CCOUC Presents Community Resilience Research at the 16th International Conference on Integrated Disaster Risk Management in Bali

The Collaborating Centre for Oxford University and CUHK for Disaster and Medical Humanitarian Response (CCOUC) participated in the 16th International Conference of the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Society (IDRiM 2026), held from 5 to 9 September 2026 in Bali, Indonesia. Under the theme “Resilient Cities in Multi-Hazard Crises: Bridging Innovation, Implementation Science, and Grassroots Action”, the conference brought together international researchers, policymakers and practitioners to exchange knowledge and explore innovative approaches to disaster risk reduction and resilience building.

Representing CCOUC, Dr Chunlan Guo, Assistant Director of the Centre, presented a research project titled “Toward Holistic Community Resilience: Integrating Objective and Subjective Assessment Methods in Disaster Risk Management” during the community resilience session. The presentation introduced CCOUC's research approach to understanding community resilience through the integration of objective and subjective assessment methods, contributing to discussions on more comprehensive approaches to disaster risk management.

The conference featured a wide range of interdisciplinary discussions, including advances in disaster risk research, innovative community engagement approaches and disaster economics. Dr Guo also attended a special session on international collaboration for building resilience against catastrophic disasters in emerging megacities, organised by the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) programme with support from its International Centres of Excellence (ICoEs). Other exchanges explored the relationships between disaster risks, agricultural production, industry, finance and insurance, highlighting the importance of connecting scientific research with practical risk management.

The event provided valuable opportunities for CCOUC to strengthen international academic networks and explore future research collaboration. Discussions also touched on the 17th IDRiM Conference, scheduled to take place in Zhuhai, China, in August 2027, hosted by Beijing Normal University. CCOUC expressed its intention to propose a special session focusing on the health impacts of disasters and medical humanitarian response. Through its participation, CCOUC reaffirmed its commitment to interdisciplinary research, community resilience and international collaboration in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian practice.