The National Research Foundation, Prime Minister's Office, Singapore and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) signed a five-year Memorandum of Understanding in November 2015 to explore collaboration through joint grant calls.
The inaugural joint call addressed two topics of mutual interest, i.e. data science and emerging infectious diseases. The selected projects from the inaugural call are listed below.
NRF-NSFC Joint Research Grant Call (Data Science)
| No | Project Title | Principle Investigator | Host Institution |
| 1 | Optimisation-based modelling and algorithmic study for deep analyses of big cancer genomic data | Dr Zhang Louxin | National University of Singapore |
| 2 | Integrative profiling of epigenomic landscape of kidney cancer (clear cell renal cell carcinoma) for precision therapy | Prof Teh Bin Tean | Duke-NUS Medical School |
| 3 | Realistic immersion with virtual humans | Prof Magnenat Thalmann Nadia | Nanyang Technological University |
| 4 | Multilingual Multimodal Knowledge Graph (M3KG) and its application in Smart Nation | Prof Chua Tat-seng | National University of Singapore |
| 5 | Sequence design for data reduction over time-varying channels | Prof Guan Yong Liang | Nanyang Technological University |
| 6 | DCMMH: Dietary Computational Model for Mobile Health | Dr Wang Gang | Nanyang Technological University |
| 7 | Lattice Boltzmann simulation and experimental study of aeroacoustic damping of Helmholtz cavity-backed perforated orifices in combustion systems (LBADH) | Prof Zhao Dan | Nanyang Technological University |
| 8 | Multi-source multi-target deep neural networks based on novel parallel/distributed CPU/GPU hybrid architecture for train fault detection | Dr Zeng Zeng | Institute for Infocomm Research |
| 9 | Managing, linking and analysing heterogeneous trajectory data | Dr Wu Huayu | Institute for Infocomm Research |
NRF-NSFC Joint Grant Call (Emerging Infectious Diseases)
| No | Project Title | Principal Investigator | Host Institution |
| 1 | Discovery of Sialic Acid-Based Influenza Antiviral Agents (DiscSIA) | Prof Liu Xuewei | Nanyang Technological University |
| 2 | Development of chimeric Zika vaccine candidates based on different flavivirus attenuated strains for prevention of emerging Zika virus outbreaks (ZIKAVAC) | Dr Chu Justin Jang Hann | National University of Singapore |
| 3 | Combating the next SARS- or MERS-like emerging infectious disease outbreak by improving active surveillance | Prof Wang Linfa | Duke-NUS Medical School |
| 4 | Deciphering antibody repertoire response to influenza virus in immunised non-human primates using next-generation sequencing, antibody cloning, and bioinformatics analysis to establish a model for predictive evaluation of influenza vaccine | Prof Tan Yee Joo | National University of Singapore |
| 5 | Regulation of Hepatitis B virus replication and transcription: Structure and Function | Dr Yuan Adam (Yu-Ren) | National University of Singapore |
