中国科学报,国家自然科学基金 z-bio 2025-02-05 882

　　Chinese Science Journal reporter Gan Xiao and intern Li Jiayin

　　The first revised National Natural Science Foundation of China Regulations (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") will officially come into effect on January 1, 2025. To encourage original basic research, Article 17 of the Regulations clearly states that fund management institutions may formulate specialized application and evaluation regulations for major originality, interdisciplinary innovation and other projects.

　　How to evaluate this authorization regulation for fund management institutions? What positive impact does the increased flexibility of the project selection mechanism have on the research work of researchers? What impact does it have on enhancing China's original innovation capability in basic research? Recently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) organized experts to interpret this.

　　Establish differentiated and unconventional funding mechanisms

　　Innovation is the soul of a country's technological progress. Due to its own laws, the field of basic research often presents groundbreaking, challenging, and non mainstream original research. However, such research is often difficult to obtain funding through routine review mechanisms due to its exploratory, disruptive, and high-risk characteristics.

　　Hu Ming, a professor at the Law School of South China University of Technology, believes that following the characteristics of original research and the need to encourage innovation at the source, the Regulation proposes to establish differentiated and unconventional funding mechanisms for original research projects, avoiding competition with conventional innovation projects, ensuring the substantive fairness of scientific research funding, and reflecting the funding orientation of the New Era Science Fund to encourage exploration and highlight originality.

　　The new regulations are of great significance in encouraging researchers to boldly imagine, surpass limitations, challenge the unknown, and carry out disruptive innovation to achieve revolutionary breakthroughs. They help cultivate or produce leading original achievements from scratch, "Hu Ming emphasized.

　　At the same time, the newly revised Regulations specifically authorize the establishment of a mechanism to encourage original research funding, providing strong impetus and solid guarantees for exploring and improving unified and flexible institutional rules to support original innovation in basic research.

　　Professor Zhang Qiang from the Department of Earth System Science at Tsinghua University realized that under the existing evaluation mechanism, major original and cross disciplinary projects do not have an advantage in obtaining funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. The newly revised Regulations will facilitate the exploration of effective funding models for original innovation research in practice, ensuring that original innovation project applications can stand out in fierce competition

　　Green light for 'non consensus projects'

　　In the opinion of Lv Wei, a researcher at the Development Research Center of the State Council, due to various reasons such as evaluation mechanisms and risk averse expert selection mechanisms, there are not enough original projects funded by the Natural Science Foundation of China. This revision of the Regulations has given the green light to explore the selection mechanism for non consensus original innovation projects

　　The newly revised Regulations clearly stipulate that fund management institutions may formulate specialized application and evaluation regulations for major originality, interdisciplinary innovation and other projects. Experts suggest exploring various forms in future practice, such as deepening the reform of the scientific and technological evaluation system proposed at the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, and establishing a screening mechanism for "non consensus projects" recommended by experts with real names.

　　In the research, experts have reflected to us that original research is usually not designed from the beginning. Therefore, it is suggested that in the evaluation of such projects, scientists can be given greater autonomy in choosing research directions and technical routes, and a phased evaluation and rolling support approach can be adopted to gradually promote and cultivate original scientific research, "said Lv Wei.

　　It is understood that for many years, the National Natural Science Foundation of China has been focusing on supporting original research. As early as the late 1990s, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) had been concerned at the policy level about the inherent contradictions and conflicts between peer review based on single disciplines and seeking expert consensus, as well as the non consensus nature of interdisciplinary and original research. Therefore, it encouraged science departments to explore funding mechanisms for interdisciplinary and non consensus original research.

　　The Regulations of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, promulgated in 2007, clearly stipulate that the conference review expert signature recommendation system can be implemented for projects with non consensus communication review results, which establishes the recognition and importance of non consensus innovation projects from an institutional perspective.

　　The relevant person in charge of the National Natural Science Foundation of China stated that due to the generally low comprehensive evaluation of non consensus projects in communication reviews, experts mainly focus on discussing innovative research projects that have reached consensus through communication reviews in conference reviews with extremely limited time. It is difficult to have the time and energy to carefully and comprehensively evaluate the originality of non consensus projects. Therefore, very few non consensus projects are ultimately funded through expert recommendations.

　　The 'Original Exploration Plan' received praise

　　In fact, how to select and support major original innovation research and interdisciplinary research is a common challenge for research funding institutions around the world.

　　In response, the National Natural Science Foundation of China established the Original Exploration Program (hereinafter referred to as the "Original Project") in 2020, which adopts two application modes: "top-down" guidance and "bottom-up" expert recommendation. During the evaluation process, new evaluation mechanisms such as pre application and double-blind evaluation were introduced to select and fund a group of projects with original ideas, which received widespread praise from applicants and evaluation experts.

　　Yang Lingchun, Deputy Minister of the Department of Scientific Research at Peking University, hopes that in accordance with Article 17 of the Regulations, the National Natural Science Foundation of China can formulate specialized application and evaluation methods based on specific circumstances, and provide more support for research with significant innovation potential. This arrangement increases the flexibility of the project selection mechanism, allowing researchers to explore unknown fields more freely, thereby enhancing the original innovation capability of China's basic research

　　The relevant person in charge of the National Natural Science Foundation of China stated that under the authorization of the new regulations, the Natural Science Foundation of China will also draw on international experience and continue to explore more flexible and diverse mechanisms based on China's scientific development needs, encouraging and supporting non consensus original research and interdisciplinary innovative research that nurtures significant original research.

　　Inspire the innovation drive of young talents

　　In the opinion of experts, establishing a funding mechanism that encourages originality is expected to better stimulate the original vitality and motivation of young researchers.

　　Hu Ming stated that young researchers, due to their young age, shallow qualifications, and limited titles, often find it difficult to take seriously original ideas that question the status quo, violate conventions, and challenge authority. The new regulations establish a separate mechanism to encourage original research funding, clearing institutional constraints and obstacles to encourage young researchers to conduct original, cutting-edge, and interdisciplinary research

　　Yang Lingchun saw that original projects have a good guiding and motivating effect on young talents who are in the early stages of their scientific research career and do not yet have rich research qualifications, but have active original ideas.

　　Taking Peking University as an example, among the approved original project leaders, the age group of 36-45 has the highest total number of project leaders, accounting for 53.3% of the total approved funding. This fully reflects the original intention of encouraging researchers to boldly imagine and concentrate on research in original projects.

　　In addition, Article 2 of the Regulation emphasizes that the Science Foundation supports talent cultivation and team building, and Article 8 specifies the establishment of a special fund to support young talents.

　　In this regard, Zhang Qiang stated that the revision of the Regulations clarifies that the Natural Science Foundation of China should establish a special fund for cultivating young scientific and technological talents. While clarifying past successful practices in the form of regulations, it also demonstrates to young scholars the determination of the Natural Science Foundation of China to firmly support outstanding young talents.