Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) saw directors of renowned physics departments from across China descend upon campus to discuss the development of physics and talent pipelines. SUSTech President Chen Shiyi joined Deputy Director Dong Guoxuan of the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the National Nature Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and other experts at the forum. Directors from the physics departments of Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and Nanjing Universities were among the 19 universities of renown that sent representatives to the forum. Senior leaders from across SUSTech were also in attendance.

Chen Shiyi welcomed everyone to the meeting, saying that SUSTech had accelerated the development of its physics department, which had seen SUSTech’s Department of Physics have a larger influence both within China and around the world. The forum was intended for everyone to provide new ideas for everyone to help train new talents and develop talent pipelines, which would provide valuable experience for SUSTech and the other universities in attendance.

Dong Guoxuan said that young researchers need to be provided with a positive research environment and a development space for independent research opportunities. Domestic universities need to work hard towards creating this sort of environment for young researchers. He anticipated that experts can be widely consulted on the comments and suggestions made at this forum.

Director Ni Peigen of the NSFC Physics Section I of the Department of Mathematics and Physics Sciences said that the NSFC attaches great importance to the development of young talents. A key issue for the forum’s discussions was working out how to provide the best research environment for young talents.

With youth talent development as the focus of the forum, there was a lot of discussion around topics like growth patterns, strategies to help them, and finding ways to break through bottlenecks in training talents. Director Shen Jian of Fudan University, Director Wang Yayu of Tsinghua University and Dean Gao Yuanning of Peking University all shared their experiences in these areas.

This is the second time this forum has been held, and saw more attendees than the previous year. Attendees said that the forum has seen better communications for the development of a young talent pipeline for physics, and they were looking forward to the continued development of physics within China.