CUHK legume symposium sets blueprint for legume research

Over 100 participants from 37 universities from six continents gathered at CUHK during 8–17 June 2017 for the WUN Symposium cum Research Summit on Impacts of Grain Legume Research and Development in Developing Countries organised by Prof. Lam Hon-ming, Director of the Centre for Soybean Research, as part of his project funded by the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), a global higher education and research network of 22 universities in six continents which works together to address issues of global significance through research collaboration.

The two-part event started with the CUHK Research Summit Series which showcased CUHK’s research strength in legume research to early-career researchers, and was followed by the WUN International Symposium which brought together senior researchers to formulate a blueprint for the future development of legume research. Prof. Lam was excited that scientists from diverse fields had gathered for this important event to address the global food security risk with sustainable legume agriculture, re-affirming the University’s role as a world-leading institution in legume research and laying solid foundation for collaboration in legume research on a global scale.

Following the successful symposium, Prof. Lam, Prof. Christine Foyer of the University of Leeds, and Prof. Henry Nguyen of the University of Missouri will co-edit a special issue in Plant, Cell and Environment dedicated to legumes. A joint review will be written to discuss new perspectives of climate change and the role of legumes. More meetings and events will be organised to consolidate the research group’s findings, paving the way for larger-scale collaborations and joint grant applications in the future.