Dec. 22, 2020

Source: Department of Science and Technology Research

As of Dec. 17, Jinan University had received 293 grants in 2020 from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), 287 of which were submitted during the centralized acceptance period. The number of projects approved increased by 20 over the same period of the previous year. JNU was granted direct funding of 132.3 million yuan, reaching a record high in both the number of projects approved and funding.

(The growth of JNU's funds from NSFC)

Among project types, 158 are Young Scientists Fund projects, with a funding rate of 22.41%, and 116 are in the General Program, up by 24.73% from 2019. The number of Key Program projects approved also hit a new record high of six, as many as the two previous years combined and ranking second among universities in Guangdong. Other approved projects included one in the Key International (Regional) Joint Research, two in the Excellent Young Scientists Fund, one in the NSAF Joint Fund, one in the Joint Fund of Astronomy and one in the Research Fund for International Young Scientists. 

During the non-centralized acceptance period, a few JNU projects received funds, including one in the major research plan integration program Mechanism of Organ Aging and Organ Degeneration; one in the cultivation program; and one each in the interorganizational programs of the NSFC-FDCT (Mainland-Macau), NSFC-RGC (Mainland-Hong Kong), NSFC-HRC (China-New Zealand) and NSFC-FNRS (China- Belgium).

JNU's top three secondary units in the number of projects approved are the Faculty of Medical Science-Second Clinical Medical College (31 projects), the College of Pharmacy (31 projects), and the Faculty of Medical Science-First Clinical Medical College (30 projects). The top three units in the overall and youth project funding rates are the Faculty of Medical Science-School of Traditional Chinese Medicine (57.14%), the Institute of Photonics Technology (45.83%) and the College of Pharmacy (39.71%). The figures far exceeded the national average funding rate.

In 2020, JNU's number of NSFC-funded projects and approved funds increased by 128.91% and 109.83%, respectively, compared with 2015. Over the last five years, the university has been approved for 54 key major programs: two of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 17 of the Excellent Young Scientists Fund, 16 of the Key Program, four of the Key International (Regional) Joint Research Program, one of the Major Research Plan Integration Program, five of the Major Research Plan Support Program, one of the Special Fund for Research on National Major Research Instrument, and eight other key programs.