On October 29, 2026, the 2026 China Partners Academic Forum of Ghent University, co-hosted by Nanchang University and Ghent University, was held in Nanchang. The international academic symposium was jointly organized by the College of Food Science & Technology of Nanchang University, the State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Resources, and the International Institute of Food Innovation, and co-organized by the School of Food Science and Bioengineering of Changsha University of Science and Technology. With the theme “Food Science and Technology Innovation and Human Health,” the forum focused on academic exchange and international cooperation in frontier interdisciplinary fields, including gut–brain axis mechanisms in neurodegenerative diseases, probiotic vesicles and human health, human intestinal in vitro models, functional mineral carrier design, food structure and metabolic regulation, dietary flavonoid activity evaluation, plasma and biomedicine, and machine learning for predicting material polymorphs. The forum aimed to promote scientific and technological innovation in green food and human health. It was chaired by Prof. Huang Xiaojun, Member of the Party Committee of the College of Food Science & Technology.

At the opening ceremony, Prof. Petra De Sutter, Rector of Ghent University in Belgium, delivered an online speech. Prof. Li Hongyan, Vice Dean of the College of Food Science & Technology of at Nanchang University, and Mr. Zhang Chi, China Representative of the East Asia Platform of Ghent University, attended and addressed the opening ceremony. Afterwards, Prof. Zhang Wei-Hong, Prof. Roos Vandenbroucke, Assistant Prof. Bogdan Parakhonskiy, Postdoctoral Researchers Ludovica Marinelli, Dr. Song Junnan from Ghent University, together with Prof. Ma Chuanlong, Prof. Xie Junhua, and Assistant Researchers Feng Yinong and Li Qiqiong from Nanchang University, delivered academic presentations at the forum.

Nine experts and scholars from China and Belgium delivered presentations and engaged in discussions at the forum, which was attended by nearly 100 faculty members and students online and offline. The successful convening of the forum established a high-level international academic exchange platform for Nanchang University and Ghent University and laid a solid foundation for deeper cooperation between the two universities in the future.