The Yunnan Observatories (YNAO) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) cordially invites outstanding young talents from overseas to apply for the 2024 Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas) of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) through YNAO.

I. ABOUT YNAO

YNAO was founded in 1938, and is the only comprehensive astronomical observatory in southern China. It has one main campus (the Phoenix Mountain campus in Kunming) and two stations (the Fuxian Lake Solar Observation Station in Yuxi, and the Astronomical Observation Station in Lijiang), with two more stations under construction (the Jingdong station in Pu’er and the Daocheng station in Sichuan province). YNAO currently hosts more than 20 astronomical observation facilities, including the 2.4-meter Optical Telescope in Lijiang (the largest general-purpose optical telescope in East Asia), the 1-meter New Vacuum Solar Telescope (NVST, the world’s largest horizontal vacuum solar telescope), the 40-meter Radio Telescope, and the 1.2-meter optical telescope, etc. In addition, two more telescopes are under construction: the 120-meter Pulsar Radio Telescope in Jingdong and the 2.5m Wide-field and High-resolution Solar Telescope (WeHoST) in Daocheng jointly built with the Nanjing University. There are more than ten research groups at YNAO, covering three main disciplines: (1) astrophysics, (2) astrometry and celestial mechanics, and (3) astronomical technology and methods. YNAO is one of the nationally designated first-batch institutions for conferring doctoral and master’s degrees and has a post-doctoral mobile station.

YNAO has more than 300 staff members, including an academician of CAS and more than ten national-level talents. The long-term development goal of YNAO is to build an astronomical observation and research cluster in southern China, relying on the unique natural conditions for astronomical observation in the Southwestern region of China. Presently, YNAO hosts several key research facilities and programs, such as the NSFC Basic Science Center Program on “Stellar Structure, Evolution, and Explosions”, the CAS Key Laboratories for the Structure and Evolution of Celestial Objects, and the two key laboratories of Yunnan Province (the “Solar Physics and Space Object Monitoring Key Laboratory” and the “International Centre of Supernovae”), as well as the Applied Astronomy Technology Engineering Laboratory of the Yunnan Province. Currently, a number of major national and CAS projects and programs have been undertaken at YNAO.

We warmly welcome outstanding young scholars engaged in astronomical research to join us.

Website: http://english.ynao.cas.cn/

Ⅱ. PROJECT INTRODUCTION

In order to further improve the talent funding system of scientific foundations, to fully leverage the function of scientific foundations in introducing and cultivating talents, and to attract outstanding young talents from overseas to work in China, NSFC continues to implement the Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas) in 2024.

1. Project objectives

The NSFC Excellent Young Scientists Fund (Overseas) aims to attract and encourage outstanding young overseas scholars (including those without Chinese citizenship) with good achievements in natural science and engineering technology to return/come to China to work. The Fund empowers the scientists to conduct innovative research in their chosen fields, promotes fast growth of young scientific and technological talents, fosters a number of outstanding talents on the international science frontiers, and contributes to building national strength in science and technology.

2. Funding mode

The NSFC will support the successful applicant 1-3 million CNY over a funding period of 3 years.

Ⅲ. REQUIREMENTS FOR THE APPLICANTS

1. The applicant should meet the following requirements

(1) Abide by the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, have good scientific integrity, and consciously practice the spirit of scientists in the new era;

(2) Be born on or after January 1, 1984;

(3) Have a doctoral degree;

(4) The research direction is mainly in astrophysics, astrometry and celestial mechanics, astronomical technology and methods, and other astronomy-related disciplines;

(5) After obtaining the doctoral degree, the applicants should have secured a formal teaching or research position in an overseas university, research institution, or corporate research and development institution before April 15, 2024, and should have at least 36 consecutive months of working experience. For those who have obtained a doctoral degree overseas and have particularly outstanding achievements, the limitation of working experience could be appropriately relaxed;

(6) The applicants should have obtained achievements in scientific research or technology recognized by peer experts in their fields, and have the potential to become an academic leader or distinguished talent in related fields;

(7) The fund requires that the applicants have not yet returned to China for full-time employment, or have returned to China for work after January 1, 2023. The successful applicants, upon notification of funding approval, must resign from their employments overseas and return to China for full-time employment for at least 3 years.

2. Special reminder to the applicants

According to the requirements of on the overall planning and connection of the national scientific and technological talent plan, the applicant can only have one grant of the national scientific and technological talent plan at the same level, and cannot apply against the level.

IV. SUPPORT AND GUARANTEES

1. Appointment Position: the successful applicant will be appointed as senior professional and technical position on the public institution system of contractual employment, and can be allocated positions according to the corresponding categories of the “Phoenix Talent Plan” of YNAO.

2. Research Funding: On the basis of the NSFC funding, YNAO will provide no less than 1 million CNY as startup funding for scientific research. The CAS will also provide matching research funding support (1-4 million CNY), and for those evaluated as excellent at the end of the term, CAS will provide additional 2 million CNY as follow-up research funds. Full support will be offered for the applications of local talent programs.

3. Living Subsidy: 1 million CNY (a special housing subsidy from YNAO, which can be stacked with talent subsidies obtained from other channels).

4. Salary and Benefits: Competitive salary and welfare benefits will be provided.

5. Other supports: We provide excellent research conditions, office environment, and talent apartments, assistance in solving spouse employment and children’s school admissions, and connections to local talent service resources.

6. Important note: For outstanding applicants (applied through YNAO) who enter the interview and defense phase but not selected, upon review, they may be appointed according to the relevant talent plans of CAS and YNAO, and be given corresponding support and guarantees.

V. DECLARATION INSTRUCTIONS

Interested applicants should send the following materials via email to the address provided below, including Curriculum Vitae, records of academic achievements, Research Statement, certificates of educational and work experience, and other supporting materials. We will contact you as soon as possible once receiving all the required documents to provide policy consultation, recruitment assistance, and application assistance, etc.

Ⅵ. OTHER JOB POSITIONS (YNAO-PHOENIX PROGRAM) 

•    Talent Recruitment (Full-time / Flexible) 
•    Young Science and Technology Talents 
•    Special Research Assistants
•    Postdoctoral Fellows (0.2-0.3 million RMB/yr pre-tax & a free apartment)

For details, please click the link : https://www.ynao.ac.cn/zhaopin

Ⅶ. CONTACT INFORMATION

Contacts: Ms. Zhao
Email: zxj@ynao.ac.cn
Tel: +86-871-63920899
Address: 396 Yangfangwang, Guandu District, Kunming 650216, Yunnan Province, China