 After training in architecture at Christ's College at the University of Cambridge, Coburn completed a PhD thesis in July 1987 on "Seismic vulnerability and risk reduction strategies for housing in Eastern Turkey".Coburn has also worked extensively with Robert Spence (engineer), the director of CURBE (the Cambridge University Centre for Risk in the Built Environment).Coburn has studied many natural and man-made catastrophe events, including earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, terrorist attacks and disease pandemics.