11 Dec 2024
The School of Science (SCI) held an experience sharing workshop on successfully applying for the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) in the afternoon of November 29 at the North Campus. Professor Li Yang, Associate Dean for Research and Impact chaired the meeting, and more than 40 faculties from the three sister departments in the School participated in this event.
Professor John Moraros, School Dean, delivered the opening speech, affirming the strong commitment of support from the university senior administration and highlighting the fruitful results achieved by SCI in the 2024 NSFC application. He congratulated the 7 SCI faculty recipients of these prestigious awards in various NSFC categories and characterized the unprecedented success as a milestone in the growth and development of the School in the research arena. Additionally, Dean Moraros encouraged more of the international SCI faculty to participate in the next round of NSFC grant application, while acknowledging the issue posed for them with language difficulties that foreign experts encounter during the application process. He expressed a commitment by the School to provide all the necessary supports to potential applicants, who may be either Chinese or International faculty.
Professor Li Yang then provided a detailed introduction to the application eligibility requirements in the different categories of NSFC funding projects and systematically reviewed the application performance of SCI over the past five years. She also listed a series of activities and support measures to be held by the School and University in the coming months and encouraged everyone to make full use of various helpful resources.
Later, 5 NSFC faculty awardees from three categories (The Research Fund for International Senior Scientists, General Programme, and Young Scientists Fund) shared their valuable application experiences, respectively.
- Prof Eben Goodale (NSFC Award - International Senior Scientists)
Professor Goodale suggested that in an effort to increase the robustness of one’s application is important to collaborate with experienced teams and publish a number of high quality papers in the relevant discipline field in high impact journals. He also emphasized the significance of a clear scientific rationale in one’s proposal and recommended that foreign applicants choose the General Programme or RFIS for a higher success rate.
“I believe collaborative grants, making connections with larger traditional Chinese universities, are a good idea for foreigners in China and particularly at XJTLU.”
- Dr Bailiang Li (NSFC Award - General Programme)
Dr Li emphazied that proposal topics should be innovative and align well with national priorities. The team should include well-known scholars in the field to enhance the credibility of the proposal. In addition, writing should follow Chinese style, using charts to enhance expression.
“Understand the proposal quality is fundamental, so polish your proposal over and over again.”
- Dr Weiwei Dai (NSFC Award - General Programme)
Dr Dai noted the factors contributing to a success outcome include “Ideas” (novel concepts), “Proposals” (high-quality applications), and “Networks” (scientific networking). Proposals need high-quality charts and data support, clearly outlining the novelty of the proposed research project. He also suggested that in order to increase the success rate of the application one needs to consider participating in academic conferences and building connections with experts in the field.
“Ensure the proposal is novel and you are the right person to lead the project. Ensure the novelty of your proposed research will be realized and seen clearly and easily by the reviewers. Do seek feedback from experienced experts in the field and revise accordingly. Fully realize the importance and actively develop your scientific networks. Use multi-channels to positively advertise yourself and your team.”
- Dr Juan Li (NSFC Award - Young Scientists Fund)
Dr Li highlighted that the key is to clearly answer three core questions: “Why this topic?”, “Why this method?”, and “Why you can do it?” She also suggested that more attention needs to be paid to the language style and expression form of the funded projects in the Chinese application form, so as to enhance the quality and competitiveness of the application form.
“Rejection is part of the process. Do not be discouraged by a rejection—use the feedback to improve and resubmit.”
- Dr Wanxin Li (NSFC Award - Young Scientists Fund)
Dr. Li shared that the good selection of a relevant topic is the key to the successful funding of an application, which should be combined with a strong personal scientific foundation. It is recommended to cite the applicant’s own high-level papers in the project to establish a strong basis and enhance credibility. Components such as scientific progress, technical feasibility, and solid foundation research work should be closely integrated and mutually reinforced throughout the proposal.
“First, list your strongly-related articles, focusing on the conclusions and research significance of the articles, and emphasizing the connection between the articles and the project. Second, make sure to comprehensively mention all the resources and conditions our School and University platform can provide to support the proposed project.”
Content：Rundong Ma, Yu Ding
Review：Professor John Moraros, Professor Li Yang
11 Dec 2024