The Kick-off Meeting for the International Evaluation of NSFC s Funding and Management Performance was jointly held by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) and the Ministry of Finance, P. R. China in Beijing on May 18th, 2010. Prof. Chen Yiyu, NSFC President and Head of the Steering Committee for the International Evaluation of NSFC Funding and Management Performance, delivered a speech under the title of Expedite the Sound and Fast Development of the National Natural Science Fund through Scientific Performance Evaluation and Optimized Management .
Prof. Han Qide, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, President of the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) and Vice Chairman of the Experts Committee for International Evaluation of NSFC Funding and Management Performance, and Mr. Hu Jinglin, Assistant to the Minister of the Ministry of Finance, attended the meeting and delivered speeches, respectively.
Apart from NSFC staff, participants in the meeting also include representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering, CAST, some research institutions and universities, and other organizations of the science community.
The meeting was chaired by NSFC Vice President Sun Jiaguang.
As the third-party assessment agency, the National Center for Science and Technology Evaluation (NCSTE) will undertake the organization and implementation of the International Evaluation which is planned to get into full swing after the kick-off meeting and to be completed in 2011. This is the first time for China to carry out international evaluation on a science funding agency s performance.
As the one to be evaluated, NSFC is quite willing to take the opportunity to look back at its trace in funding and management, so as to better define its strategic role and realize the vision for delivering better service to science community not only nationwide but worldwide as well.
