International Association for Gondwana Research (IAGR) 2021 Annual Convention & 18th International Symposium on Gondwana to Asia Held in Qingdao


The 2021 Annual Convention of the International Association for Gondwana Research (IAGR) and the 18th International Symposium on Gondwana to Asia was held in Qingdao in September. The conference was co-sponsored by IAGR, Ocean University of China (OUC), the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China. On behalf of the organizer, academician Wu Lixin, Vice President of OUC, delivered a welcome speech. Prof. Li Sanzhong, director of the Key Laboratory of Seabed Resources and Investigation Technology under China’s Ministry of Education, was the chairman of the conference and presided over the meeting.


Due to covid-19, the conference was held, with part of the participants joining via video link. In attendance were 190 experts, scholars and graduate students from more than 10 countries. Distinguished experts and excellent young scholars delivered a total of 27 oral and 30 poster presentations. The conference enabled extensive discussions.



IAGR is an international non-profit academic organization, specializing in the study of supercontinent formation and rifting. It organizes annual conferences and regular international meetings, offering platforms of exchanges for top-level geologists to discuss frontier issues and progress of geology.


A new English journal Geosystems & Geoenvironment was officially issued during the conference. It is an international interdisciplinary quarterly in English, published by OUC, the Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao) and Elsevier, with academician Wu Lixin as the editor-in-chief and Professor Li Sanzhong as the co-editor-in-chief. The journal enables the publishing of original research and integrated, innovative reviews in earth and environmental sciences.