On 15 and 16 October 2025, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) celebrated the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Sino-German Center for Research Promotion (SGC)(externer Link) in Beijing. 

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The celebrations began with a two-day networking meeting of German and Chinese university presidents – the first opportunity for in-person encounters following the pandemic years. The highlight was a formal anniversary ceremony attended by guests from academia and politics in the two countries. Those welcomed by DFG President Professor Dr. Katja Becker and NSFC President Professor Dr. Dou Xiankang included the German Ambassador to China, Dr. Patricia Flor, as well as representatives of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space Affairs (BMFTR).

During the anniversary celebrations, German and Chinese guests looked back together on the founding period of the SGC, whose origins date back to several years before its official opening in 2000: negotiations between DFG and NSFC started as early as 1988. After the opening of the Center, initial cooperation formats were developed through joint workshops and researcher exchanges between the two countries. This was followed by a consolidation phase marked by a steady increase in collaborative projects: a record number of over 550 proposals were submitted under a joint DFG-NSFC call in 2017, for instance. 

At the networking meeting of university presidents, participants therefore discussed key topics relating to the future of Sino-German cooperation. These included the use of artificial intelligence in research and research funding as well as the integration of ecological sustainability considerations into the planning and implementation of research projects. Talks also focused on models for information and data exchange between Germany and China. A shared understanding in all these areas is to make Sino-German scientific relations resilient and future-oriented, even in a rapidly changing world. 

Representatives of Chinese universities included Prof. Gong Qihuang (President, Peking University); Prof. Li Luming (President, Tsinghua University); Prof. Ding Kuiling (President, Shanghai Jiao Tong University); Prof. Zhang Pingwen (President, Wuhan University); Prof. Jin Li (President, Fudan University); Prof. Li Xiangning (Vice President, Tongji University); Prof. Gao Song (President, Sun Yat-Sen University); Prof. Xue Qikun (President, SUSTech); Prof. Pan Jianwei (Executive Vice President, University of Science and Technology of China), Prof. Zhang Xi ( President, Jilin University); Prof. MA Yanming (President, Zhejiang University); Prof. Lu Yanqing ( Vice President, Nanjing University); Prof. Qiu Guoping (Vice Provost, University of Nottingham Ningbo China) and Prof. Hu Zhibin (President, Nanjing Medical University).

Representatives of German universities and science institutions included Prof. Walter Rosenthal (President, German Rectors’ Conference); Prof. Angela Ittel (Vice-President, German Rectors’ Conference; President, Technische Universität Braunschweig; Co-President, TU9 German Institutes of Technology); Prof. Jörg Bagdahn (Spokesperson for the Universities of Applied Sciences Member Group, German Rectors’ Conference; President, Anhalt University of Applied Sciences); Prof. Michael Hoch (Rector, University of Bonn; Chair of German U15); Prof. Hauke Heekeren (President, University of Hamburg);  Prof. Andreas Marx (President, University of Jena); Prof. Andreas Timm-Giel (President, Hamburg University of Technology); Prof. Johannes Wessels (Rector, University of Münster); Prof. Regina Nogueira (Vice President for International Affairs and Sustainability, Leibniz University Hannover); Dr. Rolf Greve (Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Authority for Science, Research, Equality and Districts).

Films about the history of the SGC

In the following film rolls you can get an insight of the collaboration between the DFG and NSFC about the founding period of the SGC.