On the 27th and 28th, September 2018, Dr. Joseph Kimuli Balikuddembe, faculty member of the Institute for Disaster Management and Reconstruction (IDMR), Sichuan University and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University attended the 20th International Conference on Disaster and Emergency Medicine which was held in London, United Kingdom. At the conference, he presented a paper with a title: “Risk Mapping of Road Traffic Incidents in Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area for Planning of Emergency Medical Services”.

After the conference, Dr. Joseph visited the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at University of Manchester on the 1st and 2nd October, 2018 where he met Dr. Darren Walter and Dr. Billy Haworth. He shared and exchanged with them some of his current research undertakings at IDMR especially the rehabilitation of disabled displaced persons after disasters/ or emergencies. This one way or the other helped to strengthen the existing collaboration between IDMR and the University of Manchester, particularly in the research fields of disaster and emergency medicine. Dr. Darren is now the contact person for any matters related to the collaboration between IDMR and the University of Manchester. After the meetings at the University of Manchester, possibilities of research collaboration were established with Prof. Mahesh Nirmalan of the Manchester University, Royal Infirmary and Sri Linka, and also the UK Emergency Medical Team.