Guangdong Basic & Applied Basic Research Fund
Funds Guangdong universities and institutes through tiered support from early to large programmes.
The Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund (广东省基础与应用基础研究基金) is Guangdong Province's flagship basic-science research foundation, functioning at the provincial level analogously to China's national NSFC. It is administered by the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund Committee under GDSTC. The fund encompasses multiple sub-program streams: the core Provincial Natural Science Foundation (省自然科学基金) and a family of joint sub-funds co-funded with Guangdong municipalities — Guangdong-Guangzhou (粤穗), Guangdong-Dongguan (粤莞), Guangdong-Huizhou (粤惠), Guangdong-Jiangmen (粤江), and Nansha — plus enterprise joint funds targeting sectors such as biomedicine. The 2026 cycle is the active intake, following the announcement of 2025 cycle results in May 2026.
Historical per-project award ranges by tier are: Youth grants (青年项目) CNY 100,000–300,000; General grants (面上项目) CNY 200,000–1,000,000; Key projects (重点项目) CNY 1,000,000–5,000,000; and Major projects (重大项目) CNY 5,000,000 and above. This is a full-cost grant — no co-funding requirement is imposed on recipients. Projects with total budgets of CNY 1 million or more require a full independent financial audit. Up to 30% of the total budget may be allocated for performance-based personnel compensation, rising to 60% for projects in pure theoretical basic research. Applications are accepted from universities and research institutions registered in Guangdong; individual applicants are not eligible.
Each sub-fund publishes its own annual application guide on the GDSTC portal. Applications are submitted exclusively via the Guangdong Science and Technology Affairs Management Sunshine Platform at pro.gdstc.gd.gov.cn/egrantweb, in Chinese. Sub-fund calls typically open in Q4 of the prior year or Q1 of the cycle year. Researchers should identify the relevant sub-fund for their institution's municipality, retrieve the corresponding 申报指南, and ensure compliance with financial audit thresholds before submission.
Fundamental and applied-basic research across all scientific disciplines for Guangdong institutions, with joint sub-funds co-funded by municipalities and enterprises for targeted priority areas including biomedicine.
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