NWO and Academy launch research program ...( The Netherlands Organisation for Sci...)

The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Netherlands Royal Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) have joined forces with colleagues in China to launch a new research programme: the Joint Scientific Thematic Research Programme (JSTP). It is the first time that NWO and the Academy will work together on developing bilateral cooperation with Chinese ministries and academies.

The NWO and the Academy launched the joint research programme during their recent working visit to China with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and other relevant parties. The JSTP will be implemented in cooperation with the relevant Chinese ministries and academies. The first JSTP call for proposals will be published in early 2009. The programme will concentrate on different themes every year. The Academy and the NWO will announce the theme for the first round at the start of next year.

A delegation representing the Dutch education, cultural and scientific communities and headed by the Dutch Minister of Education, Science and Culture, Mr Ronald Plasterk, paid a working visit to China in the first week of November 2008. Representatives of the Academy and NWO visited their Chinese sister organisations and the ministries responsible for research policy in China. The purpose of the visit was to confirm the cooperation between the two countries and the Netherlands' reputation in China as a knowledge-driven society and an attractive partner in the field of scientific research.

The Academy has for many years run the Dutch Science Ministry's bilateral cooperation programmes with China. Earlier this year it was joined in these efforts by the NWO. The results thus far achieved through cooperation were presented during a seminar focusing on the Strategic Scientific Alliances programme. The seminar also marked the start of the programme's next phase. Mr Plasterk and Mr Cao Jianlin, the Chinese Vice-Minister of Sc
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