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South Korean Scientists propagate basic science to the government following political overhaul

In South Korea, 10th March 2017 was a remarkable day for justice. President Park Geun-hye was impeached from power after being convicted in million dollar frauds. Science policymakers rejoiced along with many people on the street.

Following her impeachment, South Korea government is now implementing many reforms in its policies so as to include people’s viewpoint in science policy framework. The focus is now slowly shifting from applied sciences to basic sciences, and researchers are glad about this change in science policy.

Although the current administration has not yet rolled out an official change in science policy, researchers are making concerted efforts in putting across their views. At the Institute of Basic Science (IBS), the President stated that government would increase resource allocation to basic sciences.

South Korea scientists have strongly propagated that basic science should be encouraged to be at par with other scientifically advanced nations. To substantiate their viewpoint, they have cited a recent scientific event: Google’s DeepMind developed AlphaGo, an artificial intelligence program in London; this program superseded world-famous grandmaster Lee Sedol at an exhibition match of Go, the ancient board game.

With this shocking loss, South Koreans became wary of technological progress made by other countries in artificial intelligence and machine learning.  These innovative “smart” technologies are going drive the fourth industrial revolution in the world.

At this juncture, erstwhile President Park announced that it would launch an ambitious project on artificial intelligence worth 860 million USD in partnership with other Korean conglomerates: Samsung, LG, Hyundai, and Naver (The Korean internet giant). However, many scientists were of the view that this would not be beneficial for innovation incubation in South Korea as the government merely proposed to further develop a technology that originated elsewhere.

According to the President of the Institute of Basic Science, the fourth industrial would be driven by basic science: mathematics, algorithms, and computer science.

In terms of science resources, South Korea is among the top countries of the world as the government allocates about 4% of its GDP for research and development. However, the science policy framework supports applied research to a large extent since 1960s.

In other words, federal grants are easily available to research institutes that have industrial partners. At the same time, institutes of basic science were given second class treatment and received a humble pie of the total funds.

Sang-Mook Lee, a noted geophysicist worked at Seoul National University and regularly criticized the erstwhile government headed by Park Geun-hye for its corrupt practices in science expenditure.

Lee gave testimony in 2014 to the parliament and stated that research ships manufactured by South Korea should be used for basic science and not for digging minerals from deep sea. Lee exhorted the erstwhile Park government to recall the promises they made to the public of Korea on science and technology.

The lady President had promised to increase the government’s resource allocation to basic science from the 35.2% in 2012 to 40% in 2017. Moreover, she had promised to create a separate science department for nurturing start-ups and technological innovation. However, the government only paid lip service to basic science and invested all resources in applied research.

Without depending much on government funding, South Korean scientists are now trying to engage resources on their own for basic sciences. For example, a crowdfunding project launched in South Korea was able to garner 15 million won (13,300 USD); this main objective of this project was to understand health issues of transgender community in South Korea. This project received much more than required, almost double the amount. This is a trend in itself given that projects with minimal economic viability do not really get sufficient funding.

The funding platform was launched by ESL (Engineers and Scientists for Change).  Crowdfunding is launched by this organization for projects aimed at social progress and sustainability. This group has planned channels to gain funding in such a way that they are bound to powerful corporates or political parties.

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Avenues for Young Researchers on Research Grants

Although funding agencies have diminished resources today for research studies, scholars and budding researchers should never lose hope. Advanced countries continue to have funding for international students who are bright and innovative in research and academia. Principal investigators are senior professors in research labs, with scholarships and grants being offered to deserving scholars. To most young people from developing countries, it opens floodgates of international prestige as they get a chance to collaborate on the latest developments of science and technology.

An academic resume with high scores in bachelor’s and master’s degree is not sufficient for receiving research grants and scholarships in international universities. Young scholars from developing countries also need to submit a truly innovative research proposal that needs to be reviewed and approved by the supervisor at international universities; an eminent team of full professors includes subject matter experts in specialized fields. These professors screen various research proposals and academic resumes of candidates to select the eminent ones for funding.

In this article, we provide a gist of some of the most prominent channels advertising vacancies and openings for research grants and scholarships. These are channels that normally feature openings of research in various prestigious universities all across the world.

1) The World Academy of Sciences: https://twas.org/

Based in Italy, this is a prestigious organization geared toward helping scientists in developing countries through collaboration. The organization provides research grants, fellowships, prizes and awards to deserving young researchers from developing countries. The fellowships received by these researchers can be used to pursue doctoral and post-doctoral studies. Researchers with terminal degrees (PhD) from their home countries may work as post-doc researchers, independent scholars, and visiting professors with these research grants. This prestigious organization has regional offices in India, Egypt, China, South Africa, and Brazil: these are countries that are now known as emerging economies.

2) EURAXESS https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/

Researchers in Motion: This is a unique initiative by this organization that is backed by the European Union. Its main objective is to provide funding to scientists and researchers with an aim of increasing mobility of science. Thus, various initiatives are laid down to building concerted efforts for dissemination of scientific expertise from European scientists to the rest of world. Scientists from developing world can gain access to scholarships and funding to work as researchers in Europe and in other emerging/developed countries (Japan, India, etc).

 

Science4Refugees: In a war-torn world, the number of people fleeing their home countries to foreign land is increasing tremendously; these people are known as refugees and they are simply victims of their circumstances. This organization is geared toward providing support to scientists migrating as refugees to foreign lands.

 

  1. NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program    https://www.nsfgrfp.org/

National Science Foundation (NSF) is the federal government organization of the United States of America. Deserving students receive grants and fellowships for pursuing post-doc research in various prestigious universities of the USA. Most fellowships are geared toward sophisticated advancement programs in science, technology, engineering, and math. The candidates receive grants based on their Intellectual Merit Criterion, which is a cumulative average of their grades as well as the experimental study design of their research proposal. Previous research publications also add weightage to the candidates’ resume.

  1. Fellows from AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science)

https://www.aaas.org/ http://www.sciencemag.org/careers

At this platform, there are many jobs advertised for scientists; these are not just restricted to research and academia. This website advertises many positions and opportunities for pursuing doctorate, post-doctorate, and research careers are advertised at this website. These opportunities are available not just at leading universities and research organizations but also at various scientific conglomerates. Moreover, it provides complete guidance to master’s and bachelor’s students on how to pursue their admission and research proposal while applying for doctorate programs.

Conclusion: Research grants are very competitive and strict; however, most research proposals having an interdisciplinary study design are usually approved by the principal investigating team of professors. Funding is a prestigious honor and it creates great room for innovation; funding grants provided at these channels also cover benefits such as travel and health insurance, including when researchers are required to go to international conferences.