From November 13th to November 15th, the 2024 Postdoctoral Academic Exchange on Stress Biology & Food Security and the 7th International Young Scholars (Postdoctoral) Forum of HENU was successfully held in Kaifeng, Henan. On the morning of November 14th, the opening ceremony took place in the lecture hall on the first floor of the library at Jinming Campus. Over 400 participants attended the opening ceremony, including leaders from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Education Department Henan Province, and the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Henan Province, as well as young postdoctoral researchers, postdoctoral mentors, and experts from domestic and international universities and research institutions, along with leaders from Henan University (HENU) and heads of relevant departments and colleges.

Vice President Zhang Ligang of HENU welcomed the attending leaders and guests, introduced the history of HENU, the development of its “Double First-Class” construction, and the “123 Project of Strengthening HENU with Talents”. He stated that postdoctoral researchers have injected strong momentum into the high-quality development of HENU and that HENU has implemented multiple measures to build a comprehensive talent policy system, providing institutional support for talent attraction and cultivation. He expressed hope that this forum would serve as an opportunity to build a platform for outstanding young talents to exchange and learn from each other, aiding their scientific and technological innovation. Finally, he extended an invitation to excellent talents from both home and abroad, sincerely hoping more outstanding individuals would join HENU.

Li Guizhen, a second-level counsel from the Department of Human Resources and Social Security of Henan Province, and Wang Xiao, Deputy Director of the Overseas Students and Experts Service Center of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (China Postdoctoral Science Foundation), respectively stated that the event provided an excellent communication platform for outstanding young talents from home and abroad and promised more support for the related initiatives of HENU in the future.

The forum featured one main venue and 19 parallel venues, with over 700 participants and nearly 200 expert reports. The 2024 Postdoctoral Academic Exchange on Stress Biology & Food Security took place at the main venue. It was organized by the School of Life Sciences of HENU, the National Key Laboratory of Cotton Bio-breeding and Integrated Utilization and the College of Agriculture of HENU. Nine experts, including Kuang Tingyun, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Member of the International Eurasian Academy of Sciences, delivered reports focusing on the theme of “Promoting Stress Biology Research to Ensure National Food Security”, such as On the Road Exploring the Mysteries of Photosynthetic Membrane Structure and Function. Other participating experts and scholars delved into four specific topics related to crop stress biology, offering valuable insights for enhancing crop stress resistance, promoting plant health interactions & modern breeding techniques, and achieving green production.

The 19 parallel sub-forums were organized by various units of HENU. Participating experts and scholars engaged in academic exchanges on themes such as “Green Chemical Processes for Carbon Neutrality and Life Health”, “Digital Intelligence and New Cultural Tourism Formats”, “Clinical Medicine Problem-Oriented Medical-Engineering Interdisciplinary Research”, “Creativity·Integration·Ecology: Transformations in Arts Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, and “Global Perspectives on Music Education and Performance”, among others. The discussions were lively, with continuous presentation of innovative results.

The 2024 Postdoctoral Academic Exchange on Stress Biology & Food Security and the 7th International Young Scholars (Postdoctoral) Forum of HENU is one of the activities of national postdoctoral academic exchange program organized by the Office of the National Postdoctoral Affairs Management Committee in 2024. Compared to the cutting-edge academic exchange activities for international young scholars in 2023, the scale is larger and the subject coverage broader. With the theme of “Attracting Talent and Empowering Innovation”, the event gathered outstanding young scholars from home and abroad to exchange and discuss frontier and hot topics in their disciplines, promoting interdisciplinary integration and broadening the academic horizons of postdoctoral researchers.