China lures overseas talent with 15-year grants that only ask scientists to stay in the lab

China's top funder of basic research is backing 44 scientists under 35 for 15 years with no short-term performance reviews, judging them on just one thing: whether they are in the lab.

Dou Xiankang, director of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), announced the first cohort at the New Cornerstone 50² Forum in Shenzhen on Sept. 19, saying nine came from overseas and more than 30 from within China, the South China Morning Post reported.

"We just need you to settle down and stay in the lab," Dou said, adding that the foundation did not mind a lack of short-term success, according to a transcript of the speech published by Chao News.

Support grows over the period, with funding doubling after the first five years and again after the next five, he said.

The scheme is a separate track within the NSFC's Young Scientists Fund Category A, its top-tier youth grant, formerly the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars. It is open to men under 35 and women under 38.

Applicants did not need to be working in China when they applied, only to have signed an agreement with a host institution, under the foundation's 2026 guidelines.

The NSFC has not disclosed the size of the new grants. Standard Category A awards carry 4 million yuan (US$597,000) over five years.

Since late 2023, the program's top grantees have been able to renew twice, with funding doubling each time to as much as 28 million yuan over 15 years, but only after clearing performance reviews, SCMP reported at the time.

Courting talent abroad

Dou, a space physicist who took over the NSFC in April 2023, said skewing funding so heavily toward the young would be a mistake in a period of steady development. But China's scientific acceleration is producing an unusually large pool of outstanding young researchers, he said, and at this stage they must get substantial funding.

Nearly 90% of the principal investigators on NSFC-funded projects are now young researchers, and scientists under 45 hold 75% of its funding, he said, according to the Shanghai Securities News.

The foundation also added 12,046 grants this year to its Category C scheme, the three-year awards that are often a young researcher's first, a 50% increase, Yicai reported on Aug. 26.

Dou told the forum that most Chinese who studied abroad used to stay there, but returns have surged, and departures and returns reached a balance last year, the transcript shows.

The NSFC separately runs the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas), which offers 1 million to 3 million yuan over three years to researchers born in 1986 or later, including foreign nationals, who commit to working full-time in China for at least three years, according to its 2026 guidelines.

Dou called the risk of decoupling from major developed countries a significant uncertainty for Chinese science. He said the NSFC and the Ministry of Education are working to bring students from Western countries to China to earn doctorates in the natural sciences.