On September 8, 2025, Dou Xiankang, President of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), met with a delegation led by Dr. Magdalena Skipper, Editor-in-Chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Advisor for the Nature Portfolio.

President Dou extended a warm welcome to Dr. Skipper for her visit and introduced NSFC’s reform initiatives in talent development and international cooperation. He pointed out that as a key channel in China for supporting basic research and applied basic research, NSFC shall fully leverage its role in nurturing outstanding scientific research talents and continuously expand international cooperation and exchanges in basic research and applied basic research. NSFC has launched a series of reform measures to actively explore the path of independent cultivation of talents in basic research, including advancing the funding port for talents, piloting funding for outstanding undergraduate and doctoral students, implementing category evaluation and continued funding for the concluded projects of the "Young Scientist Fund Type (A) ", and establishing the Department of International Programs to strengthen international cooperation. He stated that NSFC is willing to enhance exchanges and cooperation with Springer Nature to jointly support the growth of scientific researchers and contribute to breakthroughs in global basic research.

Dr. Skipper introduced the current global development of Nature and reviewed how the journal has kept pace with the times, continuously expanding its disciplinary coverage to generate practical impact and better support scientific research and social progress in the 21st century. Afterwards, the two sides conducted in-depth discussions and exchanges on issues such as how to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between NSFC and Springer Nature.

Attending the meeting were Nick Campbell, Vice President of Academic Affairs at Springer Nature; Arnout Jacobs, President of Springer Nature Greater China; Yao Yupeng, Executive Deputy Director of the Department of Earth Sciences and Deputy Director of the Bureau of Planning and Policy of NSFC; Fan Yingjie, Director General of the Bureau of International Cooperation of NSFC; Li Dong, Deputy Director of the Center for Science Communication and Achievement Transformation and Director of the Information Center of NSFC, as well as relevant staff members.