context: The government overhaul placed NSFC under MoST, which is tasked with aligning research with national priorities. This contrasts with an emphasis on basic research, and points to unresolved issues with sci-tech funding reform launched in 2014.
The state should reconsider its move to put the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) under Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST), says Hao Yue 郝跃 CPPCC member, CAS academician and Xidian University vice dean. Whereas MoST's mission is to develop high tech and ensure industrialisation, NSFC supports basic research, such as mathematics, physics, computer sciences, says Hao, noting its funds for young scientists, talent and regions are indispensable. Moreover, NSFC as a marketised fund has its own principles on grant distribution and merit review.
CPPCC member and CAS academician Liu Zhongfan 刘忠范 agrees basic research may suffer, advocating institutional reform. China is building a system of national labs after the US example, but its research institutes are set up after the Soviet model; six new national research centres and a number of centres set up under NSFC add further confusion over positioning. Liu recommends
- MoE to supervise state key labs (SKL) on basic research, which relies on talent, and nurturing talent is MoE's responsibility
- MoST to supervise SKLs on applied research and enterpreneurial R&D centres; it should not only evaluate applications on the basis of research papers, as it does now, but also take projects' potential use value into account; its research institutes should encourage interaction with enterprises
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) to transform their hundred-something research institutes into national research centres; currently CAS functions like a university; it publishes papers, has set up a university, and will eventually build paths to funnel in students starting from grammar school