Mobility projects China

This programme supports the exchange of researchers between Flanders and China (NSFC) through two-year joint mobility projects.

Status

Closed

26/06/2025

Duration

2 Year

No extension possible

In association with

NSFC

Objective

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 with a focus on the exchange of junior researchers.

For the 2025 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

Important dates

8 April 2025: call opens at FWO
- Please note: launch at NSFC side only foreseen on 21 April 2025
26 June 2025 at 5pm (Belgian time): deadline (i.e. final submission date at Flemish side via FWO E-portal directly by the applicant, the submission does not take place via the Flemish main host institution)
July-November 2025: evaluation
December 2025: announcement of results
1 January 2026: start project at FWO- and NSFC-side

Features

Duration of projects: 2 years (01/01/2026 – 31/12/2027)
Exchanges with special attention to junior researchers: in each project at Flemish side at least one junior researcher should perform an exchange to China. This junior researcher is a PhD student or a postdoctoral researcher with no more than 12 years of postdoctoral experience (first PhD degree can be obtained maximally 12 years before the submission deadline (26/06/2025) of the project, to be counted from the date of obtaining the doctoral degree).
Funding: each party bears the full costs of its own researchers (travel, accommodation and living expenses):
- FWO offers researchers from Flanders a daily living allowance of € 66 (or max. €1,650 per month) on top of the travel expenses towards/from China, to be booked through a travel agency authorized by the FWO.
- NSFC pays the researchers from China on the project level (for the total duration of two years) a total amount of 100,000 RMB to 150,000 RMB (about € 13,000 to € 18,700) to cover the international travel expenses of the Chinese researcher(s) towards/from Belgium and the living and accommodation expenses.

Profile and conditions

The collaboration with partners from China will have an added value for the project.
As supervisor-spokesperson of the Flemish research team, you hold a PhD.
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.

Advice, selection- and evaluation criteria

Check the advice, selection- and evaluation criteria for a mobility project.

Advice, selection- and evaluation criteria mobility project

Please note:

All the members of the Chinese research team (including the Chinese supervisor-spokesperson) have to be already members of an ongoing NSFC project that at least runs until the 31st of December 2026.

Procedure

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.
NEW: 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.
NEW: From 2025 onwards the online FWO application form will contain 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.
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.

How to apply?

You can apply for a mobility project with South Korea via our E-loket

Remark: In case of transfer of personal data within the framework of an international collaboration, FWO will ensure that the partners abroad guarantee an equal level of protection with respect to the involved parties.

Flight- or train tickets in the frame of an FWO grant, can only be booked through a travel agency authorized by the FWO (Uniglobe South West Travel and Omnia Travel). Bookings through another travel agency will not be reimbursed by FWO.

Be aware: For any travel towards a higher-risk destination, the FWO (travel) grant can only be used in case of a positive advice of the concerned host institution. Please make sure to request this advice at the responsible advisory body of your host institution.

Regulations

General regulations

These general regulations apply to every submission at FWO.

Documents and additional information for applicants

Contact

For requesting additional info and for specific questions you can contact your file administrator.
For technical (IT) problems regarding E-portal and application modules send an email to the IT helpdesk: FWOhelpdesk@fwo.be.