In August, the United Nations announced that the International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development 2022/2023 has been extended to the International Decade of (all) Sciences for Sustainable Development 2024-2033.

"One of its aims is to promote the long-term sustainable development and progress of science as a whole through the sustainable development of basic sciences," Jin said.

She said that mathematical and physical sciences not only serve as the vanguard and foundation of contemporary technological advancements but also as the source of technological innovation. It overlaps with disciplines such as information science, chemistry, materials science and life science, giving rise to interdisciplinary studies. The development of these interdisciplinary fields is triggering breakthroughs in science and greatly driving the progress of natural science itself, she said.

"A senior academician once advised me, saying, 'In the future, you may have the opportunity to do more things and work. You should contribute to our country because you are an academician of the nation.' This sentence had a profound impact on me and made me deeply feel the national mission and responsibility I bear (as an academician)," Jin said.

Jin is a researcher in optical physics. She said that in the future, she will make greater efforts to explore and discover new laws and applications of material science through the use of light.

Together with other researchers, she will do her utmost to illuminate China's path toward becoming a technological powerhouse using light. She said she will also use the academic platform to increase the importance and application of physics in China.