• NIGPAS delegates participated in the XIX International Botanical Congress 

　　The XIX International Botanical Congress was held in Shenzhen during July 23^rd – 29^th, 2017. Over 7000 delegates from more than 100 countries participated in the meeting. Thirteen palaeobotanists from NIGPAS took part in 5 sessions of the meeting covering palaeobotany and palynology. Prof. WANG Yongdong and Dr. SHI Gongle were invited to be the conveners and chairs of two of the sessions. Other NIGPAS delegates gave their own presentations respectively. 

• NIGPAS delegates took part in the 10^th International Symposium on the Cretaceous (10^th ISC) 

　　The 10^th ISC was held in Vienna, Austria during August 17^th – 28^th, 2017. Over 230 delegates from 39 countries participated in the meeting. Twelve palaeontologists from NIGPAS took part in the academic sessions. Some NIGPAS delegates also joined the post-conference field trip to visit the Cretaceous-Palaeogene strata in Alps Mountain area. 

• Delegates from NIGPAS and Nanjing University took part in the International Conference “Upper Devonian and Carboniferous Carbonate Buildups and Boundary Stratotypes” 

　　Five Scientists from NIGPAS and Nanjing University took part in the International Conference “Upper Devonian and Carboniferous Carbonate Buildups and Boundary Stratotypes” in Almaty-Turkestan, Kazakhastan during August 15^th – 22^nd, 2017. Two of them gave oral presentations at the conference, focusing on the theme - the carbonate buildups of Famennian (Devonian) to Mississippian (Carboniferous), and the boundary stratotypes of Visean to Serpukhovian. Five delegates also visited 5 Upper Devonian – Carboniferous sections in Kazakhastan during the field trip. 

• Scientists from NIGPAS participated in the post-cruise meeting of IODP367/368 South China Sea Expedition 

　　Three Scientists from NIGPAS were invited to work on the post-cruise sample processing of IODP367/368 South China Sea Expedition by Dr. Carlos A. Zarikian, the Principal Scientist of IODP Executive Committee from September 22^nd to 29^th, 2017. The preliminary report will be published soon. 

• NIGPAS Delegation visited British Geological Survey (BGS) in Nottingham, UK. 

　　NIGPAS Delegation led by Deputy Director Prof. ZHAN Renbin was invited by Prof. Mike Stephenson, Director of Science and Technology, BGS, to visit the headquarter of BGS at Keyworth, Nottingham, England in November 2017. NIGPAS and BGS had a deep discussion on the future cooperation on database construction, academic exchange, joint symposium, post-graduate education, etc. The GBDB leader, Prof. FAN Junxuan was invited to give a lecture to British colleagues, on the topic of “Introducing the Geobiodiversity Database, an expanding open data system for geological information”.  

• NIGPAS delegates participated in the GSA 129^th Annual Meeting 

　　Twelve NIGPAS delegates led by Deputy Director Prof. WANG Xiangdong participated in the GSA 129^th Annual Meeting in Seattle, USA from October 20^th to 25^th, 2017. The delegates gave oral or poster presentations, and took part in the workshops on foraminifers and IGCP653 during the meeting. Accompanied by Dr. Paul Brenckle, the world-known experts on the Carboniferous foraminifers, some of the delegates attended a post-conference field excursion in Mississipi Valley. Having a better understanding of the classical Mississipian strata in North America, the NIGPAS scientists checked more possibilities in the global stratigraphic correlation and the GSSP studies. 

　　.....CONTENTS OF PALAEONEWS NO.6.....