The Russian Science Foundation and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) are continuing their strategic collaboration in the field of joint Sino-Russian research projects of outstanding scientific quality. Today partners announced 52 new awards of their fourth joint call for proposals in Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Earth Sciences, Information Sciences, Materials and Engineering sciences. The aim is to fund high quality research that makes significant societal and scientific impact.
The review of the projects was carried out by both Russian and Chinese parties in parallel independently. The teams that were awarded obtained positive assessments from the reviewers in both countries. Applicants will be informed in writing of the results of the review and, where applicable, of the subsequent administrative steps according to the respective national regulations.
Joint research projects allow researchers in Russia to collaborate with researchers in China. The projects will have a duration of three years, with funding on the Russian side amounting to 4-7 million Russian rubles annually for the period of 2025-2027.
The next call for proposals is scheduled in February 2025 for projects with funding period of FY 2026-2028.
Since 2021, 200 jointly organised research projects have been funded under the RSF-NSFC cooperation.
Detailed information about the call and the list of winners are presented in the "Funding".
According to Nature Index 2024, China is now the Russia's biggest single-country partner for high-profile collaborative research, followed by the USA, Germany, UK and France.
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The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is a major funding source for basic research and frontier exploration in China. In 2023, it funded over 52,000 projects and programs with a total investment of more than 31.8 billion yuan (4.48 billion U.S. dollars). It is now the most important partner for the Russian Science Foundation in terms of both the number of active awards for bilateral projects and the value of investment.