New Zealand and Chinese Scientists to Share $1 Million in Grants to Study CCP Virus Together Scientists from New Zealand (NZ) and China will share in a $1 million pool of funding aimed at partnering researchers from each country to collaborate on projects aimed at advancing knowledge and technologies to prevent, diagnose, and manage COVID-19. The New Zealand Health Research Council (HRC) announced the 2020 NZ and China COVID-19 Collaboration Fund (NSFC) (pdf) in September last year. It offers scientists grants of up to $350,000 from a $1 million dollar funding pool, for the chance to work on two-year projects with Chinese scientists. “The Health Research Council of New Zealand (HRC) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) have established this funding initiative to address the global threat of COVID-19 and to support the development of collaborative research relationships between the two countries,” the HRC said.