The Swiss engineering master's degree

Contents:

The module provides advanced knowledge and practical skills for assessing and managing natural hazards in Alpine environments. It focuses on slope instability, high-altitude cryosphere hazards, floods and debris flows, including their evolution under climate change.

The course combines process analysis, field and remote-sensing data, numerical modelling, hazard and risk mapping, vulnerability assessment and the evaluation of mitigation measures. Swiss standards and guidelines, particularly SIA 261/1, are applied through lectures, practical exercises, real case studies and a site-specific field investigation.

Objectives:

After completing the module, students should be able to analyse complex Alpine hazard processes, select and apply suitable investigation and modelling methods, interpret model and field data, and translate the results into hazard and risk assessments. Students should also be able to evaluate protective measures and develop technically appropriate, cost-effective and risk-informed solutions, taking into account uncertainty and the effects of climate change.

Prerequisites

• Knowledge of applied geology, hydrology and natural hazard assessment.
• Basic knowledge of slope stability analysis, geotechnical engineering, hydraulic processes and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is recommended.
• Students should also be able to interpret topographic, geological and hazard maps.

Learning Objectives

• After completing this module, students should be able to: 
• Understand and interpret slope failure mechanisms in soil and rock slopes;
• Delineate hazard-prone areas using advanced digital surveying and geospatial mapping techniques;
• Apply numerical modelling approaches to evaluate slope stability and landslide dynamics;
• Assess the performance of stabilization and mitigation measures under varying environmental and loading conditions;
• Carrying out complex case studies based on real examples and field data.
• Conducting a study and complying with specifications according to the client's instructions.
• Proposing technical solutions that are appropriate to the context and cost-effective.
• Interpreting and apply federal directives and norms for the dimensioning and construction of protective measures and structures.

Contents of Module

PART 1: Slope stability from modelling to hazard assessment, 12h (4 lectures)

This part of the course provides a detailed and integrated framework for the analysis and management of slope-related natural hazards in alpine environments, forming the methodological foundation for the subsequent modules on avalanches, debris flows, floods, permafrost and high-altitude hazards. 

The module combines mechanical principles, advanced numerical modelling, hazard dynamics, and territorial protection strategies, with a strong focus on decision-oriented risk management under climate-change-driven conditions.

PART 2: Complex high-altitude cryosphere hazards, 12h (4 lectures)

In the context of climate change, the Alpine cryosphere is particularly affected by the temperature increase and the modification in rain/snow regimes, leading to enhanced debris production by rapid glacier retreat, increasing permafrost degradation, and more intense precipitation (by rain and snow).

By adopting an integrative view of the three components of the Alpine cryosphere (snow, ice, and permafrost), this second part of the course has the objective to develop competences in the assessment of complex high-altitude hazards and risks.

PART 3: Floods and debris flows hazards, 12h (4 lectures)

The third part of the course focuses on flood and debris flow hazards and risk management, integrating advanced concepts of hydrology and flood discharge estimation in order to develop competences in the hazard and risk mapping technique for floods and debris flows. Focus will be given to the hydrological extremes and debris flow generation in the context of climate change.

PART 4: SITE-SPECIFIC ANALYSIS ON THE FIELD (1 day)

Teaching and Learning Methods

• Lectures
• Independent exercises
• a site-specific field investigation based on a real case study in the Southern Swiss Alps

Literature

Teaching materials and selected scientific and technical references provided during the lectures.