My collaboration with the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) started at the beginning of the last decade. Scientific contact was established during an interesting meeting with an Associate Professor of KIB who was travelling from Kunming to Chiang Mai, Thailand. I had been engaged as a visiting professor at KIB from 2014 to 2017 and was awarded Emeritus Professor in 2018. The ongoing collaboration of my host institution, Mae Fah Luang University, Thailand, with CAS provides an excellent platform for mycological studies. This collaboration enabled us to work together with many MSc and PhD students from Thailand, China, Sri Lanka and many other countries. The journey started with a number of students from Thailand who had the opportunity to work at KIB for a short period of time (about three to six months) for their molecular work. However, over time, the collaboration was further expanded with many new research projects, activities as well as collecting visits. Presently, many former PhD students from my team have also been conducting their post-doctoral studies at KIB.

I have also been able to expand my collaboration with many research students from China as well as other field experts in mycology, which has helped in our exchange and broadening of knowledge. KIB provides an outstanding environment and support for scientific research in terms of molecular, chemical and morphological analyses of macro and micro fungi. Thus, we have been able to publish highly innovative publications in high-impact journals with the collective wisdom and resources. I also accomplished numerous editorial works as a member of KIB. The latter has made an immense contribution in turning my dream into reality, which is to produce world-class mycologists.

I am always passionate about exploring fungi in the field. Through collaborative exploration, I have been involved in several collecting visits in Yunnan Province as well as neighboring provinces, which resulted in interesting findings of macro and micro-fungi. These field visits also helped me learn about the many cultural variations in Southwest China and make personal bonds with my colleagues.

Kunming is one of my favorite places and I have visited it frequently including a couple of months' research stays on several occasions. I would stay in a nearby apartment from KIB where I had the best accommodation and a pleasant environment. My stays were always fruitful in regards to academic work, and personal time which involved several interesting afternoon discussions.

I am grateful for all the support and contributions throughout this journey and for honoring me with the most welcome award!

I hope this collaboration will continue in the future. This will firstly act as an impetus for the protection of the biodiversity of our ecosystem. It will also help to increase our deeper knowledge and understanding of fungal diseases using highly effective techniques and trends in mycology. Furthermore, such collaboration will potentially encourage an improvement in the consumption of edible macro fungi, thereby contributing to the economy as well as the spread of educational knowledge on mycology in our community.

Source: Kevin David Hyde,

Kunming Institute of Botany,

Chinese Academy of Sciences