Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund - 2025

Announcement of the publication by the China-Russia Mathematical Center of the Guidelines for Submitting Applications to the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund.

For potential applicants:

The China-Russia Mathematical Center established the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund (hereinafter referred to as the Mathematical Problems Fund). The goals of the fund are to support talented scientists in conducting scientific research at the intersection of pure mathematics and industry, to create a platform for cooperation between industry, education and scientific research, and a mechanism for joint innovation between scientific and industrial circles. The Mathematical Problems Fund operates under the auspices of Peking University and Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The Fund announces a competition for research projects in one of the proposed 17 areas, the project funding amount is 500,000 CNY for 12 months, the work period is from November 2025 to November 2026.

The Technical Committee, formed from leading experts from both countries, is responsible for the selection and financing of projects of the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund.

The application process for foundation grants is described below.

Competition regulations

  1. The applicant submits an application in the form of a project in accordance with the content of the research in the selected problem. The project must be presented in full and must cover all the indicators specified in the selected area. The project applicant specifies one scientist as the project manager.
  2. It is necessary to focus on the selected area and unite strong teams to jointly study the problems.
  3. The project applicant, in accordance with the guidelines, must fill out an application to the foundation on the website https://istina.msu.ru/home/contests/srmcf2025/ .
  4. After the application is accepted for the competition of the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund, it will be reviewed by the competition committee for innovation, feasibility, practicality, etc., which will determine the value of the project.
  5. If a winning project from Russia is determined in the category (area), an agreement will be concluded with it with the Russian representative office of the Fund.

Research directions (problems list)

№

Problem title

1

High-Precision Vector Retrieval Algorithm based on Binary Quantization

2

Low-bit Attention Acceleration Algorithm

3

Expert Weight Compression Algorithm for MoE Models

4

Reuse of multi-document KV (Key-Value)

5

Out-of-Distribution (OOD) vector retrieval

6

A Memory-Efficient FTL Design for Flash-Based SSDs

7

Generalized Prefetching for High-Latency Scenarios

8

Direct mapping of Massive MIMO algorithms to low-level operator combinations

9

Massive MIMO signal tensor compression and direct calculation

10

Low Bitwidth Calculation for High Condition Number Matrix Decomposition and Inverse

11

Inversion of Structured Matrix

12

Parallel Computing with Low Complexity Based on Function Interpolation

13

Approximate error backpropagation/training algorithm for multilayer models

14

Dynamic Interference Channel Prediction―Parameter Estimation in Non-Stationary Environments

15

Efficient Computing - Low Bitwidth Forward Networks

16

Joint Optimization of Operator scheduling & Memory allocation

17

[Optimization problem] Route planning

Note: The intellectual property rights of the project-related achievements formed by the Funding project during the project research process, including but not limited to papers, works, source code, etc., shall be shared by the Funder, the applicant and the unit to which the applicant belongs to. Detailed terms are specifically agreed by the project funding agreement.

Key dates

Dates

Description

August 8

Announcement of the start of accepting applications

October 10

Completion of the application process and the beginning of their consideration

At the end of October

Expert organizers review all applications

At the beginning of November

Publication of the competition results

In mid-November

Signing of relevant agreements with the applicant

At the end of November

The award ceremony for the winners of the competition is planned at a joint Sino-Russian conference on mathematics

May 2026

Report on the progress of the project in the medium term

November 2026

Exchange of information on project results

Eligibility requirements for declaration

1) The applicant of the project is a university or scientific research institute registered in China or Russian Federation, with independent legal entities, strong scientific and technological research and development capabilities and conditions, experienced international cooperation foundation, and standardized operation and management.

2) Applicants must have a senior title or doctorate degree and be born after January 1, 1965.

3) The applicant shall be the proposer of the main research idea of the project and the scientific and technological personnel who actually preside over the research.

4) Each applicant is limited to apply one project.

Application preparation process

1) To submit an application, you must register in the ISTINA system

2) The application is submitted in the form of a project corresponding to one of the 17 research areas listed in the Guidelines for Submitting Applications, which can be found in the attached file. The project must be a single whole and reflect all the indicators specified in the relevant section of the Guidelines. The group submitting the application recommends one research fellow as the project manager.

3) The team of performers may consist of representatives of several organizations united to jointly solve key problems within the framework of the specified research areas. The involvement of young researchers as project managers is encouraged

4) The procedure for submitting an application and evaluating a project by the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund is as follows:

  • Applicants fill out an application form to the Sino-Russian Mathematical Challenge Fund on the website https://istina.msu.ru/home/contests/srmcf2025/. A scanned copy of the form, signed by the project manager and the head of the organization or his authorized deputy, is also uploaded to the website. Signatures are certified by the organization's official seal.
  • The Fund's Technical Committee evaluates applications in terms of their novelty, feasibility, and practical applicability and selects the best projects for funding.
  • After the announcement of the competition results, the applicant and the organization of the applicant of the winning project sign a funding contract. For winning projects in China, the contract is signed with Peking University, for winning projects in the Russian Federation, the contract is signed with the organization funding the project.

 

 

Specific declaration method

Applicants in China shall fill in the Application Form for the China-Russia Mathematics Challenge Fund (both Chinese and English), and send the Word and signed and stamped PDF versions with to srmc_fund@math.pku.edu.cn by 24:00 on 10th October, 2025 (Beijing time). Overdue proposals will not be accepted.

Applicants in Russia shall fill in the Application for the Sino-Russian Mathematics Challenge Fund (English version) and submit to https://istina.msu.ru/home/contests/srmcf2025/ by 24:00 on 10th October, 2025 (Moscow time) after getting consent of the units which applicants belong to is before submitting the application. Overdue proposals will not be accepted.

In case of difficulties when working with the Istina system (https://istina.msu.ru) – use the editable application template SRMCF-2025_Application_Form_English_Template.doc, fill out the document, print, sign and stamp it, then scan and send it to the organizer’s email address indicated in the contacts below.

List of competition winners:

  • Shao Mingjie, Chinese Academy of Sciences 
  • Vladimir E. Misilov, Ural Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences
  • Yan Xiaodong, Xi’an Jiaotong University
  • Mikhalev Alexander Yuryevich, Skoltech
  • Li Chun, Shenzhen MSU-BIT University
  • Ilvovsky Dmitry, HSE
  • Tang Yuan, Fudan University
  • Zhao Xile, University of electronic Science and Technology of China
  • Gong Rongfang, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Jiang Wei, Wuhan University
  • Seungmin Jin, HSE
  • Liu Zhaobo, Shenzhen University
  • Alexander Veniaminovich Kononov, Sobolev Institute of Mathematics
  • Artem Valeryevich Pyatkin, Sobolev Institute of Mathematics

Contest files (must read)

№   File Description
1 SRMCF_2025_Project_Application_Guide.pdf  Description of competition tasks (in English) 
2 SRMCF_2025_Application_Form_English_Template.pdf  Application form template (in English) 
3 SRMCF-2025_Application_Form_English_Template.doc   Application form template, Word document (in English) 

 

 

Contacts

Email for inquiries regarding various applications: