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.     

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 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.     

The MOU between NSFC and TRF Signed in Chengdu

On September 15, 2008, Prof. Shen Wenqing, Vice President of NSFC, met with Dr. Piyawat Boon long, Director General of Thailand Research Fund （TRF） in Chengdu, and attended the ceremony of MOU exchanging. This means that the formal cooperative relationship between NSFC and TRF has been established and from now on, both sides will jointly support the cooperation between scientists from the two countries in the fields of natural science.     

Prof. Zhu Daoben pays a working visit to Belgium and Poland

NSFC delegation, headed by Prof. Zhu Daoben, Vice President, paid a visit to Belgium and Poland from May 11 to 19. In Belgium, Prof. Zhu and his delegation held a meeting with Prof. Dr. Maurice Pensaert, Secretary General,and Dr. Benno Hinnekint, Director, Flanders Foundation for Scientific Research (FWO). During the talk, both sides exchanged the information about the latest development of the two organizations and their international activities,     

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.     

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,     

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.     

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.     

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.     

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,     

Vice President Shen Yan Meets with CSIR Director General

On November 11,2008, Professor Shen Yan, Vice President of NSFC met with a CSIR delegation headed by its Director General, Professor S K Brahmachari, who came to China to participate in ＂Academic, Research institution ＆ National Innovation systems symposium＂. They discussed issues of cooperation between two organizations.     

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.     

TRF Delegation Visited NSFC

A delegation from Thailand Research Foundation （TRF） led by Dr. Suthawan Sathirathai, chief scientist of Global Climate Changes of TRF, visited NSFC on November13,2008. The delegation consisted of 8 members from TRF, universities and institutes of Thailand.     

Vice President He Minghong Met with NSF Inspector General

NSFC Vice President, Prof. He Minghong met with Dr. Tina Boesz, Inspector General of the US National Science Foundation on 29 October, 2008. In-depth discussions were carried out on new progresses in both organizations on financial auditing and countermeasures on scientific misconducts.     

NSFC President Attended the 6th Meeting of Heads of Research Councils in Asia

On November 6, 2008, the 6th Meeting of Heads of Research Councils in Asia was held in Jeju, Korea. NSFC President Prof. Chen Yiyu headed a 4-member delegation to attend the meeting. His counterparts, Mr. Hyung Chul Moon, Acting Chairman and CEO of Korea Science and Engineering Foundation （KOSEF） and Prof. Motoyuki Ono, President of Japan Society for Promotion of Science （JSPS） also headed their delegations at their presence. In the meeting, three organizations presented their own latest sci ence and technology policies and had an active discussion on topics of mutual interests.     

NSFC Presidents met with Nobel Laureate Prof. Yang Zhenning

February 23, 2004, Prof Chen Yiyu President of NSFC, Prof. Zhu Zuoyan Vice President of NSFC and Prof. Shi Changxu, Member ofCAS, met with Prof. Yang Zhenning, American Chinese Nobel Prize Laureate.     

Further Implement the Scientific Outlook for Development and Open up a New Prospect for Science Funding

The first plenary session of the Sixth NSFC General Assembly was held in Beijing on May 27, 2008. State Councilor Liu Yandong attended the meeting, gave her greetings and paid tribute to those scientists and technologists who contributed to the quake relief endeavor. She emphasized that NSFC should, guided by the scientific outlook for development, precisely grasp its strategic position in the national innovation system, consistently develop and improve the science funding system and strive to open up a new prospect for science funding.     

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,     

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.