The head of the pathology programme of the China Eucalyptus Research Centre (CERC), Dr ShuaiFei Chen visited FABI in September. His visit was specifically to engage with his students based at FABI and to promote ongoing collaboration regarding plantation tree health.  In this regards, Dr. Chen is the primary supervisor for two Ph.D students, FeiFei Lui and JieQiong Li and attended research meetings with them and their FABI co-supervisors, Prof. Mike Wingfield, Prof. Jolanda Roux and Dr Irene Barnes.

ShuaiFei completed his Ph.D. at FABI and is an extraordinary faculty member at the University of Pretoria and based in FABI. FABI has an especially strong link with CERC, in the manifestation of the CERC-FABI Tree Protection Programme (CFTPP). The Tree Health Team at CERC has worked closely with the TPCP team for about 15 years and has collectively produced a substantial base of research of mutual interest to the two teams. During this period of time, the research team at CERC has grown substantially, initiating and catalyzing numerous collaborative research projects that have led to numerous Ph.D’s being completed at FABI.