KAIST-MIT Break Down Academic Boundaries

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST, President Lee Kwanghyung) announced on June 13, 2025, that it held the '2025 KAIST-MIT Convergence Conference' at its main campus in Daejeon, in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

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This conference was organized under the core keyword of 'Convergence,' aiming to break down the boundaries between the humanities and social sciences and the fields of engineering and natural sciences, and to present a new research paradigm. The goal is to address the complex challenges of modern society that are difficult to solve within a single discipline through multidisciplinary approaches, and to discover new models of collaboration for future research.

The event began with opening remarks by KAIST President Lee Kwanghyung, followed by keynote speeches from KAIST College of Humanities and Social Sciences Dean Jung Jaemin and MIT SHASS Associate Dean Kirill Makhan. Diverse knowledge was shared under themes such as 'Convergent Research for Interconnected Problems,' 'Questioning the Coexistence of AI and Humans... Convergence Across Philosophy, Psychology, and Music,' and 'Convergent Research in Language, Philosophy, Psychology, and Music.'

Since 2022, KAIST has been leading research innovation by establishing the Department of Digital Humanities and Social Sciences and promoting convergence education and research between the humanities, social sciences, and engineering. Similarly, since 2024, MIT has launched the MIT Human Insight Collaborative (MITHIC) initiative to advance convergent research in the humanities and social sciences. The two institutions organized this event to explore the possibilities of convergence among various academic fields, including the humanities, social sciences, engineering, and science, and to discuss new directions for interdisciplinary research together.

Dean Jung Jaemin explained, "At this conference, scholars from KAIST, MIT, and other domestic and international institutions gathered to share and discuss cases of convergent research on a variety of topics, including Just Transition, political polarization, AI and music, and human-AI collaboration, while exploring future directions and possibilities for cooperation in convergent research."

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