Dr Lili Yang was selected by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) as a leading academic, and invited to attend the workshop that was held in Chengdu, China on 18th-21st November 2014. She gave a presentation on her research for the workshop with other delegates on behalf of the UK.

This workshop was under the Increasing Resilient Natural Hazards joint programme funded by the UK's NERC and ESRC, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and implemented under the UK-China Research and Innovation Partnership Fund (Newton Fund). As an outcome from the scoping workshop, it was decided that a total of £3 million pounds will be provided by NERC and ESRC to UK scientists, with NSFC providing matched funding to Chinese researchers, in order to integrate natural and social science research to ensure that new knowledge is used to effectively tackle resilience by benefitting those most vulnerable to natural hazards.