Asia-Pacific International Conference on Lightning (APL 2011) was held in Chengdu, China, during Nov. 1-4, 2011. The conference was co-hosted by Tsinghua University, National Technical Committee 258 on Lightning Protections of Standardization Administration of China and Zhongguang High-tech Industry Development Group. Sixty-two prominent researchers from all over the world were invited to be the Technical Program Committee members. With nearly 300 papers submitted, two hundred and seventy-seven scholars from 30 countries attended the conference. Under the guidance of the IAP () professor Xiushu Qie, Ph. D student Rubin Jiang reported a presentation “Step-like characteristics of upward leaders in triggered lightning flashes” at the conference, and won the Best Student Paper Award, as one of three.

Fifteen Technical Sessions and ten Special Sessions were set up at the conference, which covered the field of lightning physics, lightning protection, and related areas. The topics included atmospheric electricity, lightning physics, lightning warning, location and monitoring technologies, lightning hazards and history, lightning models and LEMP, rocket-triggered lightning, lightning protection elements and devices, lightning protection of power systems, lightning protection of buildings and electronic systems, grounding, high-voltage experiments for simulation of lightning effects, and standards of lightning protection and lightning testing. Besides traditional topics, new areas, such as lightning protection of renewable energy systems, smart grid, and high-speed railway systems were also covered at the conference.