A complex of small insect pests called whiteflies and the viruses they transmit have been doing serious damages to many crops worldwide in the past 20 years. These pests have caused enormous losses to the production of cassava, a major crop of staple food for about 500 million people in Africa and other tropical regions of the world. To help combat against the pests, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation invested 18 million US dollars to initiate an international cooperative research project “African Cassava Whiteflies: Outbreak Causes and Sustainable Solutions” in 2014. The project attracted a joint effort from 19 universities/research institutes from Africa, Europe, North America and Asia, led by the Natural Resources Institute, The University of Greenwich, United Kingdom. Zhejiang University is the only institution from Asia that participates in this joint project. The first phase of the project was officially started in January 2015 and will continue for four years.

On the invitation from the project leader, Professor John Colvin from the Natural Resources Institute, The University of Greenwich, Professor LIU Shusheng of the Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University went to the U.K to participate in the research from 1 October to 12^th November, 2016. When there, his research with colleagues was focused on the systematics of the Bemisia tabaci whitefly species complex. In addition to participate in the data analysis and preparation of research manuscripts, Professor LIU took part in the experimental studies on the reproductive compatibility of various whitefly genotypes, and supervised PhD students in the project to conduct the experiments. During his stay in the U. K., Professor Liu also visited the British Natural History Museum and the John Innes Centre, an international leader in plant research.

   Immediately following his visiting study in the U.K., Professor LIU went to Malawi to participate in the Second Annual Meeting of the African Cassava Whiteflies project. Over 50 colleagues from 12 countries and one project officer from the Gates Foundation were present in the meeting. During the meeting, Professor LIU presented the recent studies of his team on the systematics of the Bemisia tabaci whitefly species complex and whitefly-virus interactions, which attracted much attention from the participants. He also had extensive discussions with colleagues at the meeting on the progress of the project and the plan of the coming year.