BEIJING, April 17 -- The China Association of Science and Technology (CAST) stepped up its support for science popularization talent by offering career development opportunities in the sector, CAST said on Monday.

The association has begun piloting the implementation of professional title evaluation among science popularization workers in some institutes in Beijing.

"This will be conductive to strengthening the professional science popularization team further in China," CAST said.

There is an urgent need for a professional team of talent that is willing to promote science popularization and knows how to do that, in order to serve the high-quality development of science popularization work in the new era, said Wang Ting, director of the China Research Institute for Science Popularization.

The implementation of professional title evaluation is an important means to guide talent growth in the sector, and will also strengthen people's recognition of and attention toward the work of science popularization, Wang added.

According to data released by the Ministry of Science and Technology, there were more than 1.8 million people working either full-time or part-time on science popularization in the country in 2021, an increase of 0.8 percent over 2020.