Ministry of Education to Provide 900 Billion KRW Support for Humanities, Social Sciences, and STEM Research in 2022

2022 Academic Research Support Project Comprehensive Plan Confirmed
Total 13,311 Projects, 910.4 Billion KRW Support

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Jinju] The Ministry of Education will invest a total of 910.4 billion KRW in academic research support projects in the humanities, social sciences, and science and engineering fields.

On the 11th, the Ministry of Education announced that it finalized the "2022 Comprehensive Plan for Academic Research Support Projects in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science and Engineering Fields" after comprehensive review committees by field, and will support 13,311 projects.

The academic research support project in the humanities and social sciences is divided into ▲support by researcher growth stage (individual research) ▲expansion of university research infrastructure (group research) ▲support for Korean studies research, focusing on performance dissemination and infrastructure establishment to strengthen research capabilities and academic foundations in the humanities and social sciences.

Support by researcher growth stage provides assistance to humanities and social science researchers at every stage from early-career scholars to outstanding researchers, investing a total of 126.8 billion KRW in 4,985 projects. In particular, the Humanities and Social Sciences Academic Research Professor Project, which supports non-tenured humanities and social science researchers with research funding for up to five years to enable stable research, will be continuously promoted, supporting 2,100 new projects this year.

The university research infrastructure expansion (group research) field will expand support for convergence and interdisciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences and social science research in response to future societal changes. It will support 284 projects with 107.8 billion KRW. To establish research hubs in the humanities and social sciences, a new "Future Shared Type" (2 projects) will be created, and the number of new projects in the Social Science Research Support Project (SSK) will be increased from 10 to 16.

Korean studies research will support 200 projects with 85.4 billion KRW, focusing on expanding the sharing and dissemination of Korean studies materials and overseas Korean studies support. To collect and share Korean studies materials dispersed across related institutions, the integrated Korean Studies Materials Operating System (platform) will be actively developed starting in 2022. Centered on the K-Academic Dissemination Research Institute Project, the production of Korean studies education and research content and its global dissemination will be continuously supported.

The academic research support project in the science and engineering fields consists of "support for early-career scholars," "university research infrastructure establishment," and "balanced academic development support" to build the academic research foundation in science and engineering at universities.

"Support for early-career scholars" will provide research funding this year to 1,551 doctoral students (584 projects) and postdoctoral researchers (967 projects) to help them grow into core researchers. University research infrastructure establishment focuses on strengthening research institutes and enhancing the expertise of specialized equipment personnel to build research hubs within universities and provide a stable research environment, supporting 121.4 billion KRW and 38.1 billion KRW respectively.

The "balanced academic development support," which assists researchers and academic fields with relatively poor research conditions and limited funding, helps researchers focus on research stably without fear of failure. The support amounts by field are: creative and challenging research foundation support for 3,218 projects (155.5 billion KRW), protected research for 283 projects (28.7 billion KRW), excellent scientists at regional universities for 1,648 projects (104.7 billion KRW), and interdisciplinary convergence for 21 projects (5.2 billion KRW).

The Ministry of Education plans to hold a project briefing session in January to help universities and researchers understand the 2022 academic research support projects. The briefing schedule, new project announcements, and evaluation schedules can be found on the websites of the National Research Foundation of Korea, the Korean Studies Advancement Center, and the National Research Facilities & Equipment Center.