A Sino-French scholarship fund will provide money to 20 to 30 Chinese students to do their post-doctorate research and study in France this year.

Interviewing of applicants will begin next week, and fund officials said they expect to name the recipients in May.

The scholars are expected to start heading to France in late September or early October.

Established in 2001 and funded by large French companies, the Sino-French Science Application Foundation was created to enhance the cooperation and exchange of scientists, economists and artists as well as enterprises between the two countries.

So far, it has helped to set up a Sino-French life science and genetics center in Shanghai, a blood and blood vessel laboratory in Tianjin, an information automation and applied mathematics laboratory in Beijing and a catalysis laboratory in Dalian of Liaoning Province.

"All the projects are operating very smoothly and have made great achievements," said Jacques Caen, French director of the fund.

However, the main purpose of the fund is to give financial support to students for their post-doctorate work in France, officials said.

The scholarships are mainly targeted at students working in pioneering fields like nanotechnology, artificial intelligence and biological safety, Caen said.

"Though the fund usually targets students in science and medicine research, it may be promoted to the ones in business management and sociology in the future if there are many applications," Caen said. "In fact, a discussion is going to be launched on May 11."

French post-doctorate students can also apply for the scholarships to do research in China, officials said.

Source: Shanghai Daily