I had a highly successful two months  visiting the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry (GIG) on the Chinese  Academy of Sciences President’s International Fellowship Initiative (CAS  PIFI) in 2024. I visited twice, each for a month, in May-June and in  November-December. I was looked after exceptionally well by my host  Professor Yunpeng Wang, and by our jointly supervised postdoc who works  between the GIG and Macquarie University, Dr. Lian Jiang.

I  conducted two research seminars at the GIG, another two when I visited  the CAS Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing in November, and I  also gave a four-part lecture on organic geochemistry and biomarkers to  the research students. However, the majority of my time was spent on  discussing research ideas, visiting labs, and helping research students  and postdocs with writing papers for international journals. I helped  edit and improve the science of nine different papers, including two of  which I worked on two versions. Several of these are now published in  journals.

I have been very impressed by  the analytical capabilities of the GIG, which are world-class. I am  always interested in seeing how China invests so much in science and the  development of young people. This is certainly the case at the GIG,  which has the advantage over organizations such as CSIRO in Australia  which can’t directly confer further research degrees, whereas CAS can,  so there is a much greater pool of young scientists at the GIG.

I think improved English, especially  written, is a key for these young people to take the next steps in their  scientific careers, as publishing in international journals is the  key  to success in the Chinese system. While I have offered advice during a  talk I delivered to the research students on the dos and don’ts to  follow, I believed there is a need for more comprehensive instruction on  this matter from the ground up. This is because the proficiency levels  in English among the research students and postdoc  community vary significantly, and unfortunately in some cases lack of  English proficiency may be a hindrance to their careers in some cases.  Perhaps more emphasis could be put on developing English writing skills  (without relying on translation or AI tools!) at the first year  masters’ level.

Many thanks for the  opportunity. I think this visit is the first step in a longer term,  ongoing relationship between the GIG and Macquarie University.