Chang Suk-bok, the new president of the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), unveiled plans to inject dynamism into the organization by appointing young "pioneer-type" research directors and easing regulations on research fields and methods.
"I will develop IBS into a world-class 'discovery hub' that creates new discoveries and concepts," Chang said at a press briefing held Monday at Conference House Dalgaebi in Jung-gu, central Seoul, as he laid out this direction for running the institution.
Chang, who took office on Nov. 4, had previously presented five key priorities: introducing pioneer-type research groups, building an open research ecosystem, expanding future-oriented research, strengthening the competitiveness of the headquarters and research infrastructure, and fostering a healthy organizational culture based on public trust.
At the briefing, Chang again stressed, "I will enable innovative researchers in their 30s and 40s to carry out breakthrough research." He added, "We will move the timing of research director appointments forward by about 10 years, to the early 40s, and launch more than 10 pioneer-type research groups led by them within five years."
He explained the need to support young researchers with great potential, noting, "In the case of Germany's Max Planck Institute, which has produced 31 Nobel laureates, they were appointed as research directors at an average age of about 41 to 44, and they began their Nobel Prize-winning research at an average age of about 37 to 38."
To this end, IBS plans to partially revise its internal evaluation metrics. "IBS's evaluation system is already highly reliable," Chang said, but added, "When focusing on breakthrough research that pioneers fields that did not exist before, numerical performance such as the citation rate of papers may stagnate in the short term." He explained that he would place greater emphasis not only on "excellence" but also on "ground-breaking" innovation in the evaluation process.
Alongside this, the institute will focus on breaking down research barriers to build an "open research ecosystem." Rather than strictly limiting research fields to basic science, IBS will ease related regulations so that individual researchers can freely collaborate with other universities, government-funded research institutes, companies, and hospitals. In particular, the goal is to focus on discovering and nurturing next-generation research fields such as quantum science, synthetic biology, new materials, and brain-computer interfaces.
"The era of mechanically separating technology and science is over," Chang said. "We must break down the barriers with medicine, engineering, and industry, and build diverse and flexible cooperation systems that fit the characteristics and goals of each research group." He stressed, "A system that respects researchers' autonomy, stability, and openness is also a driving force that helps attract global talent and bring back talent that has gone overseas."
