On October 15, the third
Knowledge Across Borders webinar themed Climate change, extreme events and health risks was held online by Durham University in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Prof. Jun Jie WU, Chair in Engineering Science and Deputy Executive Dean in the Faculty of Science, Durham University presided over the webinar.
Prof. Antony Long, Durham University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost, CAS Academician and Prof. Yaping ZHANG, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences gave an opening speech. Long said that Durham University and the Chinese Academy of sciences have built a good communication bridge through the previous Knowledge Across Borders webinar series. Both of the two speakers are the lead authors of the sixth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC), and are accomplished in climate change research. He hoped this webinar can promote relevant cooperation between two sides. Yaping ZHANG noted in his speech that the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) will be held in Glasgow, UK, in November, and countries around the world need to further cooperate to cope with climate change. This event would share the research achievements of Chinese and British scientists in climate change, climate adaptation and response. He believed it would help to push Chinese and British scientists to carry out more in-depth cooperative research in related fields in the future.
Prof. Yaping ZHANG, Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Prof. Antony Long, Durham University's Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Provost
The webinar was presented by Prof. Tianjun ZHOU from the State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (IAP) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Prof. Glenn McGregor from the Department of Geography at Durham University. Centering on the impact of climate change on extreme weather and climate events, Prof. ZHOU introduced the latest findings and consensus of the international scientific community from multiple perspectives covering observation facts, numerical modeling and detection attribution, as well as future change prediction. The talk also included the contribution of Prof. Syukuro Manabe and Prof. Klaus Hasselmann, two climatologists winning the Nobel Prize in physics in 2021. Prof. Glenn McGregor lecture focused on the impact of climate change on health risks, highlighting that extreme weather events pose a major risk to society, especially human health. Scientists apply climate modeling and climate information and formulate corresponding adaptation plans to minimize the risk of extreme climate events to human physical and mental health. After the report, the two speakers answered the questions online audiences raised and further communicated with them.
Prof. Tianjun ZHOU, LASG/IAP
Prof. Xilin CHEN, Director of the Bureau of international cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Claire O'Malley, the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global) of Durham University made concluding remarks.
More than 600 people from 24 countries registered and participated in the lecture online.
Knowledge Across Borders webinar is a new way launched by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Durham University in October 2020 to promote international scientific and technological cooperation during the pandemic. The videos of the three lectures can be found on Durham University website at
https://www.dur.ac.uk/kab-webinars/.
