Brief CV of IRDR Executive Director
01 February 2022

HAN Qunli is the Executive Director, International Programme Office of the Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (Sept 2017-). From 2018, he has been the chair of SDG Working Group of CASEarth Project, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and became a professor at the International Research Center of Big Data for SDGs of CAS.

During 1990-2017, Qunli served in UNESCO. His duty positions include the programme specialist at the Division of Ecological Sciences in the Headquarters, senior programme specialist on environment in Asia-Pacific Science Bureau in Jakarta, the Director of Tehran Cluster Office for Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan and Turkmenistan and the Director of the Executive Office UNESCO’s Natural Science Sector. From June 2013 to September 2017, Qunli was the Director of the Division of Ecological and Earth Sciences and the Secretary of the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme of UNESCO. He was responsible for the development of MAB Strategy 2015-2025, organization of 4th World Congress of Biosphere Reserves 2016 and establishment of the Lima Action for the World Network of Biosphere Reserves (WNBR) 2016-2025.

In IRDR, which is under co-sponsorship of ISC and UNDRR, Qunli has been active to mobilize science for disaster risk reduction, and has contributed during 2019-2021 to the development of A Global Framework of Sciences in Support of Risk-informed Sustainable Development and Planetary Health. He has been active in International Consortium of Landslide and chairing the Global Promotion Committee (GPC) of IPL during 2016-2021.

Related News & Events
26 August 2026
IRDR will be hosting an online workshop on Tuesday, 1 September 2026, titled Climate Change and Public Health: Connecting IRDR Research Teams. The workshop will bring together researchers from across the IRDR network and its partners to share progress, exchange knowledge, and explore new avenues for collaboration.
25 August 2026
Prof. Saini Yang, IRDR's Executive Director, attended the 11th ASEAN Strategic Policy Dialogue on Disaster Management (SPDDM 2026) on 19 August 2026, during which strategic discussions were held with ASEAN officials exploring potential next-step cooperation between IRDR and ASEAN.
24 August 2026
The Beijing Science Dialogue will take place from 19 to 21 October 2026, under the theme “Science in a Complex World – Science for a Better Future”. IRDR will host a satellite symposium on 20 October under the theme "Science, Data and Partnerships for Disaster Risk Reduction”.
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