An organisation, a state, or a business can be hit by a crisis at any time – a natural disaster, financial collapse, a terrorist attack, individual misconduct that suddenly comes to light - or a pandemic, like the one we are facing now. Leaders, whether in politics or the corporate world, are measured by how well they perform and communicate during (and after) the crisis. Communication must be organised effectively and every stakeholder group must be addressed appropriately. Timing, messaging and delivery are key. This  full-day online module will start with mapping government stakeholders, in particular those trusting in the continued capacity of the healthcare system. We will discuss the power of framing, priming and messaging as crucial success factors for any organisation. Message delivery (traditional media/social media/press conferences) will be a component of the course as well as post-crisis communication.

Seminar director: 
Andrea Römmele, Dean of Executive Education and Professor of Communication in Politics and Civil Society at the Hertie School

Duration:
1 day

Seemingly unexpected events jolt modern societies into crisis mode: from the oil crisis of the 1970s, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the global financial crisis of 2008 or the current pandemic. Political, corporate and civic leaders are too frequently unprepared, sometimes frantically seeking ways out. Does it have to be this way? Fortunately, in recent years, different foresight approaches have been developed that include both qualitative and quantitative techniques, and that have found a wide range of applications. Prominent among them are scenario building and forecasting for developing detailed portraits of plausible alternative futures. They offer theoretically informed and methodologically sound knowledge about the challenges and opportunities possible futures might hold, and they provide us with tools for gaining a better understanding of alternative developments, events and outcomes. This one-day module will review scenario approaches and look at a range of applications, with participants developing their own foresight project.

Seminar director:
Helmut K. Anheier, PhD, Professor of Sociology at the Hertie School and former president of the School

Duration:
1 day

Risk managers in governments and public administrations across the world are facing unprecedented challenges. The scale, speed and the whole-of-society impact of Covid-19 provide a striking reminder of the need for the coherence of risk management responses across health, economic and societal concerns. Political and administrative leadership, operational procedures across sectors and levels of government, advisory capacities, administrative cultures, transparency and communications – these and other factors must all be adapted and aligned in a single strategy to be effective, efficient and trusted in overcoming the crisis. This module introduces the governance of critical risks throughout the risk management cycle In four sessions: from understanding the context of risk in today’s interconnected economies and societies to the institutional and operational infrastructure which will enable effective and efficient risk management responses once the emergency arises. International experiences and good practices will provide inspiration for further improvement in national risk management systems.

Seminar director: 
Dr. Rolf Alter, Fellow at the Hertie School

Duration: 
1 day

Policymakers and business leaders across the globe are dealing with the combinatorial effects of the Covid-19 crisis on their citizens, economies and markets. While the developments of the coming months are yet unclear, China is two months ahead of the curve. They have already scaled down operations, set up crisis management, governance and processes, and communication with people/suppliers. Now, they are quickly ramping up again. There is no reference book on how to deal with this crisis. Critical choices for the future have to be made on the fly. Leaders have to repair the roof while it is raining. Learning from others, including from China,  is more important than ever before.

Seminar director: 
Dr. Svenja Falk, Fellow and external lecturer, at the Hertie School Managing Director at Accenture

Duration: 
0.5 day

The Covid-19 pandemic occurs during a period of historically low oil prices and of potential global shifts in the energy mix in light of the climate crisis. Major conventional hydrocarbon producers will be impacted by these factors all at the same time, and the pandemic is also likely to have a major impact on global demand, at least in the short- to medium term. As well, major hydrocarbon producers are often ill-equipped to deal with the effects of the pandemic due to weak health systems and sometimes fragile political systems. This module will examine the combined political effects of low oil-prices, the climate debate and the Covid-19 epidemic on the global balance of power, and on the shifts in global influence of major economic players reeling from  this triple shock to energy markets.

Seminar director:
Wolfgang Sporrer, Hertie Fellow, former Regional Manager Caspian Region, OMV Gas and Power

Duration:
0.5 day

Are German and European legal systems equipped to deal with pandemics like the current Covid-19 crisis? This module will first examine the German legal system, both at the level of the German constitution (Grundgesetz) as well as relevant German legislation (including the Infektionsschutzgesetz). With regard to the  Grundgesetz: in how far can the State change its institutional set-up as well as its legislative procedure to adjust to crisis mode? To what extent does the German constitution allow for German fundamental rights to be restricted in times of crises? At the level of the Infektionsschutzgesetz, many restrictions such as curfews, social distancing and forced closure of shops and other businesses have been based on this law. Where are the limits to these restrictions, and has the German State in its response observed them? Second, how does the EU respond to crisis and emergency? This part of the module will explore the EU's tools of crisis management, from the institutions responsible for directing emergencies to the impact of crises, to core EU policy structures such as the Eurozone and Schengen areas. The module will also focus on how EU law regulates crises and emergencies, particularly how fundamental rights constraints have shaped the response of the EU to previous emergencies (such as the Eurozone and refugee crisis). By doing so, we will model how the Union's legal response to new emergencies (such as in the area of public health) are likely to look.

Seminar directors:
Mark Dawson, Professor of European Law and Governance at the Hertie School
Pierre Thielbörger, Professor of German Public Law and International Law, with a focus on International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, at the Ruhr University Bochum

Duration:
0.5 day

Outbreaks create massive upheaval in a broad variety of policy areas. But upheaval can also spark innovation. A host of new practices may emerge in a brief period of time – most of them simply out of creative necessity. While some have the potential to change the system, many of them remain under the radar. Clearly, best practice cannot simply be copy-pasted from one context to another, yet it may be adaptable and transferable. Taking into account lessons learned from the coronavirus crisis in 2020, this module looks at how to foster cross-sector political innovation in the context of an outbreak. The methodology will be case-based.

Seminar director: 
Josef Lentsch, Managing Partner of the Innovation in Politics Institute Germany

Duration:
1 day

Most countries in the world have pledged massive packages of public spending and/or tax cuts as a response to the economic fallout from Covid-19. They can include direct payments to individuals, public loans to small enterprises, and guarantees of private bank support of large corporations. One concern is that these measures will lead to a massive increase in debt. What starts as a crisis due the pandemic could turn into a financial crisis when the state cannot pay its debts. At the same time, some of the measures discussed above count against a country’s debt, while others (like guarantees) may have no effect on debt. This module begins with a quick review of the meaning of “debt.” It considers when it builds up, and what measures governments take to avoid, delay, or hide debt. The second part of the course focuses on measures to reduce debt. How have governments that experienced big run-ups in debt reduced their burdens? What is a “sovereign debt restructuring,” and what are the consequences of restructuring debt? Finally, the module discusses the design of ‘Corona-bonds’ among the EU 27 and addresses some of the objections of those with the power to make decisions, especially in the European North.

Seminar director:
Mark Hallerberg, Dean of Research and Faculty and Professor of Public Management and Political Economy at the Hertie School

Duration:
1 day

The Covid-19 pandemic has shifted all focus of medical research and development towards infectious disease treatment and vaccination. Previously neglected infectious disease medical research is now gaining a foothold in policy discourse. This module introduces participants to the structure and conduct of the pharmaceutical industry and discusses some of the economic principles underpinning research and development. It outlines the main reasons for the historical lack of innovation and funding for infectious diseases drawing attention to market mechanisms, pricing, and the incentive structure of pharmaceutical research. Participants will learn about investment decisions of firms in specific disease areas and the incentives and disincentives they face. They will be introduced to domestic and international pricing frameworks and will critically analyse these with respect to their impact on R&D for infectious diseases. Finally, the module will discuss the future of medical research, the replacement of the existing R&D model of innovation with suitable alternatives, and appropriate incentive setting to maintain private sector engagement.

Seminar director:
Mujaheed Shaikh, Professor of Health Governance at the Hertie School

Duration:
0.5 day

Crises call for swift and coordinated responses from public management bodies as well as for strong leadership from policymakers, placing high demands on their capacities. However, there is no silver bullet for managing a crisis: public organisations remain deeply embedded in institutional arrangements and political structures, and continue to be shaped by political and administrative cultures and traditions. All crisis management systems will require a considerable administrative capacity to assess data and to access relevant expert networks. They need to be able to cope with urgency and uncertainty, acquire political and expert support for their policy responses and arrange for smooth implementation. All this requires considerable coordination capacity on a political, strategic and operational level. This module looks into various ways of setting up crisis management systems and discusses administrative prerequisites and challenges. What are the key challenges once a crisis hit? How can you prepare for a crisis? What would be needed to prevent crises from unfolding? And how to learn from a crisis?

Seminar directors:
Thurid Hustedt, Professor of Public Administration and Management at the Hertie School
Kai Wegrich, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at the Hertie School

Duration:
1 day

There are more numbers than words in the world today. Data, big and small, surround us. Statistics ist the art and science of making sense of data. Statistical thinking has become the fundamental key to good decision making in all areas of society, including business and government. This module introduces participants to essential ideas of statistical thinking, such as dispersion, correlation, regression, estimation, forecasting and decision theory. It will be organized around case studies. Participants will learn the proper use of various quantitative methods and recognize their abuse. They will complete the module with an enhanced ability in making sense of numbers.

Seminar director:
Christian Hesse, Professor of Mathematical Statistics at the University of Stuttgart

Duration:
1 day

The Corona crisis exhibits a paradox: while experts and scientific expertise are essential in informing policy making, they cannot resolve the deep uncertainties the situation poses. Indeed, uncertainty, urgency and threat to core systems of state and society are core properties of any crisis: information, data and knowledge of the situation changes rapidly and can be highly specialized. Evidence is often contradictory and contested, and experts have different interpretations of a situation and the desirability, feasibility and effectiveness of policy responses. Dealing with expert advice becomes all the more complicated when experts from diverse academic backgrounds - say, virologists and economists - get involved. This module looks into the administrative and organizational preconditions for evidence-informed policy-making in governments, discussing the role of experts and expert networks in crisis management and how to cope with contested specialist advice. We will also discuss how learning and experimentation (i.e., a “pragmatic” approach) can be pursued in situations of deep uncertainty.

Seminar directors:
Thurid Hustedt, Professor of Public Administration and Management at the Hertie School
Kai Wegrich, Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at the Hertie School

Duration:
1 day

This module introduces participants to demographic data and methods. Participants will become familiar with concepts and techniques to map mortality patterns. They will learn how to construct a life-table and calculate life expectancy. Participants will become familiar with standard concepts to explain changes in life expectancy (such as the epidemiological transition). In order to better understand how the corona epidemics will affect a country’s mortality patterns, we will revisit classical studies that have examined the relationship between epidemics and death. We will also discuss the limitations of demographic data, in particular in respect to the calculation of cause-specific mortality rates and their comparability across countries. This is a “hands-on-course”, which means that participants are expected to work with data and generate their own empirical results. We will mainly use Excel for this course. Data for this module will come from various sources, in particular from the Human Mortality Database.

Seminar director:
Michaela Kreyenfeld, Professor of Sociology at the Hertie School

Duration:
0.5 day

The module evaluates the macroeconomic responses to the Covid-19 pandemic over the short, medium and long run. The need for global cooperation in tackling the health-related, economic and social effects of the pandemic is central to this evaluation. We explore how such global cooperation can be achieved in a world of national governments. Beyond that, we examine how the business, civil and policy making communities can be induced to pursue consonant goals in combating the crisis, drawing on insights from evolutionary science as well as motivation psychology and sociology.

Seminar director:
Dennis J. Snower, Professor of Macroeconomics and Sustainability at the Hertie School

Duration:
0.5 day

This module focuses on human rights-based decision making with a special focus on crisis management. Human rights-based decision making increases the ability of individuals and institutions to make decisions that best respect and protect human rights. It also means that those that have the authority to make decisions can be held accountable based on human rights frameworks. Blending  interactive lectures and practical reasoning exercises with real time implications, this online course will cover the general principles and practical applications of human rights-based decision making in times of crisis. The course will cover identification of relevant rights and corresponding duties, operation of rights in times of states of emergency and right-based reasoning tools, namely, the identification and resolution of competition between different rights, the operation of the proportionality test, positive obligations analysis, vulnerability analysis, legality analysis and safeguards analysis. The module will utilise the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic as an illustrative case study. The course benefits those who hold leadership positions or are preparing for leadership positions in government, civil society and in the private sector. It does not require prior knowledge of human rights law and rights-based decision making methodologies.

Seminar director:
Başak Çalı, Professor of International Law at the Hertie School and Director of the School's Centre for Fundamental Rights. 

Duration:
1 day

For more than five years issues of border control and migration policy, refugees and the survival of Schengen, pushbacks and the erosion of the right to claim asylum, have been at the centre of European politics. Unprecedented dramas have unfolded: from the deadliest border in the world in the Central Mediterranean in recent years to the exceptional mass movement of people across Europe in 2015. Political careers have been made and destroyed by the responses of policy makers, many surprised and helpless. While some politicians have made astonishing careers telling gripping stories about how to restore control, others continue to struggle to resolve the tension between social demands for security and control on the one hand, and empathy and compassion for refugees on the other. Recent crises at Europe’s external border with Turkey and the re-imposition of internal border controls throughout the Schengen area in response to the Corona virus highlight again how crucial it is for leaders in government, in the media and in civil society, to understand how borders work. This module will question dominant clichés, understand communication strategies that are bound to fail or might work, grasp the landscape of actors when it comes to finding successful policy responses and learn from what has worked. The outcome of these debates has significant - and possibly  dangerous - implications for the future of democracy in Europe. Leaders can no longer afford to be confused. In this one-day course we look at what happened (and happens) at European borders and what it means for the future of European politics.

Seminar director:
Gerald Knaus, founding chairman of the European Stability Initiative (ESI)

Duration:
1 day

Even before the covid-19 pandemic, the world of work was in a deep process of transformation. Digitalization, demographic change and the rise of platform firms have created new occupational structures and patterns of inequality in the OECD world. This module will start with an overview over current trends of employment and occupational patterns with regard to automation and polarization at work but also issues of skills for tomorrow and the future of social protection. It will discuss how and in what way these trends are likely to be impacted by the pandemic itself and by the responses of governments  to maintain incomes and jobs.

Seminar director:
Anke Hassel, Professor of Public Policy at the Hertie School

Duration:
0.5 day

Motivating and engaging a workforce in a coordinated, consistent and effective way is the key to sustainable success. This is particularly true in circumstances that place enormous stress on public sector organisations. This module offers practical content to public service managers and builds on interaction and reflection on how to best address public services workforce challenges in times of high delivery pressure. The following questions will be discussed: How to define priorities and build organisational resilience? How to address emotional disruption and workplace safety? How to maintain the well-being of your staff? What are the tools to support motivation and engagement? What do leaders personally need to do differently? How to leverage tools like remote working, digital learning and people analytics? What are the means to adjust to change and uncertainty? How to create a sense of community and build trust and confidence? What are good ways to build momentum for the future?

Seminar director:
Cornelia Hulla, Founder and Director of Boson Dynamics GmbH

Duration:
0.5 day