June 25th, 2022

Dear All,

The application for the 2022 Design-AI Lab Open Fund projects is now released. The Design-AI Lab at the China Academy of Art is one of the first groups of Philosophy and Social Sciences Laboratories designated by the Chinese Ministry of Education. With the positioning of meeting national urgent need and becoming a world-class laboratory, utilizing digital transformation of cultural and creative industries as the grip, and intelligent upgrading of art and design as the key, Design-AI Lab focuses on the key issues of technological innovation, content creation and service application in the development of cultural and creative design in the new era, thus promoting the implementation of the strategy of cultural strengthening, enhancing national cultural confidence, and cultural soft power. Design-AI Lab includes three major research directions: "Digital Perception and Computational Design", "Mixed Reality in Media Art" and "Collaborative Services in Design and Intelligent Manufacturing", which mainly focus on cross-discipline integration of technology and art.

In order to strengthen academic connections and exchanges between our laboratory and universities as well as research institutes in China and abroad, the "Design-AI Lab Open Fund" was established. This fund aims to promote the exchange and cooperation between the Laboratory and researchers from outside institutions through the opening up and collaboration of the laboratory, and to enable the development of new ideas, new methods and the concept of the interdisciplinary, which is conducive to the development of the laboratory and the production of high-level results, as well as the development of the discipline.

The following are matters related to the declaration of Open Fund projects:

I. Guiding Ideology

Adhering to the guidance of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era, focusing on the overall requirements of building philosophical and social sciences with Chinese characteristics, concentrating on the frontier issues of the development of various disciplines in the era of digital intelligence, emphasizing comprehensive interdisciplinary research, actively cultivating the research characteristics and advantageous research fields of the Design-AI Lab itself, striving to create high-level, iconic and serialized achievements, building a nationally influential highland of philosophy and social science research of the Ministry of Education.

II. Funding Amount and the Funding Objective

The 2022 Design-AI Lab Open Fund projects are divided into two categories: collaborative projects and general projects. The amount of funding for collaborative projects is 100,000~150,000 RMB per project, and the amount of funding for general projects is 60,000 RMB per project. The project research period is 1-2 years, and the project members must include researchers from the China Academy of Art. 50 percent of the total funding will be released by the Laboratory after the project is approved and established, and the remaining 50 percent will be released by the Laboratory after the project is completed and accepted.

Applicants should meet the following requirements:

1. Experience of undertaking the project research or engaging in related research.

2. Hold a senior professional and technical position or a doctoral degree, or submit the recommendations of two scientific and technical personnel in the same field of research, with senior professional and technical positions.

3. Not over 60 years of age in principle.

4. No adverse academic records.

III. Project Application

The project application process is organized by the Design-AI Lab of China Academy of Art under the guidance of the Research and Creation Division of China Academy of Art. Applicants can draw up their own research projects according to the following directions.

· Direction 1: research on digital-perceptual computational design.

· Direction 2: research on media art and mixed reality.

· Direction 3: research on design related collaborative services.

· Direction 4: research on game and interactive art.

Each applicant can only apply for one project for the 2022 Design-AI Lab Open Fund projects, the project completion time is generally limited to 2 years, and the research time starts from the approved date of the project.

IV. Closing Requirements

Project research results must be closely related to the declared theme and research scope. Both collaborative projects and general projects must result in the publication of at least one paper, and the journal must be indexed by SCI/SSCI/AHCI (subject to official publication or online publication) or first-class journals in China (refer to the catalog of research assessment journals of China Academy of Art or journals recognized by the Academic Committee of the Laboratory), the authors or co-authors of the paper must include researchers from the China Academy of Art.

Both the acknowledgement section of the English paper and the funded project column of the Chinese paper must be marked with the phrase, “Supported by Design-AI lab of China Academy of Art”. For the publication of the results of collaborative projects, the first institute must be "Design-AI lab, China Academy of Art". If the above requirements are not met, the completion of the project will not be approved.

V. Project Management

After the approval of the project, the project leader must comply with the Project Management Measures of the Design-AI Lab Open Fund (Annex 2) and the relevant project management system. The Laboratory and the project leader should sign the “Project Approval Agreement” to clarify the relevant requirements.

Project management is the specific responsibility of the Design-AI lab of China Academy of Art. The Laboratory supervises the project leader to complete the research task according to the project plan with high quality, and cooperates in the project management and archiving work.

VI. Application Material Guidelines

1. Applicants are requested to fill out the "2022 Design-AI Lab Open Fund Project Application Form" (Annex 1), which can be downloaded in the Annex.

2. The application deadline for open fund projects is July 30, 2022. The Lab will organize the academic committee to evaluate the applied projects and fund them on merit. The application materials will not be returned to those not accepted.

Please send the electronic version of the application form to caalab@126.com, indicating "Name + Design-AI Lab Open Fund Project Application". Please also send four copies of the paper version stamped with an official seal to the Design-AI Lab, Xiangshan Campus of China Academy of Art, West Lake District, Hangzhou. (If the application cannot be sent due to Covid-19 or other special reasons, please send the scanned copy of the application form with the official seal to the receiving email address.)

VII. Other Requirements

1. During the research period of an Open Fund funded project, the project leader is required to give two or three basic general education lectures or online courses at the China Academy of Art in the area under study.

2. Applicants have academic exchanges with teachers of relevant disciplines in China Academy of Art during the project funding period to discuss issues such as the transformation of results, which can be used as supporting materials in the form of academic reports at the end of the project.

VIII. Contact Information

Contact person:

Ms. Lu

Address: Room 201, Building 11, Xiangshan Central Campus, China Academy of Art, Xihu District, Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province

Postal code: 310024

E-mail: caalab@126.com

Tel: (+86) 0571-87200565

Design-AI Lab

China Academy of Art

Hangzhou, China

Annex1: 2022 Design-AI Lab Open Fund Project Application Form