Amid fierce discussions over the direction of government-funded research institutions following the abolition of the Project-Based System (PBS), a gap in positions between the government and the research field remains unresolved.
At the "Policy Roundtable on the Status and Challenges of PBS Abolition" held on the 30th at the Seoul Yeouido National Assembly Member's Hall, Yeon Gu-ja (CEO)s expressed concern that "researcher autonomy could be infringed upon" regarding the post-PBS abolition measures proposed by the government. The Ministry of Science and ICT, the National Research Foundation of Korea (NST), and heads of funded research institutions attended the event. On behalf of researchers, the National Federation of Scientific and Technological Research Professional Labor Unions, the General Federation of Councils of Scientists in Funded Research Institutions, and others were present.
The government plans to gradually expand labor cost guarantees for researchers at funded research institutions by 2030. Since the PBS system, under which labor costs were covered through externally commissioned projects, has been abolished, the intent is for the government to guarantee labor costs so that researchers can devote themselves to their work stably. In this process, "Strategic Research Projects" have been newly established. These are projects that link national strategic technologies with the unique missions of each funded research institution to achieve major outcomes. Starting with 77 projects this year, the Strategic Research Projects will be fully launched by adding approximately 40 new projects next year. From next year, labor costs included in Strategic Research Projects will all be integrated into the labor costs within institutional operating expenses. This means that researcher salaries will be guaranteed through institutional operating expenses, and project budgets can be used solely for pure research costs.
Nevertheless, concerns persist that Strategic Research Projects could lead to another form of internal competition. Jeong Chaek-wi (Director), a representative of the National Federation of Scientific and Technological Research Professional Labor Unions, stated, "Previously, individuals competed to secure projects, but now it could become a dual structure where institutions compete at the institutional level and then divide budgets among researchers within the institution through (competition)."
The linkage with research allowances was also pointed out as an issue. Research allowances, which had a strong wage-like character linked to the scale of commissioned projects, will change to a differential payment system based on "performance evaluation" after the abolition of PBS. Depending on evaluations within institutions, outstanding researchers will receive higher performance pay, while some fields among many research areas are selected for Strategic Research Projects, leading to the view that unselected fields will naturally be marginalized in terms of outcomes.
A researcher affiliated with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) stated, "ETRI is an institution that has paid research allowances in the form of labor costs, but if research allowances are changed to performance pay, there will inevitably be researchers whose allowance is '0 won.'" They added, "The reason we could withstand competition for talent recruitment despite lower wages compared to big tech and large corporations was thanks to the research allowances." Furthermore, they strongly criticized, saying, "Funded research institutions have a strong infrastructural character, conducting research that companies do not undertake and requiring long-term investment, but it itself conflicts with autonomy for the government to provide guidelines for research first."
Institutional heads take the stance of focusing on their missions first while seeking direction. Oh Sang-rok, President of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), said, "Young researchers seem most worried about whether they can conduct 'research they want to do' under the new system. However, funded research institutions are clearly institutions that perform national missions, and it is important to find and incorporate the research one wants to do within those missions."
Park Sun-gyu, President of the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, stated, "It is difficult to find an alternative that satisfies all funded research institutions with a single policy," adding, "The government should first present a broad framework, but it would be good to take more time to establish a system that allows each funded research institution to find its direction considering the characteristics of each institution."
in TECH
