TEHRAN – Following the sixth joint call by the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), Iran and China will support the implementation of 15 research projects by faculty members.

The grant, amounting to 50 billion rials (some $28,800) for each research project for at least three years, will be allocated to the following fields, INSF.org reported.

1. Water and Energy:
AI-powered smart irrigation systems for water-scarce and saline environments; Integrated water resource management under drought and climate variability conditions; and Energy-efficient advanced technologies for water treatment and seawater/brackish water desalination.

2. Energy storage and hydrogen technologies:
Renewable energy integration into national grid and distribution networks; Agricultural and medical biotechnology; Genetic improvement of strategic crops for drought, salinity and heat resistance using molecular breeding techniques; Microbial biotechnology for food security: bio-fertilizers, single-cell proteins, and probiotics, biopesticides and biological control; Recombinant drugs and biosimilars: process development, purification, and quality control; and Novel drug delivery systems based on biological origins (nano-carriers, liposomes).

In January, the INSF and the NSFC agreed to cooperate in joint projects in Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants: 

1- Evidence-based integration and standardization of traditional Chinese and traditional Persian medicine for major diseases; Sustainable medicinal plants: eco-cultivation, biodiversity, and resilience; and the Application of Digital and AI Tools in the Classification, Analysis, and Clinical Research of Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants.

2. Energy: Renewable Energy; High-efficiency Utilization of Conventional Energy; Energy-Related Materials; Storage Technologies; and the Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Energy Field.