[Reading Science] Students Conduct Research, Professors Receive Allowances

2021 National R&D Research Fund Settlement Results
90% of Research Allowances Improperly Spent
Professors' Exclusive Control Most Frequently Criticized

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] #. A professor at University A, who conducted a national research and development (R&D) project, kept the research funds to himself without giving any to the graduate students who assisted in the research. Upon settlement, he was criticized for violating government standards that require the fair distribution of funds based on a reasonable evaluation of each participant's contribution.

Such improper execution of research allowances has been identified as the most common issue in the settlement of national R&D projects.

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On the 12th, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) analyzed the proportion of issues pointed out in the detailed settlement of national R&D projects in 2021. The most frequently cited mistake by national project researchers was the improper execution of 'research allowances,' accounting for an overwhelming 90.6%. Specifically, it was common for principal investigators or participating researchers to monopolize the research allowances. Although there is a restriction that individuals can only receive up to 70% of the maximum research allowance, some cases exceeded this limit. It was also common for payments to be made without reasonable criteria such as contribution evaluation. There were instances where more than 20% of the actual labor cost was spent or amounts exceeding those stated in the research and development plan were used.

Following this, cases where the value-added tax difference from the balance of entrusted research project funds was not returned accounted for 6.8%, and cases where the balance of indirect costs was not refunded accounted for 1.7%.

The proportion of improper research allowance cases has significantly increased over the past three years. It surged from 33.3% in 2019 to 58.8% in 2020, and then to 90.6% last year. In contrast, the proportion of improper execution cases related to research activity expenses sharply decreased from 40.2% in 2019 and 39.0% in 2020 to 6.8% last year. Issues related to indirect cost execution slightly declined from 3.4% in 2019 and 2.2% in 2020 to 1.7% last year.