From June 26th to 28th, the 2021 National Academic Forumfor Doctoral Students and Postdoctoral Fellows Majoring in Phytobiology, also known as Zhenye Forum, was successfully held in Henan University. This forum attracted more than 300 researchers from universities and institutions across the country, including leaders and members of the Chinese Society for Plant Biology (CSPB). As for the participants of HENU, this forum saw President Chun-peng Sung, leaders, directors and representatives of young teachers and graduate students of related departments and research groups.

In his speech delivered at the opening ceremony, President Chun-peng Song shared the history of biology in HENU with participants. Meanwhile, by introducing the academic careers of the two CAS academicians, CHEN Xiaoya and ZHU Yuxian, he encouraged doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows to advance their researches with unremitting efforts.

Extending his cordial greetings and best wishes to all the participants, Academician CHEN Xiaoya expressed his appreciation for the work of the organizing committee and organizers of the forum, and wished the forum a complete success.

At the end of the opening ceremony, Prof. WANG Ertao, the chairman of the forum, expressed his expectations that doctoral students and postdoctoral researchers could not only share their excellent academic achievements and fantastic research ideas in the forum, but also have in-depth and extensive academic exchanges with participants and representatives.

With the thought-provoking report of “A Study on Cotton Genomic Evolution” given by Academician ZHU Yuxian, the forum was officially launched. Then thirty-three inspiring academic reports on five subjects, namely“Plant Growth and Development”, “Plant Response to Abiotic Stress”, “Biotic Plant Interactions”, “Plant Development and Adversity”, and “Plant Biotechnology”, were made by doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows from different universities and research institutions across the country. Appraised and elected by the Youth Commission of CSPB, ten Zhenye Forum Awards, including two first prizes, three second prices and five third prizes, and six Best Poster Awards were awarded to participants.