Mid-term Self-Evaluation Meeting of the National Key R&D Program Project “Frontier Scientific Research Based on the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope” Held
From May 16 to 18, 2026, the mid-term self-evaluation meeting of the National Key R&D Program project “Frontier Scientific Research Based on the 2.5-meter Wide Field Survey Telescope” (PI: Professor Xu Kong, School of Physical Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, USTC) was held in a hybrid format (both in-person and online) at the first-floor conference room of the Materials Science Research Building at USTC.
The meeting was attended by the project responsible expert, Associate Director Professor Qixiang Qi from the Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); project expert group leader Academician Yipeng Jing from Shanghai Jiao Tong University; expert group members Researcher Jifeng Liu (Director of the National Astronomical Observatories, CAS), Researcher Xuefei Chen (Director of Yunnan Observatories, CAS), Professor Qiusheng Gu (Nanjing University), Professor Xiaofeng Wang (Tsinghua University), Academician Shengcai Shi and Associate Director Researcher Xuefeng Wu (Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS), Academician Zigao Dai (USTC), as well as other project team members.
Professor Fangwen Sun (Director of the Research Department, USTC), Professor Yu’ao Chen (Executive Dean of the School of Physical Sciences, USTC), and Researcher Xuefeng Wu (Deputy Director of the Purple Mountain Observatory, CAS) attended the meeting and delivered speeches. More than fifty people participated in the meeting, including the project responsible expert, the expert group, the project leader, and key members. The meeting was presided over by Professor Yipeng Jing, leader of the project expert group.
Professor Xu Kong, the project leader, first introduced the overall progress of the project. Subsequently, the sub-project leaders – Professor Lulu Fan (Sub-project 1), Professor Yongquan Xue (Sub-project 2), Researcher Haibin Zhao (Sub-project 3), and Researcher Xianzhong Zheng (Sub-project 4) – reported on the mid-term self-evaluation status and indicator completion status of their respective sub-projects.
The project responsible expert and the expert group carefully listened to the reports, reviewed the relevant materials, fully affirmed and positively evaluated the interim achievements of the project, and provided guidance for the subsequent work. The experts unanimously agreed that the project sub-teams had worked diligently during the previous phase of task execution, obtaining a large amount of important data and achieving fruitful results. They hoped the project team would continue its efforts, deepen collaboration with domestic and international facilities based on signed cooperation agreements and memoranda, and strive to achieve major outputs. The expert group also suggested that the project team further clarify distinctive scientific directions based on existing outputs to ensure the generation of major results. They also recommended that the project team strengthen science popularization and outreach efforts in addition to completing the project’s established tasks and indicators.
This mid-term self-evaluation meeting provided valuable suggestions and directions for the smooth progress and subsequent development of the project.
