About 900 'Creative Research' Projects for Mid-Career Researchers and
400 'Seed Research' Projects for New Faculty Members to Be Supported
The number of 'Creative Research' projects within mid-career research has been increased to about 900, more than six times last year, and 400 new 'Seed Research' projects will be supported to secure initial research opportunities for new faculty members.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 31st that it has opened the second round of new individual basic research projects for 2025 (about 1,635 projects).
This new round of projects is mainly composed of small-scale projects (70 million to 100 million KRW) aimed at enhancing academic diversity and expanding research opportunities. Following the first announcement (about 1,900 projects), the second announcement (about 1,635 projects) is expected to greatly help strengthen the research safety net for researchers.
To support excellent research based on academic diversity, the Ministry of Science and ICT has significantly expanded 'Creative Research' within mid-career research from 140 projects last year to about 900 projects, and will newly support 400 'Seed Research' projects to help new faculty members cultivate research capabilities and settle stably through securing initial research opportunities.
Additionally, regardless of age or career stage, 150 new 'Pioneering Research' projects will be supported to explore new academic fields through original questions based on creative ideas. Institutional support such as exceptions to the 'one researcher, one project' principle, elimination of mid-term evaluations, and tolerance for failure will also be implemented to encourage researchers' challenging spirit.
While efficiently supporting the government's science and technology innovation strategy (national strategic technologies) and national and social demands (such as climate change response), 200 new 'National Agenda Basic Research' projects will also be supported, where research topics are autonomously proposed by researchers to ensure research diversity.
About 1,635 new projects will be supported in the second round for 2025, with approximately 156.9 billion KRW invested, and research is expected to begin from September 1 after selection and evaluation.
The total number of new individual basic research projects this year is about 3,535, an increase compared to about 3,300 last year, and the research funding per project is expected to increase to about 161 million KRW from 130 million KRW last year.
Hwang Pan-sik, Director of the Research and Development Policy Office at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "While smoothly carrying out this year's basic research projects, we will faithfully focus on the original purpose of basic research, which is 'knowledge creation,' and based on a support system that can secure 'excellence based on diversity,' we will also actively prepare for the implementation of basic research projects in 2026."
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