Red Cross global health partnership launch: invitation to guest lecture

28 Oct 2011

The University of Manchester and The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) will be launching a partnership in the field of global health on Tuesday, 1 November.

The teaching and research partnership will be coordinated through the University’s renowned Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) and aims to provide affordable and world-class learning and training opportunities to students with an interest in global health issues.

Full details of the collaboration will be announced on Tuesday, when a launch event will be held at the University with a guest lecture by Mukesh Kapila, Under Secretary General for National Society and Knowledge Development at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva.

The event and lecture, entitled, ‘Experimenting with leadership: trials and tribulations,’ will take place in Lecture Theatre A, University Place, Oxford Road, between 5pm and 7pm.

Kapila is a Senior Member of Hughes Hall College at Cambridge University, Associate Fellow of the Humanitarian and Conflict Response Institute at The University of Manchester and an Associate at the Centre for Global Studies, University of Victoria, Canada.

He is chair of the Council of Minority Rights Group International, was an early member of the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination system, and served on the Boards of the UN Institute for Training and Research, and the International Peace Academy.

Kapila was born in India and came on a Commonwealth scholarship to high school (Wellington College) in the UK. He went on to qualify in medicine and public health from the Universities of Oxford and London. He was honoured for international service with a CBE and has also received the Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award of the Institute for Global Leadership.

Previous roles include: Special Advisor to the United Nations in Afghanistan and to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Sudan; Director in Health Action in Crises at the World Health Organization; Senior Policy Adviser to the World Bank Global Facility for Disaster Risk Reduction and Recovery; and Head of Conflict and Humanitarian Affairs at the UK Government Department for International Development.

Prior to the guest lecture there will be the official signing of the Memorandum of Agreement by Kapila and Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester.

To register your place email: hcri [a] manchester.ac (p) uk

Full Programme:

• 5pm: Drinks Reception, (EATS restaurant, ground floor, University Place)
• 5.45pm: Welcome and official signing of the Memorandum of Agreement by Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell and Mukesh Kapila
• 6pm: Experimenting with leadership: trials and tribulations — Mukesh Kapila
• 6.30pm: Q&A session chaired by Professor Bertrand Taithe (HCRI Executive Director). Panel members: Mukesh Kapila (Under Secretary General, National Society and Knowledge Development, IFRC), Rony Brauman (HCRI Director) and Professor Tony Redmond (HCRI Deputy Director)