Award-winning scientists ‘tried to use connections to get government funding’

Two high-profile, award-winning Chinese scientists from top national universities have been exposed for trying to influence decisions on government-funded research.

The scientists were among those named by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) – China’s main source of basic research funding – last Friday in the first batch of misconduct cases connected to funding applications for 2024.

In all, 21 researchers from 15 universities were notified and punished.

Among them, two scientists were accused of “saying hello” to reviewers when applying for research grants. In China’s academic circles, “saying hello” can be considered an attempt by funding applicants to approach and influence reviewers through personal connections, known as

guanxi in Mandarin.

The two researchers are well-established academics who have previously led national research projects.

The NSFC said Ji Jie, a professor and doctoral supervisor at Beijing University of Civil Engineering and Architecture, contacted potential funding reviewers in 2022 and 2023 through phone calls and text messages.

According to the university’s website, Ji is the dean of the school of civil and transport engineering. In the past 10 years, she has undertaken more than 60 national, provincial and ministerial-level research projects and published more than 100 papers.

Ji has received many honours, including the second prize in the State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards. She had also previously been granted special government subsidies from the State Council, and was named one of Beijing’s “Most Beautiful Science and Technology Workers” in 2021 in recognition of her value as a role model.

The other high-profile researcher is Yang Lijun, a professor at the school of energy power and mechanical engineering at North China Electric Power University (NCEPU) in Hebei province, China’s top school in the field of power systems.

Yang, who researches solar power photocatalysis, pollution control and greenhouse gas emissions, previously won second prize in the State Scientific and Technological Progress Awards.

The NSFC said Yan “had a yearlong and repeated practice of soliciting favours from a number of potential reviewers”.

Both scientists have been banned from applying for NSFC-funded projects for three years, and Ji has also been barred for five years from acting as a reviewer for the foundation’s projects.

“This is not an exceptional case; it is all too common,” said one scientist at NCEPU, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

In China, early-career researchers are under the greatest pressure to secure funding to establish a reputation.

But the NCEPU scientist said competition for research funding was so fierce that even mid-career or senior professors were desperate for financial support.

Competition for funding from the foundation has also grown. From 2011 to 2016, about 24 per cent of applicants received financial support but by 2021, that rate had dropped to 16.5 per cent.

Academics like Yang also faced the problem of resources being “monopolised” by a few in the scientific community, the scientist said.

Those at the top, such as academicians and well-known principal investigators, routinely enjoyed most of the funding while the rest battled for whatever was left, he said.

Neither Ji nor Yang replied to a request for comment from the Post.

This is not an exceptional case; it is all too common NCEPU SCIENTIST