Cooperation with China
50 years of collaboration and networking
The Max Planck Society (MPG) has been cooperating with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) for 50 years. The MPG has thus played a pioneering role in the German science system. This cooperation can be roughly divided into four phases: a cautious approach at the beginning, followed by a systematic exchange of researchers in the 1990s. In the last decade, the collaboration has been strategically expanded: since 2018, the MPG and the CAS have been cooperating in selected focus areas and MPG researchers have been given privileged access to the infrastructures in China, some of which are unique in the world. At the same time, cooperation has also become more difficult in the current overall international political situation.
With over 2 million researchers, China is currently home to more people working in science than any other country in the world. It ranks second just behind the USA in terms of research and development spending. China is investing these funds in strategic research policy areas and thus, in part, in a globally unique research infrastructure.
The combination of a growing research budget, human resources and infrastructure, as well as the rapid increase in scientific quality, characterise China's attractiveness as a cooperation partner – for the MPG as well. In an internal Max Planck publication analysis from 2024, the CAS is ranked second among international partners in terms of the number of joint publications.
Domestic political developments in China – such as the political goal of civil-military fusion in research – pose major challenges for scientific cooperation. In 2023, the Senate of the Max Planck Society adopted recommendations for cooperation with China in order to make cooperation with Chinese partners safer, even in internationally challenging times, by means of consistent risk-benefit analysis.
Max Planck Partner Groups in China
The first Max Planck Partner Group began its work in China in 1999. The purpose of the programme, which was launched in the same year, is to stay in touch with former guest scientists from abroad when they return to their home countries. These groups are set up to run for five years.
Future issues: the Exploratory Round Table Conferences (ERTC) series at the Shanghai Institute for Advanced Studies (SIAS)
The Exploratory Round Table Conferences (ERTC) provide a forum for German and Chinese researchers as well as international key players in which they can exchange ideas and discuss the opportunities and challenges presented by emerging research topics. The main purpose of this initiative, which was inaugurated by the Presidents of the the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is to serve as a nucleus for the establishment of ground-breaking research fields within their respective Institutes. [More]
Strategic projects with the Chinese Academy of Science
Researchers from the Max Planck Society and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have been collaborating in key strategic research areas since 2018. The Max Planck Society has been granted privileged access to the CAS’ sometimes unique and world-leading infrastructures to conduct research into such areas as radio and gravitational wave astronomy, biophysical chemistry, ecology, and behavioural science, as a result of which both sides are collaborating on a level playing field to advance scientific projects to their mutual benefit.
Collaboration with Peking University
For several years now, the Max Planck Society has been intensifying its collaboration with leading Chinese universities, whose importance as partners for the various Max Planck Institutes continues to increase. The Max Planck Society has had an agreement with Peking University since April 2019, the focus of which is on reciprocal mobility and the recruitment of young scientists.
Collaboration with Hong Kong
The purpose of the post-doctoral programme being run in collaboration with the renowned Croucher Foundation in Hong Kong is to provide outstanding young Hong Kong researchers working in the natural sciences, engineering, and medicine with the opportunity to benefit from a 2+1 year research stay at a Max Planck Institute of their choice.