On the morning of November 25, the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering (CESE), Peking University (PKU) hosted a delegation from Germany's Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) for discussions aimed at strengthening educational and research collaboration.
The FZJ delegation comprised distinguished members including Prof. Andreas Wahner, former director of the Institute of Climate and Energy Systems; its current director, Prof. Anke Christine Nölscher; deputy director Prof. Hendrik Fuchs; and researcher Dr. Anna Novelli. They were received by CESE faculty members Prof. Min Hu, Prof. Keding Lu, Prof. Song Guo, Prof. Xin Li, Prof. Zhaofeng Tan, and Ms. Yang Jiao, the International Affairs Secretary.
Proceedings commenced with a warm address of welcome from Prof. Keding Lu on behalf of CESE. This was followed by an appointment ceremony during which Prof. Hendrik Fuchs was formally named a Visiting Professor in the Department of Environmental Science, with Prof. Lu presenting the official letter of appointment.
Central to the dialogue was the "International Joint Research Center for Regional Pollution Control" (IJRC), a joint venture established in 2019 which successfully passed its acceptance review in 2025. The meeting served to review productive collaboration under this framework in domains such as radical chemistry, aerosol studies, global monitoring networks, and atmospheric modeling. Looking ahead, and guided by China's 15th Five-Year Plan, both parties outlined strategic priorities for future collaboration, encompassing large-scale environmental simulation and joint observational campaigns. Significant attention was also devoted to advancing joint training initiatives for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers, with proposals for student exchange programs, jointly organized summer schools, and formalized co-supervision agreements.
The FZJ delegation toured the Atmospheric Radical Chemistry Laboratory and the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling & Air Pollution Forecasting Laboratory which were led by Prof. Lu and Prof. Li, respectively. They highlighted advanced instrumentation and pioneering research on reaction mechanisms and model development, prompted substantive technical exchange and earned high praise from the FZJ visitors for the laboratories' scientific standards.
The seminar proved highly productive in fostering academic synergy and building a consensus for future cooperation between PKU and FZJ in atmospheric science. Both institutions expressed a strong commitment to leveraging their complementary strengths to expand collaboration across research, academic exchange, and capacity building.
