and development.

The design of a course using a collaborative community drawn from across higher education institutions is considered to be original. The paper is of value to all those working in higher education, those working on programmes of academic practice and those interested in the use of Open Educational Resources (OERs) in such contexts.

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are an increasingly fundamental part of our society. Meeting rising demand requires NPOs to attract enough resources, especially volunteers, to enable service delivery. This paper aims to adopt a novel theoretical lens to reframe this marketing challenge to inform practice and extend theory.

Practice-based exploration of a volunteer-enabled NPO, parkrun, through in-depth interviews and secondary source analysis.

The research identified that the brand community connects volunteers through three inter-connected levels. The big idea of parkrun, the focal brand, resonated with people through being “on their wavelength”, something they believed in. The local, physical event meant engagement was “on their patch”, anchored in place. Finally, the brand community enables people to volunteer “on their terms”, with fluid roles and flexible levels of commitment.

Not all NPOs have service beneficiaries who are able to volunteer, services with different volunteering roles, or operate through a local physical presence. However, taking a focal brand approach to consider the brand community through which people volunteer for an NPO, the practices that reinforce that community, and how to offer volunteers significantly greater flexibility in both role and commitment presents an opportunity for NPOs to rethink how volunteering works for them in the future.

Clear recommendations for practice include the opportunity to integrate service beneficiary with service delivery enabler (volunteer) to strengthen the implicit social contract, increasing participation to deepen the social identity felt towards the brand, and key practices that reduce barriers to volunteering.

The paper extends volunteering theory from the traditional individual needs approach to a focal brand community perspective. The marketing challenge of attracting volunteer resources to NPOs is understood through rethinking the boundaries between service beneficiaries and service enablers, anchored in social identity theory. It provides clear recommendations for practice through reframing the recruitment challenge.

Alternative Education Placements (AEPs) are unique and complex settings that serve students with varieties of needs and strengths, though in practice such settings may be used most frequently to serve students with serious challenging behavior. Although research supports a number of individual interventions for students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD), including intensive, individualized interventions, less is known about adapting such interventions for AEPs, and especially about the potential for AEPs to adopt a flexible, positive, multitiered framework for behavior and school climate. Emerging evidence suggests that Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS) can be integrated into alternative education settings with careful planning. This chapter provides (1) an overview of AEPs, (2) a description of six steps recommended for integrating PBIS into AEPs, and (3) a brief overview of recent literature regarding PBIS in AEPs.

Many scholars and practitioners consider development to be as much an institutional and organizational phenomenon as it is an economic one. Among other elements, civil society is a key determinant of a country’s level of social capital. Important links appear to exist between a robust associational milieu and the effective operation of democracy. However, the role of civil society organizations in human development has only recently gained attention.

The study sought to assess and evaluate the information literacy experiences and competencies of nursing students at Aga Khan University, Uganda. A review of information literacy (IL) programs was done to establish the competencies students acquired from the library staff and examine the contribution of IL competencies to the effective utilization of library information resources.

A qualitative descriptive research design was used to describe the participants' experiences regarding IL competencies. The study population included 35 nursing students pursuing a diploma of science in nursing in the second year of study. Purposive sampling was utilized to identify only second-year diploma students who had undertaken the IL training. The study utilized individual interviews and open-ended questionnaires.

The study found that nursing students who attained some IL competencies could easily locate the required information; IL was not integrated into the curriculum as a stand-alone course unit, but rather a few elements were embedded in some of the nursing course units like research, nursing informatics and academic writing. Furthermore, there was no well-developed IL curriculum used for teaching the subject. The study also noted that there was a minimum collaboration between the faculty and librarians in teaching IL at AKU. Findings showed there was a gap in the IL program delivery.

This study extends the literature on the subject by bringing together current views and opinions of the three populations involved to present a more comprehensive view of the challenges academia faces regarding teaching and student acquisition of IL skills.