The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Sciences (KITS) at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) is jointly supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), a generous endowment from the Kavli Foundation, USA, and the UCAS. The previous name of KITS is the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, China (KITPC). The mission of the newly reformulated KITS is to establish itself as an international center of excellence in theoretical sciences. KITS is planning to undergo a rapid expansion in its faculty to meet this mission. KITS is engaged in theoretical physics and related interdisciplinary sciences (including biology, chemistry, and earth sciences, etc.), and is an important part for achieving one of the goals at CAS with "integration of research and education". KITS will continue successful activities of KITPC to sponsor and organize programs and conferences in frontier topics to promote scientific exchange in China and in the world.
The program of KITS will initially focus on theoretical physics and related interdisciplinary fields. The institute is under the leadership of its Director, Prof. Fu-Chun Zhang, and two Associate Directors, Prof. and Vice President Gang Su at UCAS and Prof. and Associate Director Xiao-Song Chen at the Institute of Theoretical Physics, CAS, and Assistant Director, Prof. Jiang-Ping Hu at Institute of Physics, CAS.