1. General Provisions

The CCF-Tencent Rhino-Bird Young Faculty Open Research Fund is jointly initiated by Tencent and the China Computer Society (CCF). It is designed to build an industry-research collaboration platform to link industry practice and academic research, and help outstanding young scholars around the world carry out frontier scientific research by working with enterprises.

The CCF-Tencent Rhino-Bird Young Faculty Open Research Fund 2018 issued a total of 31 research topics in six key technical fields. See appendix 1 Subject Catalogue for specific research fields and directions.

2. Project Application

1. Application qualification

The Fund is available for young scholars at universities and research institutes at home and abroad who meet the following conditions:

• The applicant is a full-time teacher or researcher at a college or research institute and was born after January 1, 1982 (inclusive) (for males) or January 1, 1977 (inclusive) (for females);
• The applicant has worked in a university for less than 5 years (for males) or 10 years (for females) after graduating from a master’s/doctoral program;
• The applicant can independently conduct research and lead students in research projects;

2. Application method

The deadline for project applications is 24:00, June 25, 2018. Applications must be made online. Applicants need to fill in and upload the Application Form (see appendix 2. Use the Microsoft Word document). Application website: http://ur.tencent.com/register/11. Each applicant can submit one application. Project leaders who have been funded can submit another application one year after receiving the first funds. For any questions relating to the project application, please contact Di Xinchen, email: xinchendi@tencent.com.

3. Key Nodes

4. Project Evaluation

CCF and Tencent will jointly invite academic and industry experts to serve as project judges and form the project expert group. The final funding result for each research area and total amount will be determined by the project expert group. The evaluation of the experts is mainly based on the following criteria:

1. The purpose, significance, novelty and feasibility of the project;
2. The applicant's project plan and the significance and value of the achievement;
3. The academic level and scientific research ability of the applicant (and team).

5. Types of Projects

1. Scientific research fund:

• In 2018, the CCF- Tencent Rhino-Bird Young Faculty Open Research Fund will set up a total of 31 research propositions. Each applicant can select one (and only one) of the research propositions for their project application; The amount of funding for each project is 150,000-200,000 yuan. The fund supports 20-30  projects. 
• WeBank Block Chain Technologyis increased in 2018, funded by WeBank, which will be responsible for implementation of the project cooperation after the project is established. The topic aims to promote cooperation between industry and universities and the frontier research of blockchain.
• Fund winners of this year will also have the opportunity to receive the following support:
  1. “Rhino-Bird Visiting Scholar”: Research fund winners have the opportunity to become a “Rhino-Bird Visiting Scholar” (see Appendix 4 for details) along with visiting partners, an allowance will be provided for any visit.
  2. “Technical Standardization Research”: Funded by Tencent's intellectual property team, Technical Standardization Research will be responsible for setting up the cooperation after the project is established. The research aims to promote the technical standardization in the research process. The amount of funding for each project is 50,000 yuan and the program will fund three projects.

2. Creativity Fund:

•  The fund is available for all applicants, aiming to encourage young scholars to explore creative original research ideas and promote intellectual property protection;
• Applicants can decide whether to apply for the creativity fund at their discretion while applying for other research funds. Applicants who receive research funds will automatically be excluded from the creativity fund. The amount of funding for each project is  50,000 yuan, and 10-20 projects will be funded (see Appendix 3 for details).

6. Intellectual Property

1. Copyrights and patents relating to project results, including but not limited to papers, project outcomes, and source code arising from the research process (except for WeBank block chain technology), will be jointly possessed by the authors, their institutions, and Tencent. For details, refer to cooperative agreement between the sponsor and the applicant’s institution. Papers and outcomes resulting from funded projects published during this period need to be marked “Sponsored by CCF-Tencent Open Fund” and will be included in the CCF Digital Library for free browsing by CCF members.
2. Copyrights and patents related to project results, including but not limited to papers, project outcomes, and source code arising from the research of the WeBank blockchain will be jointly possessed by the authors, their institutions, and WeBank. For details, refer to cooperative agreement between the sponsor and the applicant’s institution. Papers and project outcomes from funded projects published during this period need to be marked “Sponsored by CCF-Tencent Open Fund WeBank Special Funding” and will be included in the CCF Digital Library for free browsing by CCF members.

7. Project Management

1. Project Management

CCF and Tencent will establish a joint project team to manage projects.

• Project initiation: Jointly publish project information to the academic community at home and abroad;
• Project evaluation: Organize industry and academic experts to evaluate projects;
• Agreement execution: After the research fund (and creativity fund) is approved, the CCF represents Tencent, the grantees, and their employees in signing the project agreements. The grantees and their employees need to sign the project agreements. If the agreements cannot be signed within 3 months of the result being publicized for reasons attributable to the grantees or their employees, the funding is deemed to have been waived;
• During the project process: Grantees need to fill out the Interim Report Form (see Appendix 5) and participate in regular in-process meetings of their projects;
• Project conclusion: Grantees need to fill out the “Conclusion Report” (see Appendix 6), and participate in an on-site defense. The expert team will evaluate the project achievement and determine the award.

2. Research period and termination

The research period is 1 year from the date of project approval. After the project is approved, the grantee will not be replaced. If project research is interrupted for reasons attributable to the grantee, the project will be terminated and the balance of the allocated funds will be refunded according to the instructions for the use of the fund at the specific stage of the application. Applicants who receive grants from the fund in principle cannot abandon the fund support. If necessary, they must submit the “Fund Waiver Statement” and affix the official seals of their employees. The statement will be archived by the fund project team.

8. This Provision will be implemented as of the date of promulgation.