The 2023 Scientific Committee Meeting of ISC-Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme was Held at IUE

December 8, 2023

The Scientific Committee Meeting of ISC-Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme (UHWB) was successfully held at the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) during November 29-30, 2023. UHWB is a global science programme, initiated by the International Science Council (ISC) and jointly organized by the International Society for Urban Health (ISUH). Its International Programme Office (IPO) was host at IUE from 2014. In June 2023, ISC announced the new Scientific Committee of UHWB and renewed a memorandum of understanding with IUE. This is the first offline meeting since 2020, chaired by Dr. LIU Yupeng, UHWB Executive Director. Prof. ZHENG Yuming, the Deputy Director of IUE gave a welcome address on behalf of the institute.

Prof. Paulo Saldiva, Member of the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, and Professor of Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo, Dr. Rumiana Jeleva, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology within Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Mari Vaattovaara, Director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Studies, University of Helsinki, Dr. Abdalhadi Alijla, Associate Researcher, and the Regional Manager of Varieties of Democracy Institute (Gothenburg University) for Gulf countries, and Prof. Akinyinka Omigbodun, Professor of the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan, and other scientific committee members were invited to the meeting. Dr. Vanessa McBride, Science Director of ISC, and Dr. Giselle Sebag, Executive Director of ISUH, spoke as representatives of the UHWB organizers.

Dr. LIU Yupeng, UHWB Executive Director introduced the key outcomes of   UHWB over the past decade and the work plan for the next stage. Prof. Franz Gatzweiler, UHWB Consultant proposed future research priorities and implementation strategies. The Scientific Committee members and organizers reached a consensus on strengthening project management, improving science plans, and establishing implementation plans, in order to jointly promote the development of the next stage of UHWB and enhance global impacts.

Before this scientific committee meeting, Prof. ZHENG Yuming, Deputy Director of IUE, met with Dr. Rumiana Jeleva, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria and Senior Researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology within Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Both parties exchanged ideas and plans on personnel visits, project cooperation, and other matters. On the afternoon of the same day, UHWB-IPO organized a seminar on International and Interdisciplinary Cooperation on Urban Health, inviting scientific committee members of UHWB and professors and students of IUE to jointly explore the international frontiers in the field of urban health and expand international cooperation networks.