Professor Sylwia Wdowiak-Wróbel and Dr Michał Kalita, researchers from the University of Maria Curie - Skłodowska (UMCS) in Lublin, Poland visited FABI on 1 October. The visiting scientists are collaborating on an NRF Poland/SA Bilateral Grant with Prof. Teresa Coutinho to study the nodule microbiome of two Trifolium species, T.rubens and T.africanum. The Polish researchers were in the country for a week and, during their visit to FABI, they attended a meeting with the Rhizobial Research Group. In this meeting, they discussed the work they do such as characterising nitrogen-fixing legume-associated bacteria (i.e. rhizobia) that associate with plants indigenous to Poland and Russia. This meeting was also attended by Dr Ahmed Idris Hassen of the Plant Health and Protection Institute at the Agricultural Research Council. We hope this will be the first of many meetings between the two groups.