China ‘more tolerant of failure’ with new 15-year research grants

A 15-year research grant that doubles in value every five years, without the hassle of short-term reviews – if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is.

China’s main state funding agency for research has launched its latest scheme to attract upcoming young scholars from around the world, but experts warn it comes with caveats.  

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) has initially backed 44 young researchers under the age of 35 with the 15-year research grants.

The NSFC has not disclosed how much funding will be available until 2041 but, according to the head of the foundation, Xiankang Dou, the only KPI for researchers will be “whether they are in the laboratory”.

Since Dou joined the NSFC in 2023, the director has shaken up China’s top funding agency by favouring young scientists, including his reforms of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (DYS). Dou extended the age limit of female scientists applying to DYS to 48 years old and he also expanded the funding period for some recipients beyond the five-year cycle.

Kerry Brown, professor of Chinese studies and director of the Lau China Institute at King’s College London, told Times Higher Education that initiatives like the 15-year grant are “symptomatic of China” continuing “to ramp up its general support for becoming more technologically and academically competitive”. 

According to Brown, such a grant that does not stipulate short-term performance reviews or evaluation milestones is evidence that “the Chinese educational system is now dealing with what has been one of its greatest issues: intolerance of failure and mistakes”.

“China has tended to be very impatient with setbacks and failures, and certainly hasn’t had a ‘failure is the mother of success’ ethos. But now there is at least some space for people to really try out new things, and perhaps see them flop initially, but with the security of knowing they can do this without immediate consequences.”

Sebastian Sunday Grève, associate professor in the department of philosophy at Peking University, argued the new funding scheme was an example of how “Chinese leadership are once again playing for the long term”.

He described the scheme as a “logical next step” building on national efforts to internationalise the sector as well as recruit prominent researchers to China.

So far in 2026, more than a dozen high-profile Chinese scientists have left prestigious roles in the US to pursue top jobs in China.

“The major target group of this new funding scheme seems to be Chinese who have studied overseas,” Sunday Grève continued.

“Arguably, focusing on Chinese researchers returning from overseas is the right way to go in the internationalisation of science and education in China.”

However, only nine of this year’s selected 44 scientists were based overseas, which might suggest that not all researchers want to stay in China long-term, and that they may be put off by unfamiliar research conditions there.

According to one Chinese scholar based in the UK, who preferred to remain anonymous, while the offer of 15 years of financial security “will undoubtedly encourage expatriate talent to return”, researchers could also face “very strict physical residency mandates and rigid data-governance laws” in China.

“Limited cross-border communication may stifle the open exchange needed for true innovation.”

Hamish Coates, formerly a tenured professor at Tsinghua University’s Institute of Education and now executive dean of Australia’s Holmes Institute, said that “moving brains across borders” is “trickier than it appears”, especially when it involves moving to less traditional global cities.

Coates said that talent attraction strategies were “easy for governments to formulate”, while engagement and long-term retention was much “harder” to foster. 

rosalind.skillen@timeshighereducation.com