Helmholtz - OCPC Program
for the involvement of postdocs in bilateral collaboration projects with China
15 February 2023
Funded jointly together with the Office of the China Postdoctoral Council (OCPC) of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MoHRSS)
Call for Applications of 08 February 2023
A. Background of the Project
China is continuously promoting its research potential, in particular by considerably increasing its research and development (R&D) expenditure and, in parallel, by training R&D staff. In many fields, Chinese scientists and research institutions have caught up with the level of western industrialized countries or will do so in the near future.
It is therefore of fundamental importance that the Helmholtz Association and its centres should expand or establish sustainable collaborations, in particular with China. Our aim is to accompany China as an important cooperation partner in the scientific sector along the road described above towards a knowledge-based and innovation-driven society so that we can jointly work on the grand challenges facing society and create a win-win situation for both parties.
The Helmholtz program with the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security serves to consolidate projects between Helmholtz centres and Chinese cooperation partners from universities and research institutes. It is jointly administered with the OCPC, a governmental agency under the responsibility of the MoHRSS, and as a pilot project, it is initially scheduled for five years.
B. Funding Model
The program enables the Helmholtz centres to integrate up to 35 postdocs in projects they are implementing or intend to establish with partner institutions in China. The young scientists will receive funding and will be able to undertake research work at a Helmholtz centre (here: FZJ) for up to two years in order to promote sustainable collaboration with the Chinese partners. After their research stay in Jülich, it is envisaged that the scientists will return to their home institutes and will continue to contribute their research competence to cooperation with their former hosts.
The funding is composed as follows:
- The successful postdoctoral fellow shall be awarded a research grant of RMB 300,000[1] for two years, equivalent to approx. € 1.718,22 per month[2] to be used for subsistence allowance, for health insurance, and for travel expenses during the stay at FZJ.
- A FZJ fellowship of € 1500 per month from decentralised budgets of FZJ (e.g. an institute’s budget). Funding must be secure. The fellowships include insurance contributions and travel expenses while staying at FZJ.
During their stay at FZJ, the fellowship holders remain affiliated to their postdoc station in China with respect to employment law. The postdoc station also administers the fellowship funded from the OCPC budget and pays it to the participants. Except for safety instructions, FZJ shall not have the authority to issue directives. This mixed funding provides the Chinese researchers with excellent financing, equivalent to the research fellowships for postdocs granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.
As customary in the case of scholarships, the work results developed by the scholarship holder shall belong to this scholarship holder.
C. Target Group
The opportunity to become involved in a FZJ collaboration project primarily targets talented Chinese candidates from a postdoc research station registered with OCPC[3]. Young scientists under the age of 35 with a Chinese passport, who have taken their degree or will take their PhD degree before the final decision in September 2023 in China or abroad or even abroad at the time of application, are also eligible to apply as long as they can find a postdoc research station to accept their application and to recommend them to OCPC.
D. Funding Period
The agreed OCPC-FZJ funding period normally is two years. After completing their research stay in Jülich, the candidates shall return to China to close their OCPC program and then be free to go anywhere, ideally they will continue to be involved in the long-term collaboration project between their home organisation and FZJ[4].
FZJ institutes are entitled to withdraw their offer of a stay in Jülich to a visiting scientist within six months after he or she has taken up their project work if it should subsequently become apparent that the candidate is not qualified for the project.
E. Application Procedure
The procedure comprises three steps:
- FZJ institutes that are interested should contact FZJ – Corporate Development Department by 06 March 2023 with a project proposal (contact person: Gabriele Weiland, phone: 3388, email: g.weiland@fz-juelich.de. Proposals to OCPC must be checked in advance for compliance with AW law (Formular Management System Unit R, Checklist for Scholarship Holders). The responsible VS member receives the proposals including the result of the legal review for information. Responsible colleagues will check whether the formal application requirements have been fulfilled and will forward the formally correct project proposals for OCPC to the Helmholtz Beijing Office by 08 March 2023.
- The HGF Office in Beijing will compile all the files from all the participating Helmholtz Centres and communicate them to OCPC to make sure that OCPC will officially announce the public call on its website before 15 March 2023, with a defined deadline for the application by 10 May 2023[5]. Interested candidates will inform the Chinese post-doc research station about their interest and submit their necessary documents to the OCPC by the published deadline. Candidates who submit their applications directly to the OCPC and not through a postdoc station will not be considered by OCPC.
- Each postdoc station, in its own responsibility, will evaluate the candidates based on its own formal evaluation criteria. OCPC will only cross-check the application and recommendation materials to make sure there are not frauds. Theoretically, all the received materials will be forwarded to the HGF Beijing Office not later than 1 June 2023 and then transferred immediately to the relevant FZJ institute[6].
- The proposed candidates are then finally reviewed by FZJ institutes. Suitable instruments for this purpose are video conferences or a personal interview with the candidate. TheFZJ institutes will make their decisions and communicate the results to FZJ – Corporate Development Department, which, in turn, will forward the institutes’ decisions to the HGF Beijing Office not later than 10 July 2023.
- OCPC will do the double check again on all Helmholtz decisions, present the list of the chosen candidates to the Minister, and very likely announce the final decision on its website[7] by 31 July 2023. The corresponding approval letters in English will be sent by OCPC to the candidates by September 2023.
It is expected that successful candidates will start work on their project at FZJ within six months of receiving confirmation of their fellowship from the OCPC.
F. Project Proposal
The project proposal of the FZJ institute to find a young scientist from China must be written in English and should be structured according to the attached form.
Part A of the form is to be completed by the FZJ institute with its own details and information on the planned project and the required qualifications of the postdoc. Foreign trade regulations shall be considered.
- Title of the project
- Name of the FZJ institute
- Name and contact details of the FZJ project leader / supervisor
- Internet address of the institute and, if applicable, of the working group
- Description of the scientific topic (max. 1 page)
- Description of the existing or planned collaboration with a Chinese institution (max. half a page)
- Applicant qualifications required
Part B of the form is to contain the documents to be submitted by the postdoc to the OCPC and can be supplemented and modified by the project leader depending on the project proposal.
- Reason for the candidate's personal interest in a research visit to FZJ
- CV and copies of certificates
- List of publications
- Two letters of recommendation
- Evidence of competence in English
Part C of the form describes the conditions of the program which must be observed by the postdoc.
- Completion of PhD within the past five years
- Not older than 35 years of age at time of application.
[1] Exchange rate as of 11 January 2023: 41.137,43€
[2] Exchange rate as of 11 January 2023
[3] There are about 450 postdoc research stations in China, which means that all excellent Chinese universities and academy institutes fulfil this most important selection criterion.
[4] At the end of the scholarship period, it is possible to agree with the postdoc station on an extension of the stay at FZJ for 1 year. Chinese funding is excluded during an extension.
[5] Call in China expected for 15 March 2023; deadline in China expected for 15 May 2023
[6] Expected for beginning of June 2023
[7] Website: http://www.chinapostdoctor.org.cn/website/showinfo_zcwj.html?infoid=f6f50278-0d13-41b6-bc8b-af94c434c4fb
Contact person
Gabriele Weiland
Internationale Förderprogramme für Studierende, Graduierte, Doktoranden und Post-Docs
- Corporate Development (UE)
Room 2008b