The "Science Exploration Award" application is launched! This area will be added this year

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Cao Xiuying

The application for the fourth "Science Exploration Award" was recently launched. Starting from 2022, the "Science Exploration Award" will add a field of medical science, encourage medical research to face people's life and health, and solve basic problems in the field of medical science.

So far, the "Science Exploration Award" has set up a total of 10 fields, including mathematical physics, new chemical materials, astronomy and geoscience, life sciences, medical sciences, information electronics, energy environment, advanced manufacturing, transportation and architecture, frontier intersection, etc., and the number of awards for 50 people each year remains unchanged.

The image is taken from the official website of the Science Exploration Prize

The "Science Exploration Award" is a public welfare award funded by the Tencent Foundation and led by scientists, and the starting point of the award is to encourage young scientists to explore the "no man's land" of basic science and cutting-edge technologies without distraction, and to explore the long-term mechanism of social support for basic research. The award has currently funded 150 outstanding young scientists.

It is understood that the application period for this year's "Science Exploration Award" is from January 1 to April 15, 2022.

After the submission is completed, the judging committee will conduct an independent review and the winners are expected to be announced in September 2022.

Help the deep integration of basic medicine and clinical medicine

Support the nurturing and growth of "physician scientists"

According to the executive committee of the "Science Exploration Award", since the establishment of the "Science Exploration Award", there have been judges and senior scientists calling for the award to add a field of medical science. The ravages of the new crown epidemic have made everyone realize that every progress of human beings in fighting disease is inseparable from breakthroughs and innovations in medical research. "Based on extensive research and the approval of the Oversight Committee, we have made the decision to add a field of medical science to the Science Exploration Award from 2022."

The new "Medical Sciences" field of the Science Exploration Award will include basic medicine, clinical medicine, pharmacy, public health and biomedical engineering, focusing on supporting the following research directions:

Encourage young scholars to carry out exploratory research on the nature and law of diseases, and support the combination of basic medicine and clinical medicine;

Encourage "physician scientists" to carry out innovative research and develop new technologies and methods for clinical diagnosis and treatment;

Encourage the solution of basic scientific problems in pharmaceutical research and development and biomedical engineering.

Cultivating medical leaders who truly have research capabilities and can solve urgent clinical needs is a common call of the medical community. As of July 2021, China has established 50 national clinical medical research centers. In September 2020, the State Council issued the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the Innovative Development of Medical Education, which specifically proposed to "carry out a pilot reform of the training of physicians and scientists".

"Traditional Chinese medicine has always been ahead of the world, but its contribution to the development of modern medicine is lackluster, which is not commensurate with the status of Yangyang as a big country." We should encourage our young generation of medical workers to continuously improve their original innovation ability, have the courage to climb the peak of medical scientific research, and strive to transform the research results into clinical practice, so that more outstanding 'physician scientists' can stand out. Han Qide, honorary chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said.

Future-oriented, rewarding potential and encouraging exploration

Past winners have achieved remarkable results

From the "Nine Chapters" quantum computer prototype to the new generation of single-molecule chips, from the human lung gas magnetic resonance imaging instrument to the research and development of Huntington's disease treatment drugs, from the mysteries of The evolution of East Asians to the deciphering of aging... At the "13th Five-Year Plan" Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievement Exhibition held in late October 2021, the research of a number of "Scientific Exploration Award" winners was unveiled as a major achievement of China in the fields of basic frontier, strategic high technology and people's livelihood science and technology.

In November 2021, the results of the 2021 co-election of academicians of the two academies were announced. Professor Song Baoliang of Wuhan University, Professor Park Shilong of Peking University, and two winners of the "Science Exploration Award" became the youngest two new academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in this co-election.

The winners of the "Science Exploration Award" represent the scientific research strength of young Chinese scientists. Xie Kechang, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and initiator of the "Scientific Exploration Award", said: "From the perspective of the work of the winners, while paying attention to science and exploration, they can closely combine the strategic needs of the country, serve economic and social development, have the courage to explore, and achieve fruitful results. ”

The winners of the Science Exploration Award represent the great potential of basic research in China. Pan Jianwei, executive vice president of the University of Science and Technology of China, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and initiator of the "Scientific Exploration Award", said frankly: "What makes me most proud is that looking at the talent pool of China's basic research, there is still a lot of room for the selection of awards in the next few years, and the selection of winners will be a very painful process." ”

The winners of the "Science Exploration Award" also prove that the purpose of the award "facing the future, rewarding potential, and encouraging exploration" has been implemented. In the research progress reports submitted by previous winners, "more confidence in conducting exploratory research", "more exploratory research" and "more time for scientific research" became the most concentrated options for the winners when talking about the impact of receiving funding.

The executive committee of the "Science Exploration Award" said that the "Science Exploration Award" will continue to fund young scientific and technological talents and support them to pick the beam and become the protagonist. In the 2022 "Science Exploration Award" judging, the "nova mechanism" will still be retained: under the same conditions, the young will win; there will be 5 awards in each of the 10 fields, of which 1 will be tilted to the applicants aged 35 and under the same conditions. So far, the "Science Exploration Award" has produced a total of 22 winners aged 35 and under, which fully reflects the original intention of the award to support young scientific and technological talents.

Source: Science and Technology Daily

Editor: Liu Yiyang

Review: Yue Liang

Final Judge: Liu Haiying