On October 28-31, the 2019 Annual Conference of Chinese Association of Microbial Ecology and the 1th International Forum for Advanced Microbial Ecology were held in Changsha. The conference was hosted by the Chinese Association of Microbial Ecology, undertaken by the School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering of Central South University (CSU) and the Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy of the Ministry of Education of China, and co-organized by the School of Environment of Tsinghua University and the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). More than 1,200 expert representatives from China, the United States, Germany, France, Japan, India, Australia, Austria and other countries attended the conference.

(Top: opening ceremony; Bottom Left: Honorary Chairman, Academician Qiu Guanzhou from the CSU delivering opening remarks; Middle and Lower: Academician Zhao Guoping from the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS making a keynote speech; Bottom Right: Chairman of the Conference, Professor Liu Xueduan from the CSU presiding over the opening ceremony)

Themed “the sorrow of the poor, the shackles of the universe; the beauty of nature, the skill of heaven”, the conference presented the latest international research results in the field of microbial ecology and explored the opportunities and challenge faced by microbial ecology as well as the future development direction. The aim of the conference is to promote the development and progress of microbial ecology in China, strengthen the integration of industry, university and research and technology transformation, and promote the application of microbial ecology technology in important fields such as resources, energy and environment.

The opening ceremony was hosted by Professor Liu Xueduan from the School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, CSU, who is the Chairman of the conference, and deputy director of the academic committee. The Honorary Chairman of the conference and Academician Qiu Guanzhou from CSU delivered an opening speech. He said that the development of microbiology in China was gratifying, and the achievements of microbial ecological research and international influence were increasing day by day. He also called for promoting interdisciplinary research, and theoretical guidance on practice, and making efforts to solve bottleneck in the field of metallurgical and environmental microbes. Famous Chinese and international microbial ecologists, including Academician Zhao Guoping from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, CAS, Academician Zhao Jindong from Peking University, Academician Deng Zixin from Shanghai Jiaotong University, Academician James M. Tiedje from Michigan State University, Academician Bruce Logan from Pennsylvania State University, Academician David Stahl from Washington University, Academician Mary Firestone from University of California, Berkeley, Academician Pedro Alvarez from Rice University, Academician Bruce Rittmann from Arizona State University, Academician Rup Lal and other more than 10 academicians from the New Delhi Institute of Energy and Resources, as well as Professor Yang Min from the Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Li Hui, Project Director, Section III, Department of Geosciences of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Wang Aijie, Researcher of Ecological Environment Research Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Huang Qiaoyun from Huazhong Agricultural University, Professor Xu Jianming from Zhejiang University, Sun Bo, Researcher of Institute of Soil Science, CAS, and Xu Jian, Researcher of Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, CAS,. reported on important issues in the field of microbial ecology, and introduced the latest research progress and development trends.

The conference established eight topic sections for academic exchanges, including the international forum for microbial ecology, theories and technologies in microbial ecology, microbial ecology in hydrosphere and atmosphere, microbial ecology in soils and solid waste, microbial ecology in extreme environment, microbial ecology in industrial and engineering systems, microbial-host interactions, the young scholar summit for environmental genomics, comprehensively reflecting the development level of related fields of China's microbial ecology in recent years. During the conference, there was also a special workshop of training in scientific writing, and Harbin Institute of Technology was appointed as the organizer of the Annual Conference of Chinese Association of Microbial Ecology.

Source: School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering