On 18 October 2023, Prof. Yangfan Li from the State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science (MEL) at Xiamen University, led a team of five young researchers to visit SKLMP, where they were greeted with great enthusiasm by our Director, Prof. Kenneth Leung. MEL is a long-term collaborative partner of SKLMP, and members of the two institutions have been working together on many collaborative projects in the field of marine environmental research. During the meeting, Prof. Leung narrated the historical journey of SKLMP, providing young researchers with valuable insights into its development and remarkable research achievements. Prof. Li introduced his recent research endeavors and highlighted the possible areas for collaboration between the two labs. In the subsequent laboratory tour, our PhD students shared their research findings and provided in-depth explanations to the guests.