Saini Yang took the position of Executive Director of International Programme Office of Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) co-sponsored by ISC and UNDRR in July 2024. Dr. Saini Yang is a professor at Beijing Normal University. Saini’s research interests include risk analysis and climate change adaptation. Saini is the PI of more than twenty research projects and has published more than 100 papers in academic journals, including Nature Climate Change and Nature Communications. Saini is a member of the expert committee of the National Disaster Reduction Commission and a member of the Asia-Pacific Science and Technology Advisory Group of the United Nations Disaster Risk Reduction, and also serves as the editorial board of several international academic journals. Saini got her bachelor and master degree from Southeast University and PhD degree from University of Maryland.

As Science Officer of IRDR, Fang Lian assists with the planning and implementation of IRDR’s mission. She serves as the primary contact for members of the IRDR community and helps with the design and organization of IRDR conferences, meetings, workshops and training. She is the focal point of IRDR Young Scientists Programme and devotes to promote the regional DRR capacity building and communication of the young professionals. She is the Core Group member of the Global Risk Science Research Framework initiated by ISC and UNDRR. She is also one of the major editors of the IRDR Working Paper Series. She works on science communication and education, co-design disaster risk reduction solutions toward multi-stakeholders, and science and policy dialogue. Before joining IRDR, her research focused on the disaster risk assessment and mapping especially on land degradation.

Lang joined the IRDR IPO as the Administrative Officer in June 2010 and supports the IRDR Programme by handling a broad spectrum of administrative and secretarial tasks, including creating, maintaining, and archiving reports and other office documents; making the necessary arrangements for travels, meetings, conferences, and other events; and acting as liaison with the accounting and administrative departments of the IPO’s host, AIR.

Kaiting Liao joined IRDR’s IPO office as a Communication Intern on May 20, 2024. Liao is responsible for updating and maintaining the IRDR website, designing IRDR posters and brochures, and assisting in communication and planning conferences, workshops, and other program activities. Liao is a first-year Ph.D. candidate at the School of Global Governance (SGG) of Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT).

Baolin Wu joined IRDR IPO in July 2024 as a Research Assistant. Wu is responsible for assisting the Executive Director in scientific project application, document processing and other scientific research work. He has accumulated some experience in disaster risk assessment through his previous research. Wu graduated from Beijing Normal University in June 2024 as a Master majoring in Natural Disasters.