By Jiang Peng and Chu Shuting
Zhang Jie, Director of Tsung-Dao Lee Institute (TDLI), Shanghai Jiao Tong University; Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. [Photo/Yuan Jing]
Strengthening basic research is a prerequisite for achieving high-level scientific and technological self-sufficiency and self-improvement. During this year’s Two Sessions (National People's Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference), one of the hot topics was how to carry out organized scientific research by the principle of “walking on two legs”, that is, being both free-spirited and goal-oriented.
“For historical reasons, over the past 40 years, basic research in China has mostly centered on questions raised by other countries and lacking in originality. As China’s total investment in scientific research has reached the second highest in the world, we should stop answering questions set by others especially when it comes to fundamental research. In addition to delving into topics of our interest, we should also call for researchers to intentionally take advantage of the big science research paradigm, and focus on the forefront of today’s science to expand our understanding of the fundamental laws and to make significant contributions to the progress of human civilization.” Zhang Jie, director of Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in an exclusive interview with Wenhui Daily.
Zhang Jie pointed out that disruptive innovations in the era of big science were often traced back to cross-disciplinary and cross-organizational teams and highly efficient resource allocation. To bring the advantages of the big science research paradigm into full play, strategic scientists must be brought together to carry out top-level design and narrow down the fundamental questions for big science. The strategic scientists are responsible for disassembling the big science questions into free-spirited questions. And after solving the free-exploration questions, the strategic scientists should reassemble the results into goal-oriented solutions.
To effectively disassemble the issues with and to “reassemble” the results of free exploration of disassembled issues at the implementation stage.
Transforming the advantages of large-scale scientific facilities into the advantages of big science research paradigm
Wenhui Daily: : Could you tell us from your research experience how paradigm change in scientific research will affect basic research?
Zhang Jie: As basic science frontier research continues to advance towards the micro and macroscopic realms, humanity increasingly relies on the extreme detection capabilities of large-scale scientific facilities to promote the research into fundamental scientific laws. Statistics show that, since the 1970s, about 40% of the world’s Nobel Prize winning achievements in physics have been obtained through the use of large-scale scientific facilities, forming a major characteristic of big science research paradigms that focus on fundamental scientific questions, leverage the advantages of extreme detection capabilities of large scientific facilities, engage in organized research and multi-disciplinary collaboration, and enjoy stable funding support. This is also the main research paradigm that the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute will adopt.
Just as the path of China's economic and social development has gone from "catching up" to "keeping pace" and gradually starting to "take the lead" in some fields, China's basic research has also gone through these stages. This new historical development stage also puts forward higher requirements for China's basic scientific research, which is to combine free exploration and organized scientific research, give full play to the advantages of the big science research paradigm, and achieve important breakthroughs in understanding fundamental scientific laws.
After more than 20 years of continuous investment and construction, the number of China's large scientific facilities has reached the second in the world. However, how to systematically transform the advantages of large scientific facilities into the advantages of the big science research paradigm to conduct organized scientific research and exploration into the most fundamental scientific issues still requires continuous exploration and practice.
Wenhui Daily: Has the meaning of basic research changed in the past decades? What stage do you think we are at now as far as basic research is concerned?
Zhang Jie: Basic research is the source of scientific and technological innovation, and it is the continuous exploration of natural mysteries and fundamental laws. As far as China is concerned, with the rapid advances of our economic and social undertakings, the meaning of basic research has changed dramatically in the past decades.
With the rapid progress in economic and social development, China has affixed more and more value to basic research, and poured more and more investment into it. Specifically speaking, investment in basic research in China has increased from 49.9 billion RMB in 2012 to 195.1 billion RMB in 2022, with an average annual growth of nearly 15% over the past decade, and the proportion of basic research R&D expenditure in the R&D fund of the whole society has increased from 4.8% to 6.3%. The increased investment has allowed our basic research to “lead” in more fields and achieve more significant breakthroughs in the understanding of fundamental scientific laws.
It was against that background that the Tsung-Dao Lee Institute, where I am currently working, came into being. Professor Tsung-Dao Lee had always believed that China should have a top basic scientific research institution like Bohr Institute to contribute to the progress of human civilization. The Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark gathered a group of outstanding scientists in the last century and played a fundamental role in the development of quantum science and even the development of physics as a whole in the 20th century. In fact, their work ushered in the third scientific and technological revolution.
Now, the world is facing the fourth technological revolution. China has developed to the point where it is capable of achieving more breakthroughs in basic research. It is important for China to seize the best window for rapid development of basic scientific research. The founding mission of TDLI is to build a world-class institute in the field of basic science, which serves as a magnet for world-leading scientists, a launch pad for early career scientists, and a free haven for scientific exploration. Meanwhile, the institute is committed to giving full play to the advantages of the big science research paradigm in unraveling those incomprehensible cosmic mysteries in basic research and making greater contributions to the progress of human civilization.
Bringing together more strategic scientists to tackle big science issues
Wenhui Daily: The big science research paradigm places more emphasis on goal-oriented and collaborative innovation among scientists, but scientists by nature seem to appreciate free exploration. How can we balance the goal-oriented, organized big science research with the free exploration of scientists?
Zhang Jie: There is no contradiction between the paradigm of organized big science research and free exploration. Take my research in physics as an example.
Generally speaking, the goals of basic research in physics are broadly divided into two categories: one is to explore the mysteries of nature and thus satisfy human curiosity about the natural world and the unknown of the universe; the other is to crack the difficult problems that hinder the development of human society so that human beings can live better. The two goals are pursued by all physicists, despite the fact that they have different interests and specialize in different fields.
On a societal level, achieving a balance between organized big science research and free exploration is key. This requires establishing a system of division of labor and sharing among scientists, creating opportunities and an environment for free exchange of ideas, and inspiring every scientist to pursue the unknown and fulfill their mission. At the same time, we also need to gather more insightful strategic scientists.
Why are strategic scientists so important? Let me take my own research as an example. I am engaged in laser fusion research, which typically requires large teams, large facilities, and large investments. Once the optimal laser fusion reactions are achieved, they will not only meet the needs of the ultimate energy of sustainable development for humanity, but also push our limit of exploring nature to unprecedented levels. Currently, we are at a critical juncture where we can achieve laser fusion reactions where output energy exceeds input energy, but there are still many basic scientific issues to be solved.
In 2018, when we started to form our team, we had no research funding, no diagnostic equipment or theoretical simulation programs, and no target making facilities, so we were basically starting from scratch. Fortunately, with the dream of finding the ultimate energy source, many scientists "brought their own provisions" and joined our joint research team.
Around our common goal, we decomposed the basic scientific problems in the laser fusion process and continuously pushed forward the solution to these problems. From the early stages of 2018 to 2020, many of the professors in our team had hardly published any relevant papers because of changing their channels. That was a very difficult period for each of us. However, since 2020, we have had eight rounds of large-scale laser fusion experiments, and we have continuously made breakthroughs, solving a batch of basic scientific problems related to the laser fusion process. Last year, our team of scientists published more than 60 research papers, and there will be more heavyweight papers to be published this year. It can be said that while our joint research team is continuously advancing toward major scientific goals, free exploration is also making progress.
About 80-90% of China’s basic science research is based on scientists’ free exploration. When the scientists' innermost dreams are inspired, their free exploration naturally provides solutions to the basic scientific problems in big science research. What is important is to leverage the advantages of the big scientific research paradigm, where a group of strategic scientists jointly focus on selecting topics, advancing research, decomposing problems, and "assembling" results throughout the entire innovation chain of basic scientific research. Of course, in addition to this, efforts must also be made to ensure stable funding and improve scientific research management, for example, by establishing a sound evaluation mechanism.
Establishing a sound evaluation system to support high-risk original research
Wenhui Daily: Original research is often high-risk research. Speaking of evaluation, how, in your mind, can we encourage researchers to commit to their research, to be calm and remain devoted “benchwarmers”?
Zhang Jie: Indeed, the most innovative research often involves high risk. To firmly focus on achieving high-level technological self-reliance, we currently need to initiate more reforms across the entire system of research evaluation.
It should be noted that under the traditional evaluation system dominated by publication, some scientific researchers tend to do "free exploration" that is easier to publish, that is, only "scientific research that can publish good papers." This phenomenon occurs not only in physics but also in other disciplines. In fact, such pursuit of quick success not only has a negative impact on the growth of young people but also damages the healthy development of disciplines and scientific research.
However, we can also see that the incentive system for scientific innovation in China is undergoing welcoming changes. For example, in the laser fusion joint research team I lead, two important members respectively from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, are the chief operators for experimental diagnosis in our 8 rounds of large-scale joint experiments. They have a unique understanding and superb skills in laser fusion experimental diagnosis. Last year, they were promoted to research fellows in their respective institutions for their actual scientific research contributions, rather than for any publishing papers. Another example is the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. As a member of our project, a number of researchers in the institute have been promoted for their actual scientific contributions rather than simply for their publications. It can be said that the establishment of such an evaluation system not only provides incentives for researchers themselves but also undoubtedly inspire and motivate young researchers and students at large.
Therefore, when it comes to big science, in the long run, if researchers make progress or even breakthroughs in exploring important scientific issues but cannot publish enough papers, their contributions should be included in the actual scientific research incentive and funding system.
Wenhui Daily: About scientific research management, can you tell us how to better guide young researchers so they are willing to devote themselves to science?
Zhang Jie: For young scientists, we need to give them time and continuous support. We should not interfere too much with their free exploration. Whenever we talk about this issue, some people like to argue with extreme examples that it takes 10, 15, or even more years to produce results in basic research. It is true that basic research requires patience and a willingness to be a “benchwarmer”, but six years is basically enough to judge the value of a certain project in a research institution with a relaxed research environment that encourages communication among researchers.
The TDLI has gathered a group of world-class scientists and a group of young scientists full of dreams. After being recruited, each young researcher will be “mentored” by 1-2 senior scientists. During the six-year employment period, we normally conduct only a diagnostic assessment of their research in the third year so we can give them some advice on their research, which the young scientists may or may not follow, and we make a final evaluation of their research progress and their potential for future development in the sixth year.
After all, we need to give young people more space for free exploration. A stable support system for scientific research is also needed. Of course, to promote the big science research paradigm, we must make improvements in many more areas. For example, the application process for large-scale scientific facilities funds is too long, there is still a lack of stable channels for operational funding, and it is difficult for some international scholars to apply for research grants. However, I believe that with China’s deepening reform in the area of basic research, we will definitely accumulate more valuable experience and make more remarkable achievements.