To promote innovation and development in the field of dark matter research and enhance collaborative research efforts between domestic and international scientific teams, the State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics (hereinafter referred to as "the Lab") is now calling for proposals for 2025 lab-directed external research projects. The initiative encourages and supports researchers from domestic universities and research institutions in conducting cutting-edge scientific research and key technological research & development, with a focus on areas such as interactions between dark matter and atoms/neutrinos/electromagnetic fields, and large-scale behavior of dark matter.
Application Requirements
1. Applicants should independently select topics based on the guidelines, clearly define research backgrounds and needs, and propose research objectives, content, methodology, technical indicators, and evaluation criteria.
2. Applicants should generally hold a Ph.D. or senior professional technical title. Applicants should have a thorough understanding of domestic and international research developments in the relevant field and be capable of leading the proposed research project.
3. The 2025 external research projects are open to researchers from domestic universities, research institutes, and affiliated scientific institutions, who should have certain cooperative foundation with fixed personnel of the Lab. The funding amount is generally no more than 100,000 CNY per project with a research period of 18 months. The application should be truthful, with a detailed budget.
4. Research outputs generated from the funded external research projects shall belong to the Lab and applicant's institution. All publications and results must include the acknowledgment of "Supported by the State Key Laboratory of Dark Matter Physics."
Submission Guidelines
1. Applicants shall fill in the application form according to the template (click the attachment to download the template), and send the electronic version of the application (the Word version and the signed and stamped PDF scan) by email to dm-phys-lab@sjtu.edu.cn before June 20, 2025. Meanwhile, the signed and stamped hard copy of the application shall be mailed to the Management Office of the Lab (double-sided printing, in triplicate). Late submissions will not be accepted.
2. Upon receipt of application materials, the Lab will organize and conduct the review process. Approved projects will be formally established and funded.
Contact Information of Management Office
Contact：Dr. Zhang, 18217325905
Address: Room S527, 1 Lisuo Road, Pudong New Area, Shanghai
Attachment:Form-for-external-project.docx
External research project guidelines
1-1 Conduct dark matter research (preferably with PandaX data) and carry out technological research & development, serving the general scientific needs of PandaX.
1-2 Perform phenomenological and technical studies on indirect detection and collider detection of dark matter.
2-1 Investigations of using low and high energy neutrino data, including DBD spectrum, neutrino-dark matter interaction, and multi-messenger physics, in connection with PandaX, TRIDENT, and DarkSHINE detectors, to access various aspects of dark matter and neutrino interactions and new physics. Precise understanding of background counts and spectral shapes proves critical for enhancing sensitivity in dark matter searches and its interactions with neutrinos.
3-1 Conduct research on the production and detection of dark matter (such as axions and dark photons) using laser plasma, and propose experimental scheme designs.
3-2 Perform scheme design studies for single-photon detection in axion dark matter searches, focusing on light-shining-through-a-wall experiments based on ultra-intense laser plasma axion generation.
4-1 Fiber assignment strategy and pipeline development for the JUST telescope.
4-2 Application of machine learning in large-scale dark matter distribution mapping and property identification.