NSFC Young Scientists Fund Class A
Supports Elite NSFC talent award for China's most outstanding young researchers formerly Distinguished Young Scholars top get follow-on.
The Young Scientists Fund Class A (formerly Distinguished Young Scholars / 杰青 / Jieqing) is NSFC's most prestigious individual-investigator talent award, designed to cultivate leading-edge researchers under mid-career age. It carries a 5-year award of CNY 4,000,000 (CNY 2,800,000 for mathematics and management sciences). The 2024 reform added a follow-on mechanism: the top ≤20% of completing Jieqing/Class A projects receive a 5-year renewal grant of CNY 8,000,000. Approval rates are extremely competitive — the reported 2024 rate for this category was 7.1%, the lowest in the program's history, reflecting a surge in applications against a flat award-count budget. Renamed effective 2025-01-01; the Jieqing label is now a legacy name.
Each grant below is a distinct funding opportunity with its own eligibility, scope, and deliverables.