Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, or WIAS, hosted academic talents from China and abroad for the first time on July 9, 2016 in Beijing for introduction and interviews. It was the first round of global recruitment since the institute was registered as a non-profit high level research institute in December 2015. Out of hundreds of applications, fifteen outstanding candidates were invited to Beijing to meet with WIAS and our leading scientists.

According to individual specialized areas, candidates joined interviews in two groups: Biology and Medical Sciences Group, Physics and Engineering Sciences Group. Among them, 7 candidates participated in the Biology and Medical Sciences Group interview, and Professor Yi Rao served as head of the judges in this group, while Professor Jianwei Pan hosted interviews for the Physics and Engineering Sciences Group candidates.

Each candidate had 45 minutes to give a 30-minute presentation and answer questions from the judges in a 15-minute Q&A session. The judges looked at the candidates’ credentials in various aspects such as education and work experience, outstanding academic achievements and their impacts, as well as research plans after joining the WIAS. Both sides enjoyed open and active discussion after the formal interviews, covering subjects ranging from the prospects of candidates’ research plans to the vision and strategies of WIAS.

Westlake Institute for Advanced Study, or WIAS, is a non-profit research institute that is dedicated to the advancement of natural sciences and the frontiers of engineering disciplines. WIAS is located in the beautiful Yunxi Township of Westlake District, Hangzhou, China. As a small and fine research institute, WIAS strives to build world-class modern research systems and advanced talent-cultivating models with the commitment in forefront basic scientific research and training of doctoral students. 

We invite top talents and experts to form the four founding institutes: Institute for Biology, Institute for Basic Medical Sciences, Institute for Natural Sciences and Institute for Advanced Technology. WIAS adopts the tenure-track faculty appointment system with competitive, flexible and international standards, covering ranks from Assistant Professor, Associate Professor to Professor (Endowed Chair Professor). WIAS plans to recruit 80 to 100 academic talents for the above three ranks of professors from 2016 to 2019.