What began as classroom discussions during a master’s programme in Scotland has become an opportunity to inspire future disaster risk managers back home in Malawi.

Shapil Ngutwa, a graduate of MUST, is using her academic journey and experiences to connect global environmental discussions with the realities students are preparing to face in the disaster risk management sector.

Shapil graduated from MUST in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Disaster Risk Management with distinction and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Environment and Development at University of Edinburgh under the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program.

While pursuing her master’s studies, Shapil recently wrote a blog inspired by discussions from her Environmental Governance and Policy course. 

However, her motivation went beyond academic work as she intentionally wrote the blog for Disaster Risk Management students at MUST, hoping to bridge global environmental governance discussions with professional journeys students are preparing to undertake.

"I wanted to write something I would have wanted to read when I was still a student at the university," she explained.

Through her reflections, Shapil highlights that disaster risk management goes beyond responding to hazards and emergencies. 

She believes the field is also about understanding governance systems, policies and institutions that shape vulnerability, resilience and sustainable development.

She hopes students recognise that effective disaster risk management requires engagement with environmental policy, inclusive decision-making, and systems that influence communities and societies. 

More importantly, she wants students to understand that they have the power to make a difference.

Shapil credits her studies at MUST for providing a strong foundation in risk assessment, climate change, resilience building, and community-based disaster risk management.

She added that the knowledge and skills gained at MUST helped her see environmental governance not as a completely new concept, but as an extension of the disaster risk management principles she had already learned.

Even as her studies continue to expand into broader environmental issues, her passion remains firmly rooted in creating impact within the disaster risk management sector.