On January 3-5, 2018, the Department of Materials Science, Fudan University worked with the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Molecular Engineering to organize the Frontier Forum on Polymer Materials 2018. The Forum offered a platform for professionals engaged in polymer materials in China to exchange views and cooperate with each other, thereby promoting the advances in the studies on polymer materials. The Forum was principally organized by Prof. Yanlei Yu and Prof. Limin Wu, and attended by Academicians Deyue Yan, Wantai Yang and Wei Huang, and dozens of well-known experts and scholars from institutions of higher education and institutes throughout China.

On the morning of January 4, under the auspices of Prof. Wantai Yang, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Yuesheng Li from Tianjin University, Prof. Mingqiu Zhang from Sun Yat-Sen University, Research Fellow Xuesi Chen from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Prof. Linqi Shi from Nankai University offered wonderful representations on the creation of Lewis pair catalyzed alternate copolymers, the self-repair and recycling of vulcanized rubber, the polymer nanomedicine, the self-assembled molecular chaperones, etc. They revealed many key issues in the development of polymer materials, and sought more effective and rational solutions from a new perspective based on practical application.

On the afternoon of January 4, Prof. Qiang Fu from Sichuan University, Prof. Tianxi Liu from Donghua University, Prof. Shouke Yan from Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Prof. Xiqun Jiang from Nanjing University, Prof. Jian Ji from Zhejiang University, Prof. Xianzheng Zhang from Wuhan University, Research Fellow Han Yanchun from Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Hongzheng Chen from Zhejiang University, Prof. Shiyong Liu from University of Science and Technology of China, and Prof. Dongsheng Liu from Tsinghua University explained the structures and properties of polymers, the nanocomposites, the optoelectronic materials, the biomedical materials, etc. in simple terms. They deepened our understanding of the relationship between material structure design and material properties, and showed us the importance of high performance and new functional polymer materials in frontier sciences.

On the morning of January 5, under the auspices of Prof. Xinyuan Zhu from Shanghai Jiaotong University and Prof. Meifang Zhu from Donghua University, the experts from various academic communities took us to review the research process of polymer materials from molecular design and preparation through characterization to practical application. They reminded us that 'old' materials could still be used for 'new' purposes, and we need to explore such applications attentively. Prof. Limin Wu of our department delivered the closing speech and summed up the report content of the Forum.

The report content of the Forum was brilliant - from molecular design to material preparation, from problem discovery to problem solving, from performance improvement to practical application... The reports manifested the latest developments of polymer research in energy, biomedicine, chemical engineering, etc., having offered an important reference basis for future development of polymer materials. The Forum enabled us to feel the persistence of the older-generation polymer material researchers and the unremitting struggle of the younger ones. It is believed that, thanks to the efforts of generations of polymer material researchers, polymer materials will keep on shining in various fields and promote the continuous advancement of modern science and technology.

Sincere thanks are hereby expressed to the leaders of the Department of Materials and the State Key Laboratory of Polymer Molecular Engineering at Fudan University for their substantial support for the Frontier Forum on Polymer Materials, and to Tosoh Bioscience Shanghai Co., Ltd. for its sponsorship!