Short Course on Risk Assessment in Project Management

Tutor: Rafal Leszczyna (Professor at Gdansk University of Technology, Poland)

Course short description:

Risk is inherently related to each domain of human activity, in everyday life. Starting an action or making a decision that regards the future is always associated with some uncertainty. For instance when choosing a new restaurant there is always a risk that the food will not be as good as we would like to, or the staff won't be too friendly. Another tough decision is related to taking an umbrella when clouds are apparent on the sky. According to the Murphy's law, if you take your umbrella, it won't rain. It will only rain if you forget your umbrella. Fortunately this is not the Murphy's law that drives our reality (even if it often seems to). Our intuitive approach is to anticipate various circumstances that may affect our action and based on this we can decide on proceeding with or cancelling it. In the scientific domain this type of process is called - risk management. It comprises identification, assessment, and prioritisation of risks, followed by the risk treatment and monitoring.

During the course a risk assessment method will be presented followed by practical exercises of evaluation of risk (using Excel), based on an example from a project management domain. The method, though explained on the project management-related example, can be applied to any other domain, including economical or financial risk assessments.


Overview:

1. Introduction to the course.
2. Basic definitions: risk, threat, vulnerability.
3. Risk management, risk management lifecycle.
4. Risk assessment method types.
5. Selected standards and methodologies.
6. Description of the method of qualitative risk assessment that will be used during the second part of the course (practical exercise).
   

Practical exercise - based on a described case study from the project management domain, the participants will identify risks, define relevant areas of interest, evaluate probabilities of adverse events and assess the risks.

Duration: 2 x 3h

Thursday, 15/09/2016, 10:15 - 13:15 - Risk Assessment Course Part I, Friday, 16/09/2016, 10:15 - 13:15 - Risk Assessment Course Part II.

Laptop with Excel (or compatible) required.


Literature:

[1] Tom Kendrick, Identifying and Managing Project Risk: Essential Tools for Failure-Proofing Your Project, AMACOM. 3 edition (March 25, 2015).
[2] Carl L. Pritchard, Risk Management: Concepts and Guidance. Auerbach Publications; 5 edition (December 17, 2014).
[3] David Hillson, The Risk Management Handbook: A Practical Guide to Managing the Multiple Dimensions of Risk. Kogan Page; 1 edition (June 28, 2016).
[4] James Lam, Enterprise Risk Management: From Incentives to Controls. Wiley; 2 edition (February 18, 2014).


Short bio:

Prof. Rafal Leszczyna holds a PhD in Computer Science and Information Security, a MSc in Business Management and a MSc in Eng, Computer Science all from the Gdańsk University of Technology (Poland). Actually (since 2009) Prof. Rafal works as an Assistant Professor at Gdansk University of Technology. Previously, he has been a researcher at the European Network for Cyber Security (May 2013 – January 2014) in the The Hague, Netherlands, and worked as a Seconded National Expert at the European Network and Information Security Agency (ENISA) (from October 2010 to March 2012). He has also been a Scientific Officer at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (from March 2004 to September 2008).