Disaster operations management: a multi-disciplinary perspective

Verfasst vonJohanna GrillmeyerVeröffentlicht inAllgemein
LecturerProf. Dr. Christopher Zobel
Pamplin College of Business, Virginia Tech, USA
DateOctober 28 & 29, 2025 with classes from
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. (Day 1) and
9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. (Day 2)
Room/AddressRoom SPQ-3.105 (Schloßplatzquartier)
TU Bergakademie Freiberg, Faculty of Business Administration (Schlossplatz 1)
Seminar contentDisaster operations management has gained increasing attention across multiple disciplines in recent years and has generated a broad body of research on how communities and systems prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. This seminar focuses on disaster operations management from a multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing on insights from community psychology, civil engineering, operations management, decision sciences, and information systems. The sessions will address the underpinnings of resilience theory and measurement, the planning and mitigation of disaster impacts, and the management of response and recovery operations. We will examine both conceptual frameworks and applied methods, discussing key articles that highlight resilience capacities, infrastructure investment trade-offs, volunteer and donation management, and advanced data-driven approaches to disaster response. The seminar is organized into three half-day sessions: the first on characterizing resilience, the second on planning and mitigation operations, and the third on disaster response and recovery.
PrerequisitesParticipants should prepare the following articles. The discussions will emphasize the implications of and connections between topics and techniques rather than an exhaustive treatment of the technical details:
(1) Characterizing Disaster Resilience(2) Planning and Mitigation Operations
  • Baghersad, M., Zobel, C. W., Farahani, M. H., & Behara, R. S. (2025). Trade-offs between equity and efficiency in prioritizing critical infrastructure investments: A case of stormwater management systems. Production and Operations Management, 34(4), 590–611. https://doi.org/10.1177/10591478241243387
  • Arnette, A. N., & Zobel, C. W. (2019). A risk-based approach to improving disaster relief asset pre-positioning. Production and Operations Management, 28(2), 457–478. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.12934
(3) Response and Recovery Operations
  • Urrea, G., Pedraza-Martinez, A. J., & Besiou, M. (2019). Volunteer management in charity storehouses: Experience, congestion, and operational performance. Production and Operations Management, 28(10), 2653–2671. https://doi.org/10.1111/poms.13073
  • Zhang, H., Zhao, X., Fang, X., & Chen, B. (2024). Proactive resource request for disaster response: A deep learning-based optimization model. Information Systems Research, 35(2), 528–550. https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0125
Assignments(1) Attend the class
(2) Participate in class discussions
(3) Consider the relevance of the different topics and perspectives to your own research efforts
CertificateDoctoral candidates from the Faculty of Business and Economics, TU Dresden can earn a certificate according to § 9 of the Ph.D. doctoral regulations (PromO 2018):
Doctoral candidates of Business Administration: § 9 (1) Nr. 5 or 6
Doctoral candidates of Business Information Systems: § 9 (1) Nr. 6
Doctoral candidates of Economics: § 9 (1) Nr. 6

Doctoral candidates from other universities can earn a certificate as well.
RegistrationParticipation is limited (max. 15). 
To register send an e-mail to Dr. Uta Schwarz: uta.schwarz@tu-dresden.de
Phone: +49 351 463-33141

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