The International Centre for Theoretical Physics Asia-Pacific (ICTP-AP) operates in affiliation to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS), it is under the auspices of UNESCO in cooperation with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the National Science Foundation China (NSFC) and the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP, Trieste).

The establishment of ICTP-AP was approved by the 38th session of the UNESCO General Conference in 2015. An agreement for the establishment of ICTP-AP was signed in May 2017 and its formal operations began in November 2018 following the finalization of all internal administrative steps in China.

As China’s first UNESCO category 2 Centre in the area of basic science, ICTP-AP is a non-profit organization and will carry out high-level scientific research, education and training in basic science such as frontiers of theoretical physics and the relevant interdisciplinary areas.