National Natural Science Foundation of China

Funds long-term initiatives in science, education, and social impact through public mission-focused grantmaking.

NSFC is China's principal peer-review funder of basic research, established in 1986 under the State Council. It funds individual investigators, research groups, and talent programs at Chinese universities and institutions across nine scientific departments — from mathematics and physics through health sciences and a new cross-disciplinary department added in the 2020s.

NSFC operates as a vice-ministerial body under the Ministry of Science and Technology. Its 2024 budget was approximately CNY 38.6 billion (+6.25% year-on-year), though application volumes grew 26% in the same year, compressing the overall approval rate to 13% (down from 25% a decade prior). In 2023, two centers previously under MOST — the China Agenda 21 Management Center and the High Technology Research and Development Center — were transferred to NSFC, expanding its portfolio.

For international applicants, NSFC offers the Research Fund for International Scientists (RFIS) in three funding tiers (CNY 200K/400K/800K per year), bilateral joint-research programs with partner agencies in the US, Germany, Japan, Korea, France, and others, and from 2026 a new umbrella program called the Science Fund for Global Challenges and Sustainability. All foreign applicants must be hosted by a mainland Chinese institution.