Sejong Science Fellowship 'Annual Labor Cost Support of 65 Million KRW'

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] The Sejong Science Fellowship, which supports postdoctoral researchers with creative ideas, will undergo significant changes starting next year. It will provide an annual salary support of 65 million KRW to create an environment where researchers can lead their own research.

The Ministry of Science and ICT will hold the Basic Research Promotion Council on the 4th and has decided to newly promote the 'Sejong Science Fellowship' from next year to expand challenging research opportunities for young scientists, including postdoctoral researchers.

Postdoctoral researchers are key personnel in the research field with creative ideas. However, they face low treatment and unstable status compared to their expertise. Minister Choi Ki-young of the Ministry of Science and ICT empathized with these issues through conversations with young scientists at the end of last year and restructured the Sejong Science Fellowship.

First, postdoctoral researchers within 7 years of obtaining their doctorate and under the age of 39 (including non-tenure track faculty) will be stably supported with research funds of about 130 million KRW per year for 5 years. In particular, an annual salary support of 65 million KRW will be provided to ensure uninterrupted research. Recently, in a survey conducted by the National Research Foundation of Korea targeting postdoctoral researchers (with a total of 826 respondents), securing sufficient salary was identified as the most important condition for conducting desired research (52.3%).

Additionally, about 200 postdoctoral researchers will be selected annually, supporting around 1,000 researchers over 5 years. Especially, the research of outstanding young scientists who have participated in the Ministry of Education’s domestic and overseas postdoctoral training program will be linked and supported through the Sejong Science Fellowship.

Moreover, researchers will be able to plan and change their research topics and directions independently, and through a dedicated evaluation team and mentoring with mid-career and leader researchers, they can also receive advice for laboratory relocation.

Kim Bong-su, Director of Basic and Fundamental Research Policy at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "The creative ideas of young scientists become the driving force for innovations beyond our imagination," and added, "We hope the Sejong Science Fellowship will be the starting point for growing into leader researchers who lead new fields."

Meanwhile, the announcement of the Sejong Science Fellowship project can be found on the Ministry of Science and ICT and the National Research Foundation websites under next year’s basic research support project announcements on the 6th.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.