The Key Laboratory of Affective Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines in Anhui Province relies on three doctoral programs (Computer Science and Technology, Information and Communication Engineering, Software Engineering) and three postdoctoral research stations (Computer Science and Technology, Information and Communication Engineering, Software Engineering) at Hefei University of Technology, as well as two key disciplines in Anhui Province (Computer Application Technology, Signal and Information Processing). With advanced intelligence as the guidance, emotional computing as the core and feature, advanced intelligent machines as the carrier, and emotional intelligent robots as the highlight, the laboratory conducts research on emotional computing and advanced intelligent machines. The laboratory adheres to the operation mechanism of "openness, mobility, cooperation, and competition". In order to give full play to the role of the provincial key laboratory, further strengthen academic exchanges and cooperation at home and abroad, promote academic research and academic exchanges, consolidate relevant research results, and improve the openness of the laboratory's research, the laboratory has set up a "self-innovation special project" for external subjects. The relevant matters for the application of the "self-innovation special project" for this year are notified as follows:

1. Project funding scope and conditions

1.1  The research of the project should be based on the research direction of the key laboratory and meet the needs of laboratory construction and development.

1.2  Priority will be given to research projects in the field of affective computing and advanced intelligent machines that have important academic significance and significant application value, as well as researchers who have made significant achievements in key laboratory "open topics". In addition, researchers from key industries in Anhui Province are encouraged to apply.

The following individuals are not eligible to apply as project leaders: full-time graduate students (including those currently enrolled), retired researchers, researchers currently undertaking open fund projects of this laboratory, and university staff members currently undertaking or applying for other central scientific research basic business fee support projects (except for young teachers' research innovation start-up projects). The number of central scientific research basic business fee support projects in which university staff members participate as project participants should be less than 3.

For external applicants, the project team must have a fixed member of this laboratory as the second applicant, who will be responsible for the internal project approval and financial approval. The age of the first applicant should not exceed 40 years old (born after January 1, 1983), and external personnel should generally be mid-level or higher scientific researchers in leading enterprises in this industry.

1.3 Non-key laboratory researchers who are employed and apply for projects should have a senior (including senior) professional title or have obtained a doctoral degree. Applicants should have a good research foundation and work experience, and must obtain the consent of their unit or department, and complete the application procedures with complete documentation.

2. Key funded research directions

2.1 The key funded research directions include affective computing, natural language understanding and text sentiment analysis, audiovisual information cognition and affective computing, wearable computing and affective communication (embedded and mobile computing), and robot cloud computing.

2.2 For detailed information on the main content of each research direction, please refer to the "Application Guide for the '2023 Key Laboratory of Affective Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines in Anhui Province Autonomous Innovation Project'" (see Annex 1).

3.Application and Approval

3.1 Applicants should carefully fill out the "Application for the 2023 Emotion Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory Independent Innovation Project" (hereinafter referred to as the "Application") in the specified format according to the "Application Guide for the 2023 Emotion Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines Anhui Provincial Key Laboratory Independent Innovation Project" released by the key laboratory.

3.2 The applicant's unit should sign the opinion, and the unit leader should sign and affix the official seal on the application. Three copies of the application should be sent to the key laboratory before the acceptance deadline (based on the postmark). Please refer to the application guide for the application deadline.

3.3 The key laboratory will conduct a qualification review of the project application and submit the qualified application materials to experts in the relevant discipline for preliminary review.

3.4 The key laboratory will submit the projects that have passed the preliminary review to the academic committee for evaluation, determine the funded projects, and notify the applicants of the evaluation results.

3.5 After the project application is approved, the project leader, together with the project collaborators designated by the key laboratory, will revise the project design and fill out the project plan tasks (contract) in order to formally establish the project at the key laboratory.

4.Project Management

4.1 The project acceptance period is two years, and the funding amount is not less than 50,000 yuan per project.

4.2 All project funds will not be allocated externally. The funds must be executed before September 30th of the year of allocation. 60% of the project funds will be allocated in the first year, and the remaining 40% will be allocated after the mid-term inspection of the project in the next year. The project acceptance period is 2 years. For applicants from external institutions, there must be a fixed member of this laboratory as the second applicant in the project team, serving as the internal project leader and financial approver, assisting the project applicant in handling financial reporting and transfer procedures.

4.3 The Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines is responsible for the implementation and management of the "Independent Innovation Project." The management includes:

(1) Verifying and implementing project funding;

(2) Inspecting the progress and quality of the project;

(3) Project acceptance;

(4) Reporting research results to relevant departments.

4.4 During the project implementation process, the project leader should submit an annual project progress report to the key laboratory. After reviewing the report, the key laboratory will provide feedback and determine whether to continue funding.

4.5 Within 2 months after the project implementation period expires, the project leader should carefully fill out the "Summary Report of the Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing and Advanced Intelligent Machines' Independent Innovation Project." The report should include a summary of work, project completion status, list of achievements, software source code, and list of papers, etc. After the report is reviewed and signed by the project collaborators, the key laboratory will organize acceptance and notify the research unit of the project's completion status. Failure to submit the summary report as required will result in the cancellation of the project leader's eligibility for future external projects of the key laboratory and notification to their work unit. For projects with outstanding achievements, priority funding will be given in the next year's application for external projects of the key laboratory.

4.6 The achievements of the project (papers, awards, patent applications, or technology transfers, etc.) will be shared by the project leader's institution and the key laboratory. When publishing papers or applying for awards, it should be noted that it is supported by "the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (Grant No. XXXXXXXXX)." In addition, the author's affiliation should be marked as "Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing & Advanced Intelligent Machine, Anhui, P.R. China" in Chinese and "Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing & Advanced Intelligent Machine, Anhui, P.R. China" in English, and the achievements should be copied and archived in the key laboratory.

4.7 If there are significant changes to the research plan during the project research process, it must be approved by the key laboratory before implementation.

4.8 If academic misconduct such as fraud or plagiarism is discovered, the key laboratory has the right to recover the funded funds. If it causes damage to the reputation of the key laboratory, the key laboratory has the right to pursue legal responsibilities.

5.Fund Management

5.1 The project funds are special funds invested by the Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing & Advanced Intelligent Machine for the "Independent Innovation Project". In the specific use process, it must be executed according to the project budget and approved through the prescribed procedures.

5.2 The use of project funds must comply with national financial policies and relevant regulations of the Ministry of Science and Technology.

5.3 Project funds are allocated annually based on project execution and progress.

5.4 After the project is completed, the remaining funds and all relevant research data, including instruments, equipment, software, and original experimental records purchased with the "Independent Innovation Project" funds, belong to the Key Laboratory.

Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Affective Computing & Advanced Intelligent Machine

June 5, 2023