National Natural Science Foundation of China

The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) is an organization directly affiliated to the State Council for the management of the National Natural Science Fund.

NSFC was founded in February 1986 with the approval of the State Council. It is an institution for the management of the National Natural Science Fund, aimed at promoting and financing basic research and applied research in China.

In 2010 NSFC launched a medical department, analogous to the US National Institutes of Health. Plans for a medical department had been announced in 2001, but only with the 2008 appointment of Chen Zhu as health minister did basic biomedical research gain enough political support to push the department forward. The medical department is expected to give about one billion renminbi in grants for 2010.

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