This Call for Proposals is formulated and released by the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry (SKLOG) with the aim to promote academic international collaboration and conduct in-depth, systematic and innovative research. 

The major research areas of SKLOG cover petroleum and gas geochemistry, environmental organic geochemistry, and biogeochemistry, so as to meet the strategic requirement by the state for petroleum and gas resources and environment in the last decade as well as the development trends of the discipline of modern organic geochemistry. 

Funding Scope 

The SKLOG Fund consists of 4 categories of programs with respective preferential focuses, i.e., General Research Programs, International Cooperation Programs, Research Programs on Major Facilities, and Special Programs for Joint Institute for Environmental Research and Education (JIE). 

1. General Research Programs 

General Research Programs are aimed at achieving innovative results in the following basic research areas: 

(1) Deep source rocks: hydrocarbon formation and accumulation 

(2) Geochemistry of unconventional oil and gas 

(3) Fate, exposure and human health risk of environmental organic pollutants 

(4) Atmospheric environmental chemistry and air quality improvement 

(5) Regional biogeochemistry in tropical terrestrial and marine environment 

2. International Cooperation Programs (dedicated to overseas scholars) 

International Cooperation Programs support overseas excellent scholars to conduct high-level joint research with scientists in SKLOG. 

(1) Project for scholars from the countries along the Belt and Road 

(2) Project for international distinguished scientists 

(3) Project for foreign young scientists 

3. Research Programs on Major Facilities 

Research Programs on Major Facilities support innovative research by using the following major facilities in SKLOG (www.sklog-1.cn/bigmachine/). Applicants should mainly introduce the scientific significance and innovative ideas in proposals. This year the following 3 big facilities would be the focus. 

(1) Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) 

(2) Smog Chamber 

(3) 14C – Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (14C-AMS) 

4. Special Programs for JIE (dedicated to the UK-employed scholars included in JIE) 

JIE (GIG-SCAU-LU Joint Institute for Environmental Research and Education) is a multilateral international institution co-built by Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (GIGCAS), Lancaster University, and South China Agricultural University. JIE focuses on the promotion of environmental research, education and innovation. 

This Special Programs support UK-employed scientists in JIE doing basic and applied research within the scope of JIE. This year, the scope will be on: 

(i) Remediation of contaminated soil, 

(ii) Fate and management of chemical pollutants in catchments, and 

(iii) Terrestrial biogeochemistry and environmental processes. 

SKLOG will grant 4 JIE-bound projects this year. 

Eligibility and Requirements for Application 

1. Eligibility: qualified applicants should meet the following criteria 

(1) Have experience of doing basic research 

(2) Have senior professional position (title), or be recommended by researchers in the same research area with senior professional position (title) 

(3) PhD students must be recommended by their supervisors 

To encourage young scientists to apply, the applications of young researchers have the priority to be funded under the same conditions. The application of a full professor is generally not funded except for International Cooperation Programs. Applicants in SKLOG are not qualified. 

2. Requirements: 

(1) Applications should be in line with the major research orientation and the funding scope of SKLOG. 

(2) Experimental design should base on the analysis and testing capabilities of SKLOG facilities. (http://www.sklog-1.cn/bigmachine/) 

Award Information 

Project Duration: One year or two years，starting from April 1 2018. 

Award size: RMB 50,000 Yuan per project. The award of International Cooperation Programs is mainly used to pay international travel costs of the grantee. For other programs, the award is mainly used to pay facility costs in SKLOG (>80%) and domestic travel costs must be within 20% of the award size. Matching fund is required to cover other costs of the project, i.e., sampling, materials and supplies. 

Proposal Submission 

Applicants should complete the proposal forms following the instructions and outlines for the Fund. The proposal forms are available in the SKLOG website (http://www.sklog-1.cn/download/). 

An E-copy of the proposal should be sent to SKLOG no later than Feb 10 2018. Proposals received later than the Feb 10 2018 will be processed in the year upon agreement of the applicants. 

Project Management 

1. The grantees should guarantee to work in SKLOG for months per year and submit annual reports. 

2. SKLOG creates a financial account for each grantee. Payments must meet the financial management systems requirements of GIGCAS. 

3. The ownership of research results is shared by SKLOG and the grantees’ institution. 

4. Each grantee must publish at least one SCI-indexed paper with the acknowledgment of funding support from the granted project. 

Contact Information  

Hu, Yun-Xia 

State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry 

Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences 

Address: 511 Kehua Street, Guangzhou 510640, China 

Tel: +86-20-85291565, Fax: +86-20-85291565 

E-mail：huyx@gig.ac.cn 

Apply form download: http://www.sklog-1.cn/download/