On the twenty fourth, the “National Assembly–KAST Joint Forum” was held on the Members’ Office Building of the National Assembly underneath the theme “From Dreams of Science to the Nobel Prize: Pathways to Fostering Future Scientific Talent.” Photo by reporter Moon Hye-won, [email protected]
“The moment the Nobel Prize itself becomes the goal, it can actually block real achievement. The Nobel Prize is a result that naturally follows from good research. We need to ask questions that will still matter 20 years from now. Above all, we need a culture that encourages challenging research and long-term government investment.”
On the twenty fourth, Young-Kee Kim, Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor of Physics on the University of Chicago within the United States, mentioned this on the “National Assembly–Korea Academy of Science and Technology Joint Forum” held on the Members’ Office Building of the National Assembly underneath the theme “From Dreams of Science to the Nobel Prize: Pathways to Fostering Future Scientific Talent.”
At the discussion board, main students and consultants from the home and worldwide scientific communities introduced situations obligatory for profitable Nobel Prizes and for nurturing the subsequent technology of scientific expertise. They harassed that, along with particular person persistence and willpower, structural modifications in training, therapy, and coverage are important to help them.
Kim, who research particle physics, is nicknamed the “Queen of Collisions.” For her, collisions are greater than a easy bodily phenomenon. Just as new particles are created and the character of forces is revealed when particles collide and work together in physics, she emphasised that encounters, conversations, and information change between individuals observe the identical precept.
She defined that when she first started analysis in particle physics 40 years in the past, her collaboration group consisted of 60 individuals from 4 international locations, however it has now grown to three,000 individuals from 40 international locations. “In modern science, where data and equipment are becoming vast, there is no research that can be done alone,” she mentioned, including, “Across science, global collaboration and convergence are becoming ever more essential elements.”
Kim added that “research is a marathon,” and that regular perseverance is extra necessary than instant outcomes. She defined that resilience—turning failures into information and making an attempt totally different instructions—and an angle that finds pleasure in every small advance are what allow researchers to endure for the lengthy haul.
Nam-Gyu Park, Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering at Sungkyunkwan University, additionally emphasised the significance of collaboration and perseverance. After delving right into a single space of photo voltaic cells for 30 years, Park and a Swiss analysis group collectively developed the world’s first solid-state perovskite photo voltaic cell in 2012.
He harassed that this achievement was not his alone. Saying that “there is no such thing as a purely accidental discovery,” he described it as the result of sustained help from fellow researchers, college students, and the federal government. “No one knows when a great discovery will come,” Park mentioned, including that as a substitute of being impatient concerning the timing of discovery, you will need to dig deeply into one discipline whereas additionally constructing numerous experiences.
Sung-Jong Lee, Director of the Public Technology Division on the National Research Foundation of Korea, analyzed Nobel laureate instances and paper knowledge to establish the situations for future scientific expertise. More necessary than job title, place, or age was how lengthy and the way deeply one had immersed oneself in analysis.
“In the age of artificial intelligence (AI), the number of papers is exploding, and competition around top journals will become even fiercer,” Lee mentioned. “The key condition for future scientific talent is not flashy talent, but the tenacity to find good questions and pursue them to the end.”
Professor Geun-Koo Kim of Yonsei University offers a presentation on the discussion board. Photo by reporter Moon Hye-won, [email protected]
Participants additionally voiced pressing calls to enhance the training and surroundings wanted to foster future scientific expertise. Geun-Soo Kim, Chang-Am & Underwood Distinguished Professor within the Department of Physics at Yonsei University, identified, “Research is like a marathon, but Korean education is focused on building ‘short-distance running muscles’ that solve given problems quickly.” In different phrases, there’s a massive hole between present training and the competencies required for analysis.
He defined {that a} daring startup-style funding in early-career researchers lay behind the speedy development of Chinese universities. He harassed that Korea, too, should acknowledge assistant professors and early-stage researchers as key targets for growth, not stopping at help for undergraduates and graduate college students. At the identical time, he mentioned, a mid- to long-term technique for cultivating scientific expertise is required—one that won’t be shaken by modifications in political administration.
Ae-Ri Moon, Distinguished Professor at Duksung Women’s University, argued that “an inclusive research culture is not a favor for a minority, but a national strategy for reclaiming potential Nobel laureates.” She highlighted structural issues comparable to regional disparities during which college students from Seoul enter science excessive faculties at 4 occasions the speed of scholars from rural and fishing communities; the “leaky pipeline,” the place girls account for greater than half of college entrants however more and more drop out alongside the researcher profession path; postdoctoral salaries which might be lower than half these at MIT; and excessive proportions of non-regular positions. As options, she proposed the creation of a nationwide everlasting researcher monitor, a minimum-wage system for researchers, and a shift from short-term performance-based analysis to long-term research-centered evaluation.
Mi-Hyun Son, Professor within the Department of Chemistry Education at Gyeongsang National University, pointed to the present admissions system and the “social studies run” phenomenon, the place even college students aiming for science and engineering majors select social research topics for the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT). She criticized the structural mismatch between training and admissions, saying, “A student who won a gold medal at the International Physics Olympiad failed to gain admission to Seoul National University but was admitted to MIT.” She referred to as for a redesign of training that strengthens fundamentals in arithmetic and science whereas utilizing AI as a software, and urged insurance policies to help in-service lecturers, noting that “the quality of education cannot exceed the quality of teachers.”
Professor Geun-Soo Kim contrasted Japan’s 27 Nobel Prizes within the sciences with Korea’s present whole of zero, stating that “this number will inevitably rise.” However, he emphasised that for this to occur, the academic and coverage surroundings that helps researchers should change together with particular person willpower.
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