Dr. Noni Franklin-Tong, Professor of Plant Cell Biology, and Dr. Steve Minchin, Director of Quality Assurance and Enhancement of the School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, visited IGDB in the morning of Sep 19. Director XUE Yongbiao and Deputy Director ZHANG Yongqing gave a brief introduction of IGDB to the guests. Several collaborative initiatives in training PhD students between the University of Birmingham and IGDB were discussed and planned. Both parties hope to carry out a project-based collaboration in the near future.