CUHK and Oxford join forces for disaster and medical humanitarian response

CUHK and Oxford renew agreement to strengthen research, policy dialogue and training collaboration for disaster and medical humanitarian response, climate change and health.

CUHK and the University of Oxford (Oxford) have recently reaffirmed their commitment to disaster and medical humanitarian response, as well as climate change and health, by renewing their cooperation in the Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC) for another three years, after 12 years of fruitful collaboration. Officiating at the agreement signing ceremony were Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Irene Tracey and CUHK’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Rocky S Tuan.

At the signing ceremony, Prof. Emily Chan, Founding Director and Co-Director of CCOUC, shared the achievements of the Centre, focusing particularly on CCOUC’s climate change and health research and policy discussions. Prof. Tracey said she was delighted by the continuing collaboration between CUHK and Oxford on disaster and medical humanitarian response, as well as climate change and health, commenting that the health risks related to climate change are a wake-up call for climate action. Prof. Tuan echoed that a global solution was required for this global issue, complimenting CCOUC’s achievements in this crucial area, which exemplify Hong Kong’s role in connecting China and the rest of the world.

Continuing the humanitarian journey

With the renewal of this exemplary international cooperation between CUHK and Oxford, CCOUC will keep moving forward in its humanitarian journey with energy, kindness and hope. In an exciting start, it is the Asian partner in the international (Africa, Asia, Europe and South America) research team led by Oxford and funded by the first round of the Wellcome Trust’s new Discovery Award scheme to conduct an 8-year, £6.5 million (HK$60 million) multidisciplinary international global health research project, ‘After the end: Lived experiences and aftermaths of diseases, disasters, and drugs in global health’.

CCOUC will continue to consolidate its status as an international centre of expertise in disaster and medical humanitarian response research, education and policy consultation; help build capacity among researchers and practitioners in the Asia-Pacific region to conduct research and provide local and international medical humanitarian assistance; establish new collaborations with academic institutions in other parts of the world, notably Africa and South America; strengthen its collaboration with NGO partners to provide research and training opportunities to scholars and students in Southeast Asia and Africa; and elevate Hong Kong as a leader in global disaster risk reduction policy issues, particularly risks arising from climate- and weather-related extreme events, and community resilience, by developing an international platform for consultation that can facilitate discussion among people from various backgrounds.