To better summarize the past experience and arrange the application work for the 2020 National Natural Science Foundation Project, the Institute for Advanced Study of Shenzhen University hold a mobilization meeting. The deputy dean of IAS Meng Li, many researchers, and post-doctoral fellows attended the meeting. The meeting was host by Prof. Meng Li, who invited Prof. Ke Pan, Prof. Yongxiang Gao and Prof. Ye Zhou to share their applying experience.
In the beginning, Prof. Li gave a key talk. He first concluded the setup situation of last year’s projects and set the expected goals of the Institute this year. Then, he made an arrangement of the application work in 2020, including the deadlines of some important parts, such as filling in the application form (1.11-2.18), submitting the application form and first review (3.3), submitting the formal application form (3.6), second review (3.7-3.15). Besides, he also shared some self-experience about applying the National Natural Science Foundation and encouraged the teachers and students to apply it without any hesitation.
As the first experience sharer, Prof. Pan summarized the key points of writing the application form of NSFC humorously. He said, when writing the application form, applicants should pay attention to the topic selection, scientific issues, organizational structure, and language logic. The applicants need to know the importance of topic selection and try to do some creative, systematic and solid researches. They also ought to state the scientific issues clearly and clarify the background, research content, research goals, technical route, research methods, research innovation, and research basis specifically. After completing the form, the applicants need to double-check the logic and language of the application materials and avoid some common mistakes.
Then, Prof. Gao shared his experience of successfully applying the general program of NSFC and analyze how the judges will evaluate each project with real cases. He first introduced the application requirement of the general program and concluded three key points: the innovation, scientific significance and research basis of the project. Only the project that is highly innovative has important scientific significance or future prospects, and has a good research basis will be selected. He displayed the expert opinions of the project he applied for, analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of his project, and made everyone have a deeper understanding of the evaluation criteria.
The last experience sharer is Prof. Zhou, who has successfully applied for the youth program and the general program of NSFC. He said that scientific issues are the core. Applicants should first put forward an innovative scientific issue and then organize the logical structure of application materials. The research foundation is also very important in the application. Applicants should demonstrate their outstanding research results in relevant research fields to show their scientific research ability. He suggested that all applicants should contact their peers and teachers, listen to their opinions modestly and revise the application materials repeatedly.
