Abstract:

With the progress of holistic science and human society, development of geographical sciences has entered a new stage of interdisciplinary integration. Under this context, geographical sciences urgently needs to seek new paths through the deep integration of disciplines to better improve the knowledge system and contribute to the country and society development effectively. Based on the perspective of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), this paper firstly deeply analyzes the current status and problems of the integration and development of geographical sciences in China, and points out that it is not fully integrated with the frontier of international geographical sciences, and the global political, economic and cultural influence of geographical research in China needs to be strengthened; considers that the ability of Geographic Sciences integrating national major practical needs for theoretical and technological innovation should be improved; suggests that the internal discipline system of geographical sciences in China should be further optimized according to the needs of knowledge integration. Then, this paper proposes three paths for the integrated development of geographical sciences under the guidance of funding policies, that is, the interdisciplinary integration facing the frontiers of science and technology in the world, the multiple fields integration facing the major national development strategies, and inner-discipline integration facing the optimized application codes of NSFC. In future, based on maintaining the continuity and stability of the development of disciplines, the NSFC will encourage the integration of geographical sciences with other disciplines and fields through the improvement and innovation, so as to promote and build a healthier and more innovative system.

Key words: geographical sciences, integrated development, National Natural Science Foundation of China, discipline development