Phase II of the 60 million yuan per year Large Scientific Equipment Research Joint Fund has been launched. Yesterday, Phase II of the Large Scientific Equipment Research Joint Fund (referred to as the Large Equipment Joint Fund), jointly established by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was officially signed in Beijing, making it effective. The agreement will be executed from 2012 to 2014, marking the second agreement signed by both parties regarding the Large Equipment Joint Fund.
In February 2009, both parties first signed an agreement to establish the Large Equipment Joint Fund. The initial joint fund totaled 120 million yuan, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the National Natural Science Foundation each contributing 20 million yuan per year, with the execution period ending in 2011. The joint fund relied on four major facilities: the Beijing Electron Positron Collider and Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility constructed and operated by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Lanzhou Heavy Ion Accelerator and Cooling Storage Ring Facility, the Shanghai Light Source Facility, and the Hefei Synchrotron Radiation Facility.
In Phase II of the Large Equipment Joint Fund, the total amount of the fund will increase to 60 million yuan per year, and the Steady-State Strong Magnetic Field Facility will be added, expanding the scope of the major facilities relied upon. According to the agreement, the joint fund will select scientific issues in frontier material science, information, life sciences, environment, and resources, as well as diagnostic technologies driven by research topics for funding and study.
It is understood that as a leading force in the construction, operation, and management of large scientific facilities in China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has long been actively exploring and practicing operational models and management mechanisms for open sharing of large scientific facilities. Director of the Basic Research Bureau of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Liu Minghua, stated that a significant feature of large scientific facilities is their openness and shared use. Their construction and high-level operation are markers of a country's scientific development level and one of the core competitive advantages of national science and technology.
Leaders of the National Natural Science Foundation emphasized that the establishment of the joint fund aims to guide researchers nationwide to closely integrate their research work with China's large scientific facilities through the form of fund projects, fully leveraging the research support capabilities of these large scientific facilities. On one hand, this is to enhance the research level and innovation ability of scientists and cultivate a team of researchers who conduct work relying on large scientific facilities; on the other hand, it continuously updates and supplements the experimental capabilities of the experimental terminals of large scientific facilities, continuously enhancing their multidisciplinary research support capabilities.
Ji Peiwen, Standing Deputy Director of the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the National Natural Science Foundation, introduced the execution status and scientific research achievements of Phase I of the Large Equipment Joint Fund at the signing ceremony. He revealed that during Phase I, the joint fund accepted project applications nationwide. In the two years from 2009 to 2010, the joint fund supported 15 key projects and 116 general projects.
From the perspective of funding, over the two years, the proportion of projects and funds for key and general projects conducted by research teams within the operating units of the large scientific facilities relied upon was only slightly more than 1/4. This result indicates that users outside the operating units of large scientific facilities are the main body of scientific research.
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