Illustrative: tracers on the Lorenz attractor, a canonical coupled nonlinear system
Risk Academy, led by the Nexus Consortium · Health and Society · Department of Human Development, Work and Social Policy
The psychological side of disasters, conflict, work and climate
Mental health and psychosocial risk
Disasters, conflict and displacement leave psychological harm that lasts longer than the physical damage, and work itself carries psychosocial risks.
- Courses
- In preparation
- Levels
- In development
- Labs
- In development
- Mental health in emergencies and disasters
- Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in humanitarian settings
- Trauma, post-traumatic stress and resilience
- Psychosocial risk at work and ISO 45003
- Climate change and mental health, including eco-anxiety
- Displacement, conflict and mental health
- Suicide prevention
- Community-based psychosocial support
- Measurement of mental health and well-being
Build a twin of any place
Search any place or open the world; the layers and generators follow mental health and psychosocial risk on the planet map, the globe and in 3D.
- Terrain 191 to 315 m
- 950 hospitals
- 26,073,018 people in the box, 2020
- Population density, GPW v4.11 (2020): read live when the 3D twin opens
- Air quality, Copernicus CAMS via Open-Meteo (hourly, 5 days): read live when the 3D twin opens
- Nitrogen dioxide column, TROPOMI (Sentinel-5P): read live when the 3D twin opens
- Surface air temperature, AIRS (daily, day): read live when the 3D twin opens
- Urban heat island, summer daytime 2013: read live when the 3D twin opens
- Built-up and settlement extent, HBASE 2010: read live when the 3D twin opens
Drag to move, right drag or Shift with a drag to turn and tilt, Ctrl with the wheel to zoom. Keyboard: arrows move, Shift with arrows turn and tilt, + and – zoom, 0 resets, V steps through the views, Escape clears.
Flat plan of the same data: relief as contours from the inline grid, the WorldPop count grid as cells, the mapped hospitals and the numbers below. The 3D twin opens on devices that can draw it, once its data and code have been checked.
The boundaries, names and designations shown do not imply any judgement on the legal status of any territory, or any endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Countries: Natural Earth (public domain).
Environmental exposure in India
Haze, nitrogen dioxide, dust, surface heat by day and night, and where people live, over India.
The interactive map needs JavaScript; the layer list and sources are below.
Layers 2
Environmental exposure
Keyboard, with the map focused
Hold Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll to zoom
Latest available
NASA GIBS / EOSDIS · ASTER GDEM (METI, NASA) · Blue Marble (NASA) · © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL) · Natural Earth
Loading the latest NASA imagery.
Drag to move. Ctrl or ⌘ and scroll, pinch or the buttons to zoom; hover for the values under the pointer; reset returns to the region.
Environmental exposure, framed on India.Satellite and model products as NASA publishes them, each with its own date. They are indicators, not assessments of any place.
Data: NASA GIBS · ASTER GDEM · Blue Marble · © OpenStreetMap contributors · Natural Earth · NASA EONETSources and licences
- We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MODIS and VIIRS atmosphere products, NASA LANCE and LAADS DAAC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- VIIRS near-real-time products (flood, land surface temperature, snow cover, corrected reflectance), NASA LANCE; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- OMI nitrogen dioxide (Aura) and OMPS aerosol index (Suomi NPP), NASA; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- MERRA-2 reanalysis, NASA Global Modeling and Assimilation Office; distributed by the NASA GES DISC; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University. 2018. Gridded Population of the World, Version 4 (GPWv4): Population Density, Revision 11. NASA Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC). Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). doi:10.7927/H49C6VHW. CC BY 4.0
- NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), VIIRS 375 m active fire product, NASA LANCE; vector tiles via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- ASTER GDEM is a product of METI and NASA (ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003, NASA LP DAAC); imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). Cite as: NASA/METI/AIST/Japan Spacesystems and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team (2019). ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model V003. doi:10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.003. NASA open data
- Made with Natural Earth. Free vector and raster map data @ naturalearthdata.com. Public domain
- © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), via NASA GIBS (coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names). Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). ODbL
- Blue Marble, NASA Earth Observatory; imagery via NASA GIBS. Colours redrawn from the published colour map; values averaged into H3 cells where shown (modified). NASA open data
- Context on the globe and flat map: coastlines, boundaries, roads and place names from NASA GIBS reference layers (OpenStreetMap data, ODbL, © OpenStreetMap contributors); Blue Marble imagery as an optional base; 3D terrain and the elevation read-out from the ASTER GDEM elevation colour index (5 m to 200 m classes, exaggerated for legibility). Boundaries are drawn as published and imply no position on any territory.
- Globe: MapLibre GL JS 6.9.1, BSD-3-Clause, © MapLibre contributors.
- Live events: NASA Earth Observatory Natural Event Tracker (EONET); events are indicative and keep their original source links.
- NASA GIBS: We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS).
- Air quality forecast, 5 days, PM2.5 (CAMS via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information 2026.
- Past year, daily temperature (ERA5 via Open-Meteo): Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
- Weather data by Open-Meteo.com (https://open-meteo.com/), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Optional layers (12 sources in the layer list: live, forecast, observed and context) print their provider credit on the map and here when switched on; forecasts are model output and derived indices are estimates.
Layers and dates
- Aerosol optical depth, daily: VIIRS NOAA-20 Deep Blue AOD, NASA LANCE · 13 Oct 2026
- Land surface temperature, day, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Nitrogen dioxide, lower atmosphere column: OMI Aura, NASA GES DISC · 10 Oct 2026
- Surface dust PM2.5, monthly mean: MERRA-2, NASA GMAO / GES DISC · July 2026
- Land surface temperature, night, 8-day composite: VIIRS NOAA-20 Level 3, 8-day, NASA LANCE · 14 Sep 2026
- Population density, 2020: Population: CIESIN, Columbia University, Gridded Population of the World v4.11 (2018), NASA SEDAC, CC BY 4.0 · static
- Active fires and thermal anomalies: VIIRS NOAA-20 375 m (FIRMS), NASA LANCE FIRMS · 13 Oct 2026
- Flood water, 3-day composite: VIIRS Global Flood Product, NASA LANCE · 14 Oct 2026
The subject, methods and measures and debates and bodies
The field and its scope
For humanitarian programme staff, public health planners and workplace practitioners who must assess psychological and social harm after a shock and organise support that helps rather than harms.
Quantities and units
Methods and their limits
Each method is listed with what it assumes and where it fails.
What the field debates
Bodies that set practice, and the data they publish
Bodies and standards are named so learners can find and apply their published work; the Academy teaches their use and links to the publisher, and no affiliation is implied.
From an emergency to a treatment gap: prevalence, coverage and the counsellors a response needs
In a population affected by conflict or disaster a known share develops a mental disorder that needs care; that share times the population, times a coverage target, divided by the cases one trained helper can carry in a year, is the workforce a response must find, and task-sharing is what makes the number reachable.
Sources: Charlson and others, New WHO prevalence estimates of mental disorders in conflict settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2019); Inter-Agency Standing Committee, Guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings (2007); Patel and others, The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development (2018); Bryant and others, Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention on psychological distress among women with a history of gender-based violence in urban Kenya (2017).
At a glance, hub and courses
Mental health and psychosocial risk at a glance
risksacademy.comhealth-societydiscipline
- Open, 0
- In preparation, 0
- Subtopics, 9
Research and tools
Research and preprints as they are published, by discipline, with the faculty's other tools.
The hub lists the newest research and preprints for Mental health and psychosocial risk, each with its source and date. Open the research hub
Courses in this discipline
Courses for this discipline are in development; until they open, study it through the connected courses and open lessons below.
The course catalogue lists every open course of the Academy.
How Mental health and psychosocial risk is taught, as a process you can run
Press Play to run this process from this page's own data.
Practice, learning and connections
How technology helps and what risk it brings
Achievements in this discipline
Course achievements
One for each course with this as its primary discipline, earned when you pass the course's assessed activities.
Department: Human Development, Work and Social Policy
Earn two discipline achievements in the Department of Human Development, Work and Social Policy. In development.
An achievement is a record of the learning completed and assessed here. How recognition works.
Where the subject is practised
A field platform page on this subject is in development.
The two Foundry systems where it is practised
- FoundryNXS-NST systemField teams provide and coordinate psychosocial supportFieldOps room
- NXS-GRX systemMental health indicators are canonical risk dataData room
Foundry system pages describe what each system and its rooms are designed to do; the courses teach the methods these systems apply.
Across the ecosystem
Take part in Health and Society
Start from who you are.
Core references and where to begin
Start with Inter-Agency Standing Committee, then Charlson, then Tol.
Questions, answers and key terms
Is study here free?
What does completing a course give me?
Where do the data and the places come from?
How do I take part beyond the courses in mental health and psychosocial risk?
Key terms
MHPSS
Mental health and psychosocial support: any support that protects or promotes psychosocial well-being or treats mental disorder.
Psychological first aid
Humane, supportive and practical help for people in distress after a crisis.
Psychosocial risk
A hazard at work arising from how work is organised and managed, such as excessive demands or harassment.
Post-traumatic stress disorder
A disorder that can follow exposure to a traumatic event, marked by intrusion, avoidance and hyperarousal.
Contribute evidence from this page.
Reports is the Consortium's quarterly publication. What you know about this subject can become evidence, a case or a correction in the next edition, credited to you and published under CC BY 4.0 where it is your own work.
Around Mental health and psychosocial risk
Prepare with a related course
Open courses in connected disciplines teach the methods this discipline will build on.