The Volkswagen Foundation has awarded €1 million to the interdisciplinary collaborative project “China’s Science Silk Road and the New Geopolitics of Knowledge Production.” The four-year project will conduct one of the first in-depth analyses of the Science Silk Road and its implications for global knowledge production.

The project will consist of an international research team based in the Lise Meitner Research Group “China in the Global System of Science” at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG) in Berlin and the Department of Political Science at Université Laval in Québec, Canada. It will be jointly led by Anna L. Ahlers (MPIWG), Han Cheng (MPIWG/Université Laval), and Hang Zhou (Université Laval).

The “Science Silk Road”: New Infrastructures and Networks with Complex Implications

As part of its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has launched the “Science Silk Road” program, aimed at investing in science, technology, and innovation in countries along this newly envisioned route.

Be it Chinese researchers designing data centers in Southeast Asia and smart cities in Africa, conducting climate research in the Amazon, building overseas campuses and think tanks in Eastern Europe, or collaborating with Central Asian countries on deep-space exploration, the Science Silk Road has led to the rapid emergence of new science infrastructures and networks with complex implications for the South, North, and beyond.

Observers suggest that the Science Silk Road may be exporting a distinct form of “Chinese science,” especially concerning political influences on research practices, potentially giving rise to specific ways of doing science and alternative structures of the global science system, such as funding priorities, data governance, research norms, and strategic partnerships.

While the Science Silk Road promises to foster research and innovation that addresses global challenges and promotes sustainable development, it also signifies a new area of geopolitical contestation between the United States and China.

Currently, however, little is known about whether, and how, the Science Silk Road shapes research, society, and development in BRI countries and globally.

Interdisciplinary Research to Map the Science Silk Road’s Impacts

This ambitious interdisciplinary project aims to fill this gap by critically mapping out the Science Silk Road’s multi-level impacts on BRI countries, established science powers, and international scientific cooperation.

The project will draw on perspectives from international relations, sociology of science, science and technology studies, anthropology, and geography. The core team comprises the three project leaders, two PhD students, and a graduate assistant who will support research. Case studies will be developed covering different regions or projects among BRI countries, from the African continent to South-East Asia.

“The team recognizes that accessing research sites directly can sometimes be challenging or politically sensitive,” says Anna L. Ahlers. “However, we are optimistic that combining insights from interviews with diverse stakeholders, a survey, and an in-depth analysis of other materials will yield important insights into these dynamic developments.”

This qualitative research will be complemented by scientometric analyses of the Science Silk Road carried out by Rainer Frietsch and colleagues at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI). This multi-method approach will enable the team to understand how the Science Silk Road and its policy priorities are reflected in joint publications and patents, examining their forms, reception, and citation metrics—and whether these are different from other established science partnerships and alliances.

“Receiving this grant from the Volkswagen Foundation is not just an endorsement of our work; it is a recognition that the global landscape of knowledge is being fundamentally redrawn. The Science Silk Road is rapidly building new infrastructures for discovery, and yet its implications remain critically under-examined,” says Han Cheng.

Hang Zhou adds: “For our team at the Max Planck Institute and Université Laval, this four-year project is a timely and meaningful opportunity to provide the first in-depth analysis of how these networks are reshaping geopolitics, scientific practice, and the very definition of international collaboration.”

Over its four years this exciting project will offer one of the most comprehensive assessments to date of how China’s Science Silk Road is reshaping global scientific collaboration—as well as contributing to wider theoretical and policy debates at the intersection of science, development, and geopolitics in the 21st century.

Engage with Us!

As one of the project’s first activities, an online Science Silk Road Seminar Series has been launched in March 2026 to explore these topics and feature presentations by leading researchers in the field. The project will also develop joint activities with like-minded initiatives such as the Berlin Contemporary China Network and the De:link//Re:link research consortium. A website will be launched in Spring 2026: anyone interested in the project’s activities, events, and outputs can visit it for updates.