On the 12th in Seoul, Park In-gyu, head of the Office of Science, Technology and Innovation at the Ministry of Science and ICT, held focused talks with presidents of major basic science societies on the basic research portion of next year's national research and development (R&D) budget allocation plan. The meeting was held with the goal of rapidly restoring the damaged research ecosystem by sharply increasing the basic research budget.
The discussion was based on the budget allocation and coordination plan approved at the plenary meeting of the Science and Technology Advisory Council last month. The roundtable was attended by seven people: Kwak Si-jong, president of the Korean Mathematical Society; Park Kyung-ae, president of the Geological Society of Korea; Shin Byeong-seok, president of the Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers; Yoon Jin-hee, president of the Korean Physical Society; Lee Jae-jun, president of the Korean Electrochemical Society; Lee Pil-ho, president of the Korean Chemical Society; and Jeong Seon-ju, president of the Korean Society for Molecular and Cellular Biology.
The 2026 basic research budget was set at 3.4 trillion won, up 14.6% from the previous year. The total number of projects is about 24,600, and new projects number 9,600, an increase of about 32% from the previous year. The government plans to swiftly restore the research ecosystem, which was weakened by research and development (R&D) budget cuts under the previous administration.
The government set the direction for budget expansion on three pillars: diversity, autonomy, and stability. First, it will restore the abolished basic research program to support 2,000 new projects for tenure-track faculty and 790 new projects for non-tenure-track faculty. Researchers can freely choose according to project size and characteristics, support will be strengthened by stage for emerging, core, and leader research, and the research period will be extended from 1 year to 3 years for emerging research and from 3 years to 5 years for core research.
In addition, to prevent low selection rates caused by a concentration of applications in certain project types, the number of projects by type can be flexibly adjusted according to application trends. The number of selected projects can also be adjusted among types A, B, and C within core research.
Deputy Minister Park said, "Basic research is the foundation of national research and development and the basis for cultivating talent, and it must be supported on a robust foundation," adding, "We will consistently create an environment where researchers can stay focused on the research they want to pursue."