In the tropical city of Sanya, Hainan, within the Yacheng Bay Science City, academician Li Jiayang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences sits relaxed in his fine cotton plaid short-sleeved shirt, with his back to the window, at his office desk, absorbed and tranquil in his academic pursuits. Over the past year, as the leader of the Yacheng Bay National Laboratory, Li Jiayang has been incredibly busy. On one hand, he has been tirelessly building a leadership team, attracting talent, and establishing a joint party-government meeting system, in order to promote the rapid development of this national science and technology research and entrepreneurship platform; on the other hand, he has been dedicated to the molecular breeding research of early Japonica rice.
As an outstanding plant molecular geneticist, Li Jiayang has already successfully proposed the advanced concept of “molecular design breeding” in our country and has committed to cultivating a series of high-yield, disease-resistant, high-quality new rice varieties with his research partners, laying a foundation for the new progress of agricultural breeding in our country.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (the Distinguished Young Scholars Program). Li Jiayang applied for the program at its inception and served as the head of the evaluation panel for the program over the ensuing ten years. In an interview, he shared his views, believing that the program has made extraordinary contributions to supporting exploratory research.
Looking back at 1994, Li Jiayang, who returned from the United States, was determined to pursue a career in scientific research and participated in the defense of the Distinguished Young Scholars Program, which was a crucial step in the development of his scientific career. Born into an ordinary peasant family in Feixi, Anhui, Li Jiayang worked on construction sites during high school, toiling during the day and barely reading in the dim dormitory at night. After the resumption of the college entrance examination in 1977, he was successfully admitted to Anhui Agricultural College (now Anhui Agricultural University), where he developed a deep interest in molecular genetics while studying forestry, and through self-study, he eventually took the entrance examination for the master’s degree at the Institute of Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (now the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences). He then went to the United States in 1985 for further studies, obtaining his Ph.D. and completing his studies at Brandeis University. Afterward, he conducted postdoctoral research at Cornell University.
Bearing the dream of contributing to Chinese agriculture, Li Jiayang returned to his resource-poor homeland with an unwavering conviction. Under the overall tight situation of scientific research funding, he began his career in a less than 30 square meters old laboratory of the Genetics Institute, relying on some obsolete equipment to establish his research base. Initially, the laboratory’s funds were barely 300,000 yuan, a drop in the bucket for purchasing costly advanced instruments and facilities, making it difficult to afford even simple laboratory equipment like centrifuges and pipettes.
Li Jiayang felt that each graduate student in the lab should be equipped with their own research tools, rather than share a common set. In his view, sharing tools is as ineffective as several soldiers sharing one gun. Therefore, he decided to invest funds to equip every graduate student in the lab with the necessary toolkit.
Despite the initial failure at his first defense, Li Jiayang was not discouraged. Having just returned from the United States with his education, the experts believed his project “needed more time” due to insufficient experimental conditions. Afterwards, Li Jiayang made detailed preparations and was successfully recognized by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars the following year, which greatly assisted his scientific research by solving funding issues at the time, allowing his team to stabilize and build.
When discussing how to write an outstanding application, Li Jiayang emphasized that the key is to clearly convey the purpose and innovative points of the experiment to the review experts, and to present a viable technical approach. He advocates crystallizing scientific questions by combining a large amount of the latest international literature, in order to find unique research ideas and approaches.
Li Jiayang stressed the importance of innovation and the importance of research conditions. Raising a cutting-edge scientific question is just wishful thinking if it cannot be answered with the current level of technology, and is unlikely to receive support in scientific research reviews.
Li Jiayang’s project focused on the regulation mechanisms of plant hormones on growth and development, solving classical scientific questions in the field of plant molecular genetics. Under his leadership, the team conducted in-depth research, innovatively established gene microarray technology, identified genes responding to the plant growth-regulating hormone brassinosteroid, providing important scientific evidence for understanding and regulating plant growth and development.
Although significant progress was made in the first three years, Li Jiayang’s project missed the opportunity for an additional two years of funding because the research results had not yet been published. Li, who insisted on not publishing “minor articles,” eventually published the research findings in the fifth year, having a significant impact on the international academic community. Consequently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China decided to give him one year of funding, making Li Jiayang an unprecedented recipient of this additional support.
Looking back on this experience, Li Jiayang believes that the publication of research findings is an indispensable “benchmark” in reviews and is crucial for fairness and impartiality.
Establishing a comprehensive research plan is critical for young scientists. To promote the continuous progress of scientific research, Li Jiayang encourages young researchers to do a “top-level design” of scientific activities. It is necessary to set clear short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. Short-term goals focus on quickly producing results to ensure the stable operation of the team; medium-term goals aim to build a reputation in a specific field; but of paramount importance are long-term goals, which mean a commitment to research projects that can bring significant originality and breakthrough achievements. Under the trend of rapidly increasing R&D funding, only scientists who conduct major original research will have the opportunity to stand out and contribute to the country’s long-term development.
In light of the funding for the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Outstanding Young Scientists Fund), a new support policy will be implemented starting from 2024. In addition to the initial five-year funding, the projects completed during the period will be subjected to hierarchical evaluation and selection. The top-performing 20% can receive a second five-year rolling funding, doubled to 8 million yuan. Afterwards, another 50% of the remaining projects will be selected for the third five-year support period, enjoying funding up to 16 million yuan. This “rolling support” mechanism provides an opportunity for the most outstanding basic research scientists to carry out high-level research in depth, and is of great significance in selecting outstanding talents.
Li Jiayang also mentioned that scientists supported by the Outstanding Youth Science Fund (Qing Project) may have the priority when applying for special research funding. This is thanks to the fair and reasonable review mechanism that the project has maintained for thirty years, which has not only improved the overall quality of the scientific team but also ensured the fairness of talent selection.
Justice and fairness are the cornerstone to guarantee the value of scientific research projects. Li Jiayang himself has even confirmed this through personal experience—that without background or connections, he was able to obtain project funding based on his talent and achievements, facing a fair and just review process. He emphasized that in the future, the Outstanding Youth Science Fund must continue to maintain this transparent and fair review system to provide growth paths for potential high-level talents and cultivate highly “valued” scientific researchers for the country.
It is worth mentioning that Li Jiayang also pointed out that from 2024, the bidding conditions for female researchers have been optimized and adjusted. Now, the age limit for female scientists applying for the Outstanding Youth Science Fund has been increased from 45 to 48, making policies more humanized. This takes into account the challenges that women may face during childbirth and child-rearing, thus providing more opportunities for female scientists in the high-level talent echelon.
At the end of an interview, Li Jiayang shared his vision for the future direction of research. He mentioned that in the past 30 years, the Outstanding Youth Science Fund has played a significant role in promoting the field of basic scientific research in China, and the exploratory research funded by the project has greatly enriched the foundation of China’s scientific research.
Li Jiayang expressed that he has great expectations for the National Natural Science Foundation to continue to closely follow the development rules and trends of basic research and to make even greater contributions to the strengthening and deepening of China’s basic research.