Nobel laureate Peter Grunberg, now a professor at Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, plays a crucial role in helping the university's physics researchers.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Besides research, Grunberg, who sees the importance of international cooperation, has taken advantage of his own connections and resources to help the university to go global.

For example, he worked as a bridge between the university and the Juelich Research Center to help them to establish a collaboration.

Grunberg has visited a number of Chinese universities and research institutes in different cities to give lectures.

He has also worked as a senior consultant to Jiangsu's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Promotion Society, a local government platform, and has shared his advice on boosting innovation in the province.

In 2015, Grunberg was included in the central government's 1000 Talent Plan. It aims to attract high-level foreign experts for long-term projects in China.

Earlier this month, Grunberg was awarded the Friendship Award, the highest honor given by the Chinese government to foreigners who have made significant contributions to the country's social and economic development.

Grunberg was invited to give a speech at the awards ceremony in Beijing.

"The award is also the greatest encouragement to me and my team," says Grunberg, adding that an open China is attracting people from all over the world.

Grunberg is confident that his research team, which he calls his "Asian family", can achieve a lot more in the future.

In the eyes of the younger Chinese scientists on his team in Nanjing, Grunberg is an easygoing elder who sometimes even plays ping-pong with them.

"He always motivates us to get in touch with different phenomena and find the reasons behind them," Wang says, adding that he is impressed by Grunberg's scrupulousness in science and his attention to detail.

According to Wang, Grunberg spends time examining data by himself after each experiment in the university, no matter if the outcome is a success or failure.

Grunberg visited China for the first time in 1989. He recalls China being a "fast-growing country" even back then, and was especially impressed when he heard that it took a construction team only a day to build one level of a building.

"I have visited China many times over the past years and felt the great changes in this country," he says.

Grunberg, a fan of Western classic music, plays the guitar even at speeches.

"Music can be my source of inspiration," says Grunberg.