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The Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC) and Fudan University’s Integrated Research on Disaster Risk International Centre of Excellence on Risk Interconnectivity and Governance on Weather/Climate Extremes Impact and Public Health (IRDR-ICoE-RIG-WECEIPHE) conducted a half-day meeting at the Handan Campus of Fudan University on 1 December 2021 to discuss future cooperation plans between the two IRDR ICoEs. The CCOUC delegation is the first university team outside Mainland China to visit Fudan in 15 months.

The meeting was held both offline and online, hosted by Professor Zhang Renhe, Vice President and Dean of the Graduate School of Fudan University and Director of the Fudan IRDR ICoE. Professor Zhang is also an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Dean of the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences/Institute of Atmospheric Sciences (AOS/IAS) of Fudan University. At the meeting, Professor Emily Ying Yang Chan, Director of CCOUC and IRDR ICoE in Health and Community Resilience (IRDR ICoE-CCOUC), Professor of the JC School of Public Health and Primary Medical Care and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at CUHK, led a 6-person delegation and, together with 2 online members, introduced the works of CCOUC and IRDR ICoE-CCOUC to 9 host members. Professor Xu Tang, Executive Director of Fudan IRDR ICoE, and Professor Haidong Kan, Deputy Director of Fudan IRDR ICoE and Associate Dean of the School of Public Health of Fudan University, presented the works carried out by Fudan IRDR ICoE and Fudan School of Public Health respectively. In the next two years, the two IRDR ICoEs will conduct exchanges and research cooperation, including co-organising webinars and co-writing research grant proposals, to jointly explore research and education on climate change, disasters and health, so as to strengthen China’s contributions and influence in related academic fields and international platforms. This is another significant collaboration between CUHK and Fudan University after the establishment of the CUHK-FDU Joint Research Centre in Life and Biomedical Sciences on 30 June 2021.

As a beginning to the cooperation between the two IRDR ICoEs, Professor Chan participated in the international Seminar on Air Quality and Health hosted by Fudan IRDR ICoE on 30 November 2021 and delivered a keynote speech entitled “Climate Change and Public Health”. Professor Kan also participated in the 5th of CCOUC 10th Anniversary International Webinar Series on the theme “Health-EDRM and Climate Change” on 5 October 2021 and delivered a keynote speech entitled “Health Risk and Disease Burden of Weather/Climate in China”.

IRDR is an international research programme co-sponsored by the International Science Council (ISC) and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR). It aims to deal with the challenges brought about by natural hazards, mitigate their impacts, and improve related policy-making practices. Fudan University IRDR-ICoE-RIG-WECEIPHE was established in October 2020. It is the 17th IRDR ICoE. It is jointly developed in Fudan University by the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences/Institute of Atmospheric Sciences (AOS/IAS), the School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, the School of Data Science, Fudan Development Institute (FDDI) and other departments, focusing on identifying the pattern of systematic risks, their interconnectivity and governance in the fields of climate change, weather/climate extremes, air pollution and public health. The IRDR ICoE-CCOUC was established in November 2016, focusing on Heath Emergency and Disaster Risk Management (Health-EDRM), climate change and health, global health and humanitarian medicine, disaster risk perception, human health security, and disaster case studies in the Asia-Pacific region.