2021 National Natural Science Foundation of China and British Academy of Medical Sciences Talent Project Guide

 　

In order to promote long-term substantive cooperative research between China and the UK, and promote in-depth cooperation and exchanges between scientific research talents and research teams in China and the UK, in 2021, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the British Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) plan to jointly fund the Sino-UK Talent Project ( The British project name is: Newton Advanced Fellowship, namely "Newton Advanced Scholars Fund"), which supports exchanges and mutual visits and cooperative research activities between Chinese young scholars and British collaborators.

　　1. Project Description

　　(1) Funding areas.

　　For clinical or patient-oriented research, the application code 1 must be selected as H. For details, please refer to Attachment 1. Project applications that do not fill in the application code 1 as required will not be accepted.

　　(2) Funding intensity.

　　The intensity of Chinese funding is no more than 300,000 yuan per project (direct funding), including research funding, international travel expenses for Chinese researchers to carry out exchange activities, living expenses abroad, and other expenses closely related to exchange activities. The UK funding intensity is no more than £74,000 per project, including salary supplements for Chinese applicants, research support funds, training fees, and international cooperation and exchange fees. For details, please refer to the UK Project Guidelines (Appendix 1).

　　(3) Funding period.

　　The funding period is 2 years, and the research period of the application should be filled in from March 1, 2021 to February 28, 2023.

　　2. Application Conditions

　　To apply for this program, the following conditions must be met:

　　(1) The applicant is undertaking or has undertaken the "National Science Fund Project for Distinguished Young Scholars" or "Science Fund Project for Outstanding Young Scholars".

　　(2) After obtaining a doctoral degree (or obtaining an equivalent research qualification), the applicant should have been engaged in research work for no more than 18 years and be able to carry out research work in English.

　　(3) The applicant must apply for the project together with the British collaborator, and the British collaborator should meet the qualification requirements of AMS for domestic applicants. For details, please refer to the British project guide (Appendix 1), and the website can be found at: https:/ /acmedsci.ac.uk/grants-and-schemes/grant-schemes/newton-advanced-fellowships.

　　(4) Please refer to the "2020 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines" for detailed instructions on application qualifications.

　　3. Restricted application regulations

　　(1) This project belongs to an international (regional) cooperation and exchange project, and is not subject to the restriction of “the total number of projects applied for and undertook by senior professional and technical positions (titles) is limited to 2”.

　　(2) The person in charge of the NSFC-RS (China-UK Talent Fund) project that has been funded shall not apply again.

　　(3) Other restrictions on the number of applications in the "2020 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines".

　　4. Reporting requirements

　　Applicants need to submit applications to the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the British Academy of Medical Sciences at the same time. The specific requirements are as follows:

　　(1) Fill in the Chinese application form online.

　　Chinese applicants must log in to the ISIS Science Foundation Network System (https://isisn.nsfc.gov.cn/egrantweb/), and fill in the "National Natural Science Foundation of China International (Regional) Cooperative Research Project Application Form" (hereinafter referred to as "Chinese Application") online. Book"). Specific steps are as follows:

　　1. Application path.

　　Select the "Project Leader" user group to log in to the system, and then click "Online Application" to enter the application interface. Click the "Add Project Application" button to enter the project category selection interface. Click the "+" sign on the left side of "International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Projects" or the "Expand" button on the right side to expand the drop-down menu. Click "Fill Application" on the right side of "Inter-Organization Collaborative Research (Inter-Organization Cooperation Agreement Project)", enter the "Cooperation Agreement" interface, select "NSFC-RS (Sino-UK Talent Fund)" in the drop-down menu, and then press the system It is required to enter the approval number of the "National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars Project" or "Science Fund Project for Outstanding Young Scholars" that is being undertaken or undertaken, and then enter the Chinese application form filling interface.

　　2. Budget preparation.

　　Applicants should carefully read the budget preparation requirements in the "2020 National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Guidelines" application instructions, and carefully and truthfully prepare and report the "National Natural Science Foundation of China Project Fund Budget Table".

　　3. Accessory materials.

　　Applicants must upload the following materials to the "Attachments" column of the Chinese application form and submit them together:

　　(1) Application form in English (that is, the application form generated by the AMS application system, see below for details).

　　(2) The applicant and the British collaborator reach an agreement on the cooperation content, fund payment and intellectual property rights, etc., and sign a cooperation agreement (see Annex 2 for a model of the cooperation agreement).

　　4. Applicants and supporting units must abide by relevant national regulations on "pathogenic microorganisms", "ethics and biosecurity", and "management of human genetic resources", and the collection, management and exchange of data and related materials must strictly abide by the relevant laws of both countries and regulations. For project applications involving highly pathogenic pathogenic microorganisms, the biosafety guarantee commitment of the sponsoring unit (scanned copy) should be submitted along with the application. Research involving humans and animals must strictly abide by the relevant regulations and requirements of patients' informed consent and related ethical issues, and must provide the review certificate (scanned copy) of the ethics committee of the institution or the superior supervisory unit.

　　(2) Fill in the English application form online.

　　1. application path.

　　Applicants must register and log in to the Flexi-Grant® electronic project application system (https://acmedsci.flexigrant.com/startapplication.aspx?id=6143), and fill in the English application form online. For specific filling requirements, please refer to the British project guide (attachment). 1).

　　2. In addition to submitting an application in English online, AMS has the following requirements for applicants.

　　(1) Submit the email addresses of the head of department of the Chinese applicant and the UK collaborator in the Flexi-Grant® system, and remind the head of the department to check the confirmation email sent by the Flexi-Grant® system and expressed support for the application.

　　(2) Submit the email addresses of 2 nominated referees in the Flexi-Grant® system, at least 1 of whom should be based in the UK. Note that the nomination of reviewers should comply with the principle of avoiding conflicts of interest.

　　(3) After the application is submitted online, it must be reviewed and confirmed by the British relying unit to log in to the Flexi-Grant® system. The deadline for submission and review for confirmation is 15:00 ( UK time ) on 5 November 2020 .

　　(3) Submitting materials.

　　The relying unit shall review the authenticity, completeness and compliance of the application materials submitted by the applicant of the unit, and the target relevance, policy compliance and economic rationality of the declared budget. This project is included in the scope of paperless application. After the relying unit has completed the confirmation of the electronic application and the attached materials item by item, it should upload the electronic scanned copy of the scientific research integrity commitment letter of the unit through the ISIS Science Fund network system before the deadline for submission of application materials ( Please download the template in the ISIS Science Foundation Network System, print and fill in the template, signed by the legal representative, and stamped with the official seal of the supporting unit), no paper materials are required. The acceptance period for online declarations in the ISIS system is from September 30 , 2020 to 16:00 on November 6 , 2020 .

　　(4) After the project is approved, bind the signed and stamped pages of the application form at the end of the Funded Project Plan and submit them together. The signed and stamped information should be strictly consistent with the electronic application.

　　Note: Applicants are requested to fill in the application strictly in accordance with the requirements of this project guide. Applications that do not meet the above requirements will not be accepted. If you have any questions, please call the project contact person.

　　5. Announcement of results

　　In February 2021, the approval results will be announced in the International Cooperation section of the NSFC Portal.

　　6. Project Contacts

　　(1) Chinese contact person: Xu Jin

　　Tel: 010-62325351

　　Email: xujin@nsfc.gov.cn

　　If Chinese applicants encounter technical problems during the process of filling out the application form online, they can contact the technical support of our ISIS system.

　　Tel: 010-62317474

　　(2) British contact information:

　　Email: newton-advanced@acmedsci.ac.uk

　　Appendix:

　　1. British project guide

　　2. Cooperation Agreement Template

　　

National Natural Science Foundation of China

International Cooperation Bureau

September 30, 2020