The Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality (STCSM) has formally opened purposes for the 2026 Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program, a global funding initiative designed to draw excellent younger scientists from around the globe to collaborate with analysis establishments in Shanghai.
Launched underneath the Global Sci-Tech Partnership Initiative, the programme helps collaborative analysis in high-risk, high-impact primary science and frontier applied sciences. Selected tasks will obtain RMB 400,000 in funding over a two-year implementation interval.
Applications are accepted all through 2026, with submissions closing on 31 December 2026.
About the Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program
The Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program goals to strengthen Shanghai’s worldwide analysis ecosystem by encouraging collaboration between abroad researchers and innovation establishments primarily based in Shanghai.
The initiative allows eligible Shanghai universities, analysis institutes, and innovation organisations to host gifted international scientists who will collectively conduct cutting-edge analysis and contribute to scientific development.
The programme focuses on supporting revolutionary analysis with the potential to generate transformative scientific and technological breakthroughs.
Funding Details
Successful tasks will obtain:
- Grant Amount: RMB 400,000 per venture
- Funding Model: Fixed lump-sum grant
- Project Duration: Two years
Funding follows Shanghai’s lump-sum administration system, permitting analysis groups flexibility in allocating venture assets in keeping with analysis wants.
Applicants ought to notice that:
- More than 80% of the funding should be allotted to direct project-related bills.
- Funding should adjust to Shanghai’s monetary administration laws.
Research Focus Areas
The programme helps collaborative analysis throughout:
- High-risk primary scientific analysis
- Frontier applied sciences
- Natural sciences
- Engineering
- Innovative interdisciplinary analysis
Projects ought to reveal sturdy scientific benefit and contribute to advancing information in rising analysis fields.
Eligibility Requirements
Host Organisation
The host establishment should:
- Be a legally registered organisation or recognised analysis entity in Shanghai.
- Be able to implementing and managing the analysis venture.
- Support venture administration and compliance all through the funding interval.
Host organisations might also appoint programme assistants to assist venture implementation and reporting.
Applicant Requirements
Applicants should meet all of the next necessities:
- Demonstrate sturdy tutorial integrity and adherence to analysis ethics.
- Hold international nationality.
- Possess a PhD in pure sciences or engineering from a world-class college or internationally recognised analysis establishment.
- Be underneath the age of 45 (born on or after 1 January 1981).
- Hold a proper tutorial or analysis appointment at:
- An abroad college
- A analysis establishment
- A company analysis and improvement division
- Not be employed full-time in China.
- Not function the authorized consultant or principal govt of a Chinese enterprise.
These necessities are supposed to draw internationally energetic early- and mid-career researchers to Shanghai.
Residency Requirement
During the two-year venture interval, profitable candidates should spend a minimal of six months conducting analysis in Shanghai.
This should embrace:
- At least one steady keep of three months or longer
This residency requirement helps significant scientific collaboration with the host establishment.
Additional Application Conditions
Applicants also needs to notice the next necessities:
- Only one utility per applicant is permitted.
- Duplicate purposes usually are not accepted.
- Applicants presently main two or extra ongoing STCSM-funded tasks usually are not eligible to use.
- Scientific knowledge generated through the venture should be correctly documented and submitted in keeping with programme necessities.
- Projects constructing on earlier funding from municipal programmes, China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), or the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) should clearly clarify how the proposed work differs from or expands upon earlier analysis.
- Proposals containing confidential info won’t be accepted.
- Applicants requesting the exclusion of particular reviewers should submit an official letter from the host establishment explaining the explanations.
Application Process
Step 1: Identify a Shanghai Host Institution
Prospective candidates ought to first set up contact with an eligible analysis organisation in Shanghai keen to function the host establishment.
The host organisation will help with making ready and submitting the applying.
Step 2: Submit the Online Application
Applications should be submitted electronically via the Shanghai Science and Technology Management Information System.
Paper purposes usually are not required.
Application Timeline
Applications are accepted on a rolling foundation.
For the 2026 funding cycle:
- Opening Date: 28 January 2026 (9:00 AM)
- Closing Date: 31 December 2026 (4:30 PM)
Applications shall be reviewed and authorized in batches all year long.
Evaluation Process
Eligible purposes will bear:
- A single-round skilled panel evaluate
Projects shall be assessed primarily based on scientific high quality, innovation, feasibility, and collaborative worth.
Why Apply?
The Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program supplies a superb alternative for internationally primarily based researchers to collaborate with main establishments in one in every of Asia’s largest scientific and innovation hubs.
Participants will profit from:
- Funding of RMB 400,000
- Two years of collaborative analysis assist
- Access to Shanghai’s world-class analysis setting
- Opportunities to construct long-term worldwide analysis partnerships
- Exposure to cutting-edge scientific amenities and experience
The programme is especially enticing for researchers in search of to determine lasting worldwide collaborations whereas advancing high-impact scientific analysis.
Key Dates
- Programme Opens: 28 January 2026
- Applications Close: 31 December 2026
- Project Duration: Two years
- Funding: RMB 400,000 per venture
Exclusive Insight: Why the Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program Is a Strategic Gateway for Early-Career Global Researchers
At a time when worldwide scientific collaboration is changing into more and more necessary, the Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program presents excess of analysis funding—it supplies a platform for constructing long-term world partnerships in one in every of Asia’s fastest-growing innovation ecosystems.
Unlike many worldwide analysis grants that primarily finance particular person tasks, this initiative is particularly designed to embed abroad researchers inside Shanghai’s main universities, analysis institutes, and innovation centres, fostering significant scientific trade over a two-year interval.
One of the programme’s most distinctive options is its deal with high-risk, high-value analysis. This encourages candidates to pursue formidable scientific concepts that will battle to safe funding via extra conventional grant mechanisms. By prioritising frontier applied sciences and breakthrough primary analysis, the programme positions individuals on the forefront of scientific discovery whereas strengthening collaboration between Chinese and worldwide analysis communities.
The residency requirement—spending not less than six months in Shanghai, together with one steady three-month keep—additionally displays a rising recognition that impactful worldwide analysis depends upon sustained collaboration quite than short-term visits. This immersive method allows researchers to combine into native laboratories, share experience, and set up skilled networks that always prolong effectively past the funded venture.
For early- and mid-career scientists, participation can considerably improve worldwide visibility. Collaborating with establishments in Shanghai, one of many world’s main science and expertise hubs, opens alternatives for joint publications, future grant purposes, expertise switch, and long-term analysis partnerships throughout Asia and past.
As governments more and more put money into science diplomacy, programmes just like the Shanghai Sci-tech Co-research Program reveal how analysis funding can function a bridge between international locations, disciplines, and establishments. For globally minded researchers in search of to develop their scientific affect whereas contributing to cutting-edge innovation, this initiative represents a priceless alternative to develop each groundbreaking analysis and enduring worldwide collaborations.
Disclaimer: Global South Opportunities (GSO) isn’t the organisation providing this chance. For utility procedures and official steerage, please contact the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality or the designated host establishment straight. Please don’t ship purposes or CVs to GSO.