The Provincial Overseas Young Talent Project aims to attract and encourage outstanding young scholars from overseas (including non-Chinese foreign talents) who have achieved good results in natural sciences and engineering technology to work in Shandong. They can independently choose research directions to conduct innovative research, promoting the rapid growth of young scientific and technological talents and providing strong human resource support for the construction of a strong science and technology province. 

Funding intensity: 600,000 yuan.

Funding period: 3 years.

The applicant's affiliated unit should be an institution with independent legal person status within the administrative region of Shandong Province, including universities, research institutions, national or provincial laboratories, and provincial-registered new research and development institutions. 

1. The applicant must meet the following requirements:

Comply with the laws and regulations of the People's Republic of China, possess good scientific ethics, ensure clear ownership of the research or technical achievements obtained, and consciously practice the spirit of scientists in the new era.

2. The applicant's age should not exceed 40 years old (including those born on or after July 1, 1985). For females, the age limit can be relaxed to 43 years old (including those born on or after July 1, 1982).

3. Holding a doctoral degree.

4. The research direction mainly covers natural sciences and engineering technologies.

5. After obtaining the doctoral degree until the application deadline, one should generally hold a formal teaching or research position at an overseas university, research institution, or enterprise R&D institution, and have a continuous working experience of more than 24 months; for those who have obtained a doctoral degree overseas with particularly outstanding performance, the work experience requirement can be appropriately relaxed (not applicable to the cases where the overseas doctoral degree is obtained through a joint training program with China).

During their overseas work period, applicants who hold both domestic (inland) salaried positions and undertake projects supported by central or local finances as domestic (inland) personnel, the duration of their salaried positions or project participation shall not be counted towards their overseas work experience.

6. Have achieved recognized scientific or technical achievements by peers, and possess the potential to become an academic leader or an outstanding talent in the field.

7. The applicant has not yet returned to Shandong for full-time work, or will return to Shandong for work after January 1, 2025 (inclusive). After receiving the funding notification, the applicant must resign from their overseas job or have no job overseas, and work full-time in Shandong for at least 3 years.

Encourage applicants from provincial universities and research institutions who meet the requirements to jointly apply with provincial technology enterprises. The applicants must sign a cooperation agreement with the enterprises.

Project leaders who have been selected for the National Natural Science Foundation of China's Outstanding Young Scientific Research Fund (Overseas) are not allowed to apply and will not receive duplicate funding. Project leaders who have already undertaken or are currently applying for provincial youth scientific research fund projects (Categories A and B) are not allowed to apply. In the same research institution, the number of provincial-level science and technology planning projects (including various science and technology planning projects that have not yet initiated the application process) that the same researcher leads as the principal investigator does not exceed 1 item, except for those applying for the Young Scientific Research Fund Project (Category C) through the "direct grant" policy.

The project leader must spend no less than 6 months of work time on the project each year, and the project participants must spend no less than 4 months each year. The total annual working time of each researcher on ongoing and proposed provincial-level projects must not exceed 12 months. Those who fall within the other restricted categories by the provincial science and technology department cannot apply. The above limit requirements are automatically identified by the application system.