Mobility projects China

The FWO is keen on promoting international collaboration as a driving force for excellence. That is why the FWO signs bilateral agreements with a number of countries for the funding of scientific mobility projects. Within these projects only travel and living expenses can be funded.

One of these bilateral partners is the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The FWO-NSFC agreement aims to stimulate collaboration between China and Flanders in the area of scientific basic research by conducting joint mobility projects.

For the 2026 call project proposals are possible for fundamental basic research within the fields of natural sciences, engineering sciences, management sciences and medical sciences. More precisely:

• Mathematical & physical sciences
• Chemical sciences
• Life sciences
• Earth sciences
• Engineering & material sciences
• Information sciences
• Management sciences
• Health sciences

• The collaboration with partners from China will have an added value for the project.
• New!: In the framework of this call with NSFC, you can only act once as a supervisor-spokesperson or co-supervisor at Flemish (FWO) side.
• As supervisor-spokesperson of the Flemish research team, you hold a PhD. Important: Your first PhD degree can be obtained maximally 12 years before the submission deadline (08/06/2026) of the project, to be counted from the date of obtaining the doctoral degree.
• As supervisor-spokesperson of the Flemish research team you hold, throughout the entire period of your project, an appointment of at least 50% at:
  • a university in the Flemish Community (including the academic programmes within the corresponding association), or to
  • a federal or Flemish scientific institute as scientific staff of the Dutch-speaking community, or to
  • a university hospital in the Flemish Community as scientific staff, or to
  • a hospital with an academic character recognized as research center in the Flemish Community as scientific staff.
• You agree with the Research Integrity Clause.
• At Flemish (FWO) side: Visits can only be performed by predoctoral researchers or postdoctoral researchers (with maximally 12 years of postdoctoral seniority) holding, throughout the entire period of the exchange visit, an appointment of at least 50% at one of the eligible institutions in Flanders as listed above.

• Carefully read the guidelines for applicants (see ‘Documents and additional information for applicants’ below) and verify which restrictions regarding international cooperation in FWO funding instruments are in place.
• You must submit your project proposal before the deadline to both the FWO and NSFC according to the modalities of each institution.
• For FWO you submit your application through the FWO E-portal by using the specific digital application form under ‘International collaboration / Mobility projects’. Please note that each online FWO submission is automatically confirmed by a confirmation email. If you did not receive such an email, please verify whether you properly submitted your application. Please be aware that it is essential to update your FWO E-portal profile each time you submit a new FWO application.
• Specific points of attention FWO application:
  • A CV of each involved Flemish and Chinese (co-)supervisor(-spokesperson) that is structured according to the FWO CV mobility projects template. Please note that only the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson can upload these CVs in the FWO application.
  • Only the Flemish supervisor-spokesperson should register at FWO by creating an online profile including an overview of academic positions and an updated list of publications on the FWO E-portal before the submission deadline. Please note that the registration of your login/password can take up to 24 hours. It is therefore strongly advised to start well in advance.
• The online FWO application form contains a specific tab 'Research Security'. Applicants are required, based on the topic of their research proposal, involved countries and foreign partners, to complete a set of questions regarding unwanted knowledge transfer, misuse of research results and/or interference. If as a result of this, your project proposal needs a research security approval, please contact the dedicated contact persons at your host institution immediately, preferably before the submission of your proposal. On Tuesday 29/04/2025 an online info session was organized specifically on research security within the framework of the Extra-European calls. The presentation can be consulted here.
• FWO and NSFC perform an eligibility check to verify if your application meets all formal criteria of respectively FWO and NSFC.
  • Please be aware! Guidelines on formal requirements in application forms and accompanying documents of application programmes shall be strictly followed. If these are violated, the application may be declared inadmissible.
• In a first phase, the eligible proposals will be evaluated separately at Flemish and at Chinese side. At FWO the evaluation will be done by the CDP (Cross-Domain Panel). Please be aware that this is an international panel composed of members with a broad variety of scientific expertises. Therefore you are kindly advised to write your proposal for a wide scientific audience.
• In a second phase the results of the separate evaluations (see previous step) are being compared and FWO and NSFC take a joint funding decision. Proposals must have been evaluated positively on both the Chinese and Flemish side in order to be fundable.