Academic Conference at University of Northumbria, UK

CCOUC Deputy Director, Ms Gloria Chan, and Head of Training and Development, Ms Carol Wong, attended the conference that aimed to stimulate debate and advance thinking around “New Points of Departure in Transitioning Disaster Reduction and Sustainability Challenges” in University of Northumbria, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK from 17 to 19 July 2019.

130 delegates from 17 countries attended the conference. Ms Chan delivered the presentation on “Health Communication in Hong Kong’s Civil Unrest” in the plenary session and chaired the parallel session on “WHO Thematic Platform for Health Emergency and Disaster Risk Management”, where Ms Wong presented the research findings on urban community resilience after Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018. The plenary and parallel sessions aimed to advocate the inclusion of health in the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, following last year’s research summit on the topic held by CCOUC in The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

The conference has provided new ideas in relation to science and technology, political will and behaviour in bringing systemic changes to the way people take on disaster threats and sustainability challenges to survive and for future quality of life.