On October 15, the 10th Anniversary Symposium on the Joint PhD Program in Agricultural and Life Sciences between the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) and Wageningen University (WU) of Netherlands was held in Beijing.

Under the theme “A Decade of Collaboration, Nurturing Outstanding Talents”, the symposium reviewed the friendly cooperation between CAAS and WU. Over the past 10 years, the two parties have taken high-level international talent training as a link, focused on the needs of scientific and technological innovation in agriculture and life sciences, innovated training models, and cultivated a group of high-level innovative talents with global vision. At the symposium, the two sides signed the agreement for the third phase of the joint PhD program.

In his speech, Prof. Huang Sanwen, President of CAAS and GSCAAS as well as Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, pointed out that the joint PhD program between CAAS and Wageningen University is a successful model of strategic cooperation between world-class universities and research institutions, reflecting the responsibility and mission of CAAS and WU for global agricultural development. He stressed that the two sides should make good use of the existing high-level platforms for scientific and technological innovation and joint PhD training, improve the strategic cooperation coordination mechanism, expand cooperation in smart agriculture, synthetic biology, green development and other fields, jointly organize high-end academic forums and international summer schools, innovate a high-level international talent training model integrating science and education, as well as build a new benchmark for international agricultural cooperation and high-level talent training.

In her speech, Caroline Fleurke, President of Wageningen University, spoke highly of the fruitful cooperation between CAAS and WU in talent development as well as scientific and technological innovation, and delivered a keynote speech on agricultural innovation. Representatives of program supervisors, current students and alumni delivered speeches respectively.

More than 120 people attended the symposium, including Liu Xianwu, Vice President of CAAS, officials from the Department of International Cooperation, the Graduate School and institutions for graduate training of CAAS, as well as representatives of supervisors, current students and alumni.