The International Science Council together with the International Society for Urban Health and the Institute for Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences are pleased to announce the appointment of the 2023-24 Scientific Committee (SC) for the Urban Health and Wellbeing Programme (UHWB). The SC members will take up their roles with immediate effect until the end of May 2024.
The key role of the Scientific Committee (SC) will be to increase the impact of the programme at the global level in line with the science plan An Interdisciplinary Science-Action Plan for Urban Health and Wellbeing in an Age of Complexity and Systemic Risks (2021 – 2025). The SC will advise the UHWB Secretariat on key activities that would help to deliver strategic priorities and strengthen the programme’s visibility and impact at the global level. The SC is supported by the International Programme Office based at the Institute of Urban Environment (IUE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The new committee comprises of:
| Name | Position | Organization |
| Abdalhadi Alijla | Research Associate | Varieties of Democracy Institute Sweden |
| Suraj Bhattarai | Physician researcher | Clinical Research Department, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK |
| Wei-Qiang Chen | Director of Resources and Urban Sustainability Research Group | Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China |
| Rumiana Jeleva | Associate Professor of Sociology | Department of Stratification, Inequalities, Mobility, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria |
| Nakamura Keiko | Professor | Department of Global Health Entrepreneurship, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan |
| Roderick J. Lawrence | Professor Emeritus | University of Geneva, Geneva School of Social Sciences, Institute for Environmental Sciences, Switzerland |
| Guru Madhavan | Director, Forum on Complex Unifiable Systems | National Academy of Engineering, India |
| Narinder Mehra | Honorary Emeritus Scientist | Indian National Science Academy, India |
| Akinyinka Omigbodun | Professor, physician, pathologist and medical researcher | College of Medicine University of Ibadan, Nigeria |
| Paolo Saldiva | Professor, physician, pathologist and medical researcher | Faculty of Medicine, Universidata de Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Mari Vaattovaara | Director of Helsinki Institute of Urban and Regional Studies | Department of Geosciences and Geography, Helsinki Institute of Sustainability, Finland |
| Lan Wang | Director, Healthy City WLan Lab | Deputy Dean of College of Architecture and Urban Planning, Tongji University, China |
About the Urban Health and Wellbeing programme
The International Science Council’s Affiliated Body, Urban Health and Wellbeing (UHWB) is a global science programme considering the multi-factorial and systemic nature of the determinants and the manifestations of health and wellbeing in urban environments. Together with the ISC, the UHWB programme is co-sponsored with the International Society for Urban Health, and hosted by the Institute for Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Xiamen, China.
Since its launch in October 2014, it has contributed to advancing the new urban sciences by developing and applying systems approaches for a better understanding of cities as complex systems and how urban environments impact health and wellbeing. It has also been essential in connecting different disciplinary fields and programmes and academic networks for developing a new urban health science, which builds on systems and complexity science to advance our understanding of the role of cities and urban environments for improving health and wellbeing and ultimately, sustainable development.
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