2026 NSFC-FDCT (Macao) Joint Research Program

2026 NSFC-FDCT (Macao) Joint Research Program
2026年度国家自然科学基金委员会与澳门科学技术发展基金联合科研资助基金项目

December 19, 2025

The Official Announcement in Chinese

Sponsor:

National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)
Science and Technology Development Fund (FDCT)

About:

The 2026 NSFC-FDCT Joint Research Program is now open for application. The program aims to enhance collaboration and communication between researchers between mainland China and Macao SAR.
 

Funding Areas: 

This project funds research projects in the field of natural sciences jointly proposed by scientists and technicians from the Mainland and Macao, with priority given to information science, traditional Chinese medicine research, marine science, environmental science, biological science, new materials science and space science.

Applicants should select the application code of the corresponding discipline based on the project research content, and it is recommended to fill in to the last level.
 

Funding Amount:

This program will fund up to 20 projects and NSFC will provide up to RMB 2 million (direct costs) per project. FDCT will provide equivalent funding to their applicants. 

 

Project Term:

The funding period is three years. The research period in the application should be January 1, 2027 - December 31, 2029.

 

Eligibility and Requirements:

• Applicants from mainland China must hold senior professional titles. The project PI must be leading or have led an NSFC project as the PI with a duration of at least three years.
• Those who are leading an ongoing international/regional collaboration research project cannot apply for this program.
• One employed by a host institution cannot apply for this program using two identities (domestic and overseas).
  • The collaborators of international (regional) cooperative research projects shall not apply for or participate in the application of this project as an applicant before the end of the project funding period.
  • The PI and participants with domestic identities shall not be the overseas collaborators or overseas participants of this project before the end of the project funding period.
• Researchers employed by academic institutions and scientific research institutions in Macao are not allowed to apply for this project through host institutions in the Mainland.
• The applicant and the collaborator(s) from the Macao region should have established a solid collaborative foundation within the past five years, including but not limited to: co-authoring publications, publishing books, applying for patents, jointly undertaking research projects, supervising graduate students, and organizing academic activities.
• One applicant can only apply for one NSFC international/regional joint research project (as a PI) per year.
• This program IS NOT counted as one of the two projects in total applied or led by the same PI.

For more eligibility requirements, please refer to the 2026 NSFC Program Guide.
 

Important Dates: