Vice President Wang Jie Met with Vice President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

Prof. Wang Jie, NSFC Vice President, met with Prof. Tariq Durrani, Vice President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, on May 21, 2008. They held talks on issues concerning bilateral workshops and joint projects to be funded in 2009, and agreed upon the areas to launch the joint call for proposals, as well as deadlines for proposal submission and approval. Prof. Zhang Wei, Deputy Director General of the Department of Management Science, and other NSFC staff attended the meeting.     

Vice President Shen Wenqing Met with IFREMER Delegation

Prof. Shen Wenqing, Vice President of NSFC, met with President of French Research Institute for Exploitation of the Sea （IFREMER） on November 18, 2008. Prof. Han Jianguo, Director General of International Cooperation Bureau and Prof. Chai Yucheng, Deputy Director of the Earth Science Department also attended the meeting.     

Prof. Chen Yiyu meets with the Max Planck Society Delegation

On April 7, Prof. Chen Yiyu, President of NSFC, met with Mr. Philippe Busquin, the Research Commissioner of the European Commission. Prof. Zhu Zuoyan, Vice Presi-dent of NSFC, first gave a brief introduction about NSFC and its cooperation and exchange with European countries.Both sides then exchanged their views on the support of ba-sic research, project evaluation,     

NSFC President Chen Yiyu Met with RFBR President

NSFC President Prof. Chen Yiyu met with President of Russian Foundation for Basic Research （RF- BR）, Prof. Vladislav Ya. Panchinko and Prof. Vladimir Kovalev, Director of Department of International Relations of RFBR on November 22, 2008. Both leaders briefed the latest developments of respective organization and discussed the issues of science fund management, strategies and priorities of disciplines, etc. , and expressed satisfactory regarding the friendly and fruitful cooperative relations that have been established between NSFC and RFBR since long. Consensus was reached to further explore possibilities to foster collaborations between young scientists by holding joint workshops on specific topics with common interest.     

Vice President Shen Wenqing Met with ANR President

On November 19, 2008, Prof. Shen Wenqing, NSFC Vice President, met with Dr. Jacques Stern, the visiting President of the French National Research Agency （ANR）. The Attendees from NSFC were Mr. Zhang Zhaotian, Deputy Director-general, and Mr. Liu Ke, Director of Division from the Department of Information Sciences, and Mr. Lu Rongkai, Director of Division of the Bureau of International. The meeting was followed by a lunch at NSFC.     

A successful visit to the United Kingdom

At the invita-tion of the Royal Society, the NSFC life science dele-gation headed by Prof. Zhu Zuoyan,Vice President of NSFC, paid a suc-cessful visit to the United Kingdom from Sept. 28 toOct. 8, 2004.     

Prof. Chen Yiyu Visited France and Germany

Prof. Chen Yiyu, President of NSFC, paid a successful visit to France and Germany from July 12 to 23, 2004.     

NSFC Life Science Delegation Visits France Successfully

At the invitation of INRA (Institut National de la Recheche Agronomique) and CNRS (Le Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), the NSFC life science delegation headed by Prof. Zhu Zuoyan, Vice President of NSFC, paid a visit to France from Nov. 18 to 29, 2003.     

Vice President Shen Wenqing Met with NSERC President

On 13 October, 2008. NSFC Vice President Prof. Shen Wenqing met with a Canadian delegation, which consists of Dr. Suzanna Fortier, President of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council （NSERC）, Dr. Martin Godbout, President of Genome Canada, Dr. Paul Hebert, Professor of University of Guelph and Dr. Christian Burks, President and CEO of Ontario Genomics Institute. Both sides exchanged the latest progress on new developments of each organization.     

NSFC Delegation Visits the U.S.

The Science Fund Performance Evaluation Delegation, headed by Prof. Sun Jiaguang, Vice President of NSFC, visited the U. S. A. from July 6 to 11, 9008. During the visit, the delegation met with the administrative sections of the National Science Foundation （NSF）, National Institutes of Health （NIH） and the White House Office of Management and Budget （OMB）, and obtained more comprehensive under-standing of the concepts, procedures, structures and relevant working systems of performance evaluation at NSF and NIH through face-to-face consultation and discussion. The delegation was composed of NSFC staff from the Bureau of Planning, Bureau of Finance, Bureau of Policy, Bureau of International Cooperation, General Office and a representative from the Chinese Ministry of Finance.     

Joint Sino-US Symposium on Ecological Complexity and Ecosystem Services Held in Beijing

May24-25, 2004, Joint Sino-US Symposium on Eco-logical Complexity and Ecosys-tem Services was held in Bei-jing. The symposium was co-sponsored by NSFC, CAS and NSF, and was organized by InstituteofZoology, CAS and Arizona State University. Prof.Zhu Zuoyan, Vice President of NSFC, attended the opening ceremony and made an impor-tant speech.     

Vice President Shen Wenqing Met with US Science Dean Delegation

NSFC Vice President Prof. Shen Wenqing met with an US science dean delegation on 21 October, 2008. Prof. Shen briefed the delegation on NSFC＇s profile of international cooperation with the United States, followed by discussions on how to better develop China-US collaboration in science and technology and how to encourage US students to do research in China. Dr. Alex DeAngelis, the new Director of NSF Beijing Office, joined the delegation. NSFC staff from the Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Bureau of International Cooperation attended the meeting.     

Vice President Sun Jiaguang Visited Japan and Germany on International Evaluation

From May 13 to 22, 2008, NSFC Vice President Prof. Sun Jiaguang led a 6-member delegation on international evaluation to Japanese Society for Science Promotion （JSPS） and German Research Foundation （DFG）. They conducted wide range and in-depth discussions with leaders and relevant staff in the two organizations on the background, organization, preparation, process and impact of international evaluation on science funding agencies. The delegation was warmly received by JSPS Executive Director Prof. Izawa, DFG Vice President Prof. Ferdi Schueth and Secretary General Dr. Dorothee Dzwonnek. During their visit in Japan, they also paid a visit to Tokyo University of Technology and held talks with its Vice President and visited the super computer center of the university. Other members of the delegation came from the Bureaus of Planning, Policy, Finance and International Cooperation.     

Evaluation of Projects for Basic Research of Scientific Instruments in 2008 Completed

In 2008, NSFC received 139 proposals for the special fund of Basic of Scientific Instruments, out of which 35 were selected into the second round competition through peer review by correspondence. The panel meeting was held in Beijing from June 26 to 27, 2008 with the attendance of 27 experts from 21 institutions. NSFC Vice President, Prof. Sun Jiaguang attended the meeting and delivered a speech.     

Prof. Chen Yiyu met with Prof. Colin Blakemore from MRC

On August 10, 2004, Prof. Chen Yiyu, President ofNSFC, met with Prof. Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council (MRC), UK. On behalfofNSFC, Prof. Chen expressed a warm welcome to Prof.Blakemore. Prof. Han Jianguo, Director General of the Bureau of International Cooperation, gave a brief introduc-tion about NSFC and its international cooperation. And then both sides exchanged the views about the talent training,     

Professor Wang Jie Met with NSF Assistant Director

Prof. Wang Jie, NSFC Vice President, cordially met with Dr. David Lightfoot, Assistant Director of USA National Science Foundation （NSF） responsible for the Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, on April 21, 2008.     

President Chen Yiyu Visits Taiwan Province

At the invitation of the K. T. Li Foundation for the Development of Science and Technology, a NSFC delegation of 6 members led by its President, Prof. Chen Yiyu, visited Taiwan, China from June 12 to 18, 2008.     

Prof. Zhu Zuoyan meets with Ms. Flach

On June 25, Prof. Zhu Zuoyan, Vice President of NSFC, met with a German delegation led by Ms. Flach, Chair-man of the Commission of Education, Science and Technology, the German Federal Parliament. The meeting started with a brief introduction of the NSFC, especially its cooperation with Germany from the Chinese side, and was fol-lowed by a heated discussion on issues concerning peer review, budget and distribution,     

6.4 Billion Yuan for NSFC Projects in 2008

NSFC President Prof. Chen Yiyu announced at NSFC＇s Sixth Plenary Session of the General Assembly that a budget of 53.59 billon yuan, which is an increased of 25% to that of last year, was approved by the government for the fiscal year 2008. In practice, NSFC, based on the demand of national budgeting reform and the development of basic research, will arrange a funding plan of 6.4 billion yuan.     

Prof. Sun Jiaguang attended the 11^th Sino-US Joint Commission Meeting on Scientific and Technological Cooperation

Oct. 10-18, 2004, NSFC delegation headed by Prof. Sun Jiaguang, Vice President of NSFC visited the United States of America. They attended the 11 th Sino-US Joint Commission Meeting on Scientific and Technological Coop-eration, and visited NSF, University of Washington, the Boeing Company and Microsoft. The participants of the meet-ing included high-ranking officials from the U.S. and Chinese overnments. Dr. John Marburger,