On March 29, 2021, the kick-off meeting and expert consultation workshop for the project of the National Key R&D Program, tilted "Integrated Technology and Engineering Demonstration for Pollution Prevention and Treatment and Safe Utilisation of Heavy Metal Contaminated Sites in the Old Industrial Bases in Northeast China," took place in Shenyang. The meeting was held in the form of offline and online video conference. 

Seven experts, including Professor Li Guanghe of Tsinghua University, Prof. Liu Xiaoduan of the National Geological Experiment and Testing Center, were invited to form the project expert advisory group. More than 60 people attended the meeting, including Zhang Wang, project director of China‘s Agenda 21 Management Center, Yu Danmei, head of the Social Development Division of the Liaoning Provincial Department of Science and Technology, and key members of the project team. 

Zhang Wang addressed the meeting, and suggested that the project team strengthen project management in accordance with the "National Key R&D Program Management Guideline." Yu Danmei encouraged IAE and the project team to provide more technical support for the treatment of contaminated sites in the Old Industrial Bases in Northeast China. Zhuo Junchen expressed his welcome and gratitude to all the experts participating in the meeting. 

The principal investigator and co-investigators of the project gave talks on the project background and objectives, technical route, individual tasks, research team members, expected results and assessment indicators, project management, time schedule and budget, etc. 

After hearing the report, the project expert advisory group unanimously approved the project implementation plan to be put into action, while the expert advisory group also put forward some constructive opinions about the project plan, pointing out that the project team should establish a set of adaptive techniques that can be used to solve (heavy metal) pollution problem in the Old Industrial Bases in Northeast China. 

At the end of the meeting, Professor Zhu Tong, on behalf of co-investigators of the project, expressed his gratitude to the expert advisory group, and said that the project team will strengthen collaborative research, focus on heavy metal pollution treatment, and further promote basic research, technical innovation and demonstration base construction in the Old Industrial Bases in Northeast China.