The National Key Research and Development Program titled "research and development of atmospheric heavy metal online monitoring system based on gaseous diffusion gathering & separation and ICP-MS techniques" was launched on March 24, 2021. The kick-off meeting of the program was held offline at the Institute of Applied Ecology (IAE), Chinese Academy of Sciences, and online in the form of a video conference.  

More than 30 people attended the kick-off meeting, including the specially invited expert Jiang Xiaoping, division head of the Asian and African Affairs Division of the International Cooperation Department, Ministry of Science and Technology, Professor Guan Yafeng, the (Dalian) Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Professor Liu Chengyan, vice chairman of China Association for Analysis and Testing, Professor Dong Lin from Nanjing University, Professor Mo Weimin from Zhejiang University of Technology, Hu Xiaomin from Northeastern University, Professor Guo Shuhai and Wang Yanhong from the Institute of Applied Ecology of CAS, and core researchers of the project. The meeting was co-presided by Wang Xugao and Liu Li, head and deputy head of the Science and Technology Division of IAE. 

Zhuo Junchen, deputy director of IAE, delivered a welcome speech on behalf of IAE to all the experts participating in the meeting. He urged the program team to set up a program office in order to promote the smooth implementation of the program. Jiang Xiaoping spoke of the background information of this Sino-Japanese international cooperation program, and made suggestions on program acceptance criteria, budget management, and filing management, etc.  

Afterwards, Prof. Chen Xin, research scientist of IAE and principal investigator of the research program, gave an overall introduction to the program objectives, research content, assessment criteria, cooperative research and task assignment, etc. Then, Professor Ding Fu of Shenyang University of Chemical Technology, and Associate Prof. Yuan Zidan and Dr. Zhou Qiang of IAE, on behalf of the projects they participated in, gave detailed reports as well. 

Prof. Guan Yafeng spoke highly of the implementation plan of the program. He pointed out that the STPS device to be developed by Project 1 is the key to the success of the program, and that the representativeness of sampling points should be carefully considered. Prof. Guo Shuhai agreed that the sampling of the atmospheric samples is very important, and that the sample properties and sedimentation characteristics should be fully considered. Professor Mo Weimin proposed that improving sensitivity will be the most important task for developing the online monitoring system, and the reliability of which should be verified in accordance with standard methods. Professor Hu Xiaomin affirmed the significance of using the online monitoring instruments to study the emission and transmission processes of pollutants. Professor Liu Chengyan finally pointed out that instrument research and development should be guided by market demand.  

Through this meeting, the program team rechecked the research routes, made a more detailed implementation plan, and found out solutions to deal with problems encountered by researchers of this program, which laid a solid foundation for the smooth implementation of the program.