"After more than a year of work, I finally got the ideal microbial swimming model! Recently, the research group of Zhang Bokai, an associate professor at the School of Physical Science and Technology of Southwest University, has made phased progress.
34-year-old Zhang Bokai, who graduated from Nanjing University with a Ph.D., joined Southwest University in 2022 after working in Beijing and Zhejiang for a period of time.
When I first arrived, the most troublesome thing about engaging in scientific research was that I had no money and no one in my hands.
However, by applying for the university's basic scientific research business fund project, in April last year, he received 200,000 yuan of scientific research start-up funding support, and the team was also set up.
There are few opportunities for emerging talents, narrow growth channels, frequent evaluation and assessment, and heavy transactional burdens......In the past, young researchers faced a lot of "growing pains". They derided themselves as "green peppers" for scientific research, and even gradually became "green coke".
Since 2019, Chongqing has launched three consecutive rounds of special actions to reduce the burden on scientific research personnel (referred to as "burden reduction action"), especially the "burden reduction action 3" launched in January last year0", it focuses on young people, helping them to "take the lead, increase opportunities, reduce assessments, ensure time, and strengthen body and mind", and fully stimulate the innovation potential and vitality of young scientific researchers.
Over the past year, as part of the "Burden Reduction Action 30"What measures have universities and research institutes taken to implement the main body? What is the effect of "reducing the burden"? Is this "green pepper" or "green coke"? Recently, the reporter conducted a visit and investigation.
Zhang Bokai, an associate professor at Southwest University, is conducting theoretical calculations of the model. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
As long as a new doctor applies, the university will support him."
Broaden the growth channel of young scientific researchers, so that they can "take the lead" and "be the protagonist".
Zhang Bokai has long been engaged in the theoretical and computer simulation research of active condensed matter physics (bacteria, microalgae, microfilaments and micro and nano robots), which is a frontier field of interdisciplinary integration of physics and mechanics, life science, ecology, medicine and other disciplines, and is closely related to microbial infection, drug transportation, sewage control, marine carbon cycle and other life and health, green and low-carbon fields.
After getting the "first pot of gold" in scientific research, he immediately upgraded the hardware of the computer cluster, so that the team had better conditions for scientific research.
On this basis, since last year, Zhang Bokai has also successfully received a national natural science first-class project support, and was awarded the title of "Bayu Scholar" young scholar in Chongqing.
Today, his research group has 5 master's students, and this time he has made important progress in microbial modeling, which will provide a theoretical basis and computer simulation basis for the next step of developing micro and nano biological components.
At Southwest University, Zhang Bokai is not alone.
The university has issued relevant measures for basic scientific research business fund projects, and it is clear that the proportion of funding for young people shall not be less than 50%. Yuan Hongkuan, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Southwest University, said that the business expenses include scientific research start-up, capacity improvement, and key development projects, of which the first two types of support personnel are 35 years old and under 40 years old, respectively, and are non-competitive funding support. "For example, in the scientific research start-up project, as long as the new doctoral students apply, the university will support them and encourage them to carry out free exploration. ”
At the same time, in July last year, Southwest University also approved 20 school-level youth leadership team and youth cultivation team projects, as well as 23 "pilot plan" youth team projects, with 1.6 million yuan, 1 million yuan, and 600,000 yuan of financial support respectively, so that more young scientific and technological talents can "take the lead" and "be the protagonist".
In fact, not only Southwest University, the reporter learned that "the burden reduction action 3Since the launch of "0", many colleges and universities in our city have carried out active attempts to help young scientific researchers emerge and broaden their growth channels.
At the beginning of last year, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications' innovative research and development of the big data analysis platform for university scientific research projects was officially launched. The platform uses the existing scientific research information to analyze the correlation between the data, which can "profile" the scientific research personnel of the whole university, and do a good job in the early detection and early training of outstanding talents by predicting the growth trajectory and mining the potential value.
Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications University scientific research project big data analysis platform interface. Photo courtesy of the interviewee.
The reporter saw that the keyword "5G" was entered on the platform for searching, and the system would conduct a comprehensive analysis of the information of scientific researchers, relevant scientific research project information, and related achievement information, and accurately tap the scientific research potential of young talents in the field of 5G communication at the school, so that the school can recommend these "potential stocks" to undertake relevant important projects or select some talent titles to help them grow better.
Chongqing University of Technology has arranged for young teachers to join the high-level teaching and research team through the implementation of the Qinglan Pairing Mentoring Program, and equipped young teachers with dual mentors of "teaching" and "scientific research" to ensure that young talents "have a team for all". At the same time, we should support young talents to form teams independently, especially encourage the formation of interdisciplinary and cross-unit interdisciplinary research teams.
Last year, the school supported the construction of 10 young scientific research teams, and gave each team 200,000 yuan of financial support. Feng Jin, vice president of the Institute of Science and Technology of Chongqing University of Technology, introduced.
In order to increase more development opportunities for young talents, the school also supports young teachers to engage in postdoctoral research, supports young teachers to go to local governments and enterprises for training, and gives special subsidies to guide young talents to get out of the "ivory tower" and enter districts, counties, parks and enterprises, and actively carry out horizontal cooperation, so as to solve the technical problems of enterprises and enhance their social service capabilities.
The money from soy sauce is used to buy vinegar, "which is easier and more convenient."
"Relieve the burden" for young scientific researchers and spend time on the "blade".
The high pressure of assessment and the heavy burden of affairs were the "pain points" of young researchers in the past.
According to a survey, young scientific researchers are generally faced with problems such as short assessment and evaluation cycles and too frequent ones, and they must "meet the standards" in the short term, making them call "the pressure is great". At the same time, in some units and teams, errands and miscellaneous non-scientific research tasks are often assigned to young researchers, so that their scientific research time is squeezed out. "Running around during the day and staying up late at night to engage in scientific research" has become the norm for many scientific research "green peppers".
The reporter learned that "the burden reduction action 3Since the implementation of "0", many colleges and universities in our city have introduced relevant measures to "reduce the burden and loosen the burden" of "green peppers".
Among them, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications has made good use of the baton of scientific research evaluation through the implementation of the representative work system to reduce the assessment burden of young scientific researchers.
The state proposes to solve the 'four only' problems in the evaluation of scientific and technological achievements, and the representative work system is also produced in this context. Li Yanyuan, deputy director of the Science and Technology Department of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said that the representative work system has changed the one-sided practice of directly linking the number of **, works, patents, and funds with evaluation, but focuses on the quality, contribution and influence of landmark achievements.
She took ** as an example, saying that after the implementation of the representative work system, the university requires researchers to submit 5 representative papers when recommending the application of national projects or selecting certain awards. "Some researchers are very 'prolific', and they publish more than 5 articles a year, but the representative work system is more inclined to the results that have the most 'gold content' and truly reflect the value and contribution of scientific research. ”
For example, many national projects or topics require big experts and professors with certain academic influence to take the lead, and young scientific researchers, as team members, have done a lot of work in the process of project implementation, but their value and contribution have not been fully reflected in the evaluation of professional titles or assessments.
Nowadays, the team that takes the lead in undertaking the national key R&D program project can have additional professional title recommendation places. Li Changyuan explained that the project leader can designate a young scientific researcher as the technical leader, and when the title is evaluated, it is equivalent to the project leader who undertakes the national key research and development project. In this way, the assessment pressure of young scientific researchers is reduced, and there is a better promotion channel.
How to liberate young researchers from complicated non-scientific research affairs and spend their time on the "cutting edge"? The reform of the management of scientific research funds is the "burden reduction action 3".0" is one of the specific "pain points" to be solved.
For a long time, the use of funds for scientific research projects in China has adopted a budget system, which is contradictory to the uncertainty of scientific research. "When preparing a budget, it is often necessary to make it clear how the funds will be used at all stages of project implementation, but when it comes to the specific use of funds, there are many situations that are inconsistent with the budget. If you want to make adjustments, you will face layers of approvals. A scientific researcher said frankly.
The money for soy sauce can't be used to buy vinegar", which has become the most common complaint of scientific researchers on the "harsh" requirements for the use of funds.
In this regard, the city has piloted the "lump sum system + negative list" management in some scientific research projects, giving scientific researchers greater autonomy in the use of funds, and at the same time, some universities and institutes have actively explored and further simplified the procedures and processes of "using soy sauce money to buy vinegar".
For example, Chongqing University has established an "online service hall for scientific research", and the person in charge of scientific research projects can apply for budget adjustment through the online platform according to the needs of scientific research activities. After the system automatically identifies the adjustment matters, if it does not involve the adjustment of equipment costs, it can be handled directly, and no other procedures are required.
In fact, the "scientific research online service hall" integrates multiple information systems of the university, and realizes one-stop handling of project application, contract review and signing, scientific research fund accounting, budget adjustment, bill issuance, project completion, achievement identification and other links by opening up data islands and implementing "one number for multiple purposes", without the need for scientific researchers to go back and forth between various departments many times, without waiting for time in any link, and can query the progress of processing anytime and anywhere.
In addition, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing University of Technology, Chongqing Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Chongqing Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources and other universities and institutes have set up full-time and part-time scientific research financial assistant positions to further "reduce the burden" for scientific researchers, so that they do not have to worry about cumbersome financial affairs and concentrate on scientific research.
Qingjiao "became "Qingjiao", took on the heavy responsibility and provoked the beam.
The survey showed 6481% of young researchers said that "burden reduction" has practical effects.
Zhou Zhihao, an associate professor at the School of Automation of Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, is a young scientific researcher born in the 90s, mainly engaged in the research of advanced flexible sensing technology. After graduating from Chongqing University with a Ph.D. in 2021, he joined Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.
Although he has not been in the company for a long time, he has been recommended as a key training object thanks to the "portrait" of the big data analysis platform for scientific research projects.
To this end, the platform system will not only automatically match and accurately push relevant scientific research project information to him, but also provide some project application processes and reference materials to help him save a lot of time and improve the efficiency of project declaration. "We used to look for information everywhere, but now it's information that comes to us on its own. ”
At present, Zhou Zhihao has presided over a number of national, provincial and ministerial scientific research projects, and was successfully selected into the "Young Talent Lifting Project" of the China Association for Science and Technology last year, and has been steadily funded and trained for three consecutive years, and has been selected into the "Xiangjiang Scholars Program".
Peng Kai, an associate researcher at the Engineering Research Center of Mechanical Testing Technology and Equipment of the Ministry of Education of Chongqing University of Technology, is a member of Professor Liu Xiaokang's nano-time grid team. In recent years, he has not only made academic achievements, but also stepped out of the "ivory tower" and served as the technical director of Guoce Time Grid Technology, a general technology group located in the Western (Chongqing) Science City, committed to the transformation of nano time grid technology achievements, serving the transformation and upgrading of the equipment manufacturing industry, and growing into a leading talent of the "Golden Phoenix" in Science City.
In the course of the interview, there were many similar examples. A series of "burden reduction" measures have formed a "combination fist", so that the scientific research "green peppers" can let go of their hands and feet and engage in scientific research without distractions.
In December last year, the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau, the Municipal Finance Bureau, and the Municipal Education Commission jointly carried out a questionnaire survey on the implementation of reducing the burden on young scientific researchers.
The results show that last year, 75% of young researchers aged 40 and below were funded by the city's natural science ** general project. At the same time, 2773% of the major (key) science and technology plans at the municipal level are headed by young researchers under the age of 40 (including 40 years old), an increase of 273%。
Judging from the feelings of young researchers themselves, 6481% of the young researchers surveyed said that "Burden Reduction Action 30" has a practical effect, more than half of the researchers believe that "the burden reduction action 3The most obvious changes in scientific research work are the increase in communication opportunities, the recognition of more types of work and achievements in the assessment and evaluation, and the improvement of training and care for young scientific researchers.
It is true that allowing young researchers to truly "travel light" is not something that can be achieved overnight. At present, some young researchers are still facing some troubles.
Liu Wei (pseudonym), the head of the research group of a scientific research institute in our city, in recent years, when he saw a project declaration notice issued, he would almost always let the team apply if he met the conditions.
With four or five projects in hand, it is inevitable that I will occasionally panic, worrying that one day I will 'run out of food'. He joked that research is not a one-day effort and requires long-term continuous investment. In recent years, the state has increased the proportion of non-competitive funding support for young talents, but this is limited after all, and most of the team's annual scientific research funding depends on competition. ”
In addition, in colleges and universities, except for a small number of full-time scientific research posts, most young teachers belong to the teaching and research sequence, which has both scientific research tasks and teaching tasks, and it is necessary to find a balance between the two.
As one of the newcomers who have not long joined the university, Yang Yanyu (pseudonym), a young doctor, is faced with such a situation - last semester, she had classes 4 days a week, and she had to spend more time and energy preparing for classes, and at the same time, she also had to take on the work of class tutors and other students, and needed to integrate her energy in more fragmented scientific research time.
Recently, the school had a winter vacation, and compared with usual, she finally had a whole piece of research time, so she chose to stay in school and plunged into the laboratory to catch up with the progress.
In her opinion, how to find a balance between teaching and research is a very complex "must-answer question" for newcomers like her. This not only requires the efforts of young talents to explore, but also needs to further optimize the scientific research environment and give them more guidance, help and support.
The 'burden reduction action' is a tough and protracted battle, which requires continuous iteration and optimization. The relevant person in charge of the Municipal Science and Technology Bureau said that in the next step, the city will further promote the "burden reduction action", pay more attention to the scientific research ecology of grassroots units, promote the extensive action of innovative subjects such as colleges and universities, give full play to the subjective initiative, integrate various policy resources, enhance the supporting and collaborative nature of reform measures, and create a "micro-environment" that is more conducive to the courage of young scientific researchers to innovate, and promote outstanding talents to stand out and take on important responsibilities, and truly become a new force in scientific and technological innovation. The source of power to achieve high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-reliance.