Science ministry honors six researchers for tales of trial and error

South Korea's science ministry said Tuesday it awarded six researchers at the finals of a new contest that honors the missteps behind scientific results, naming a Keimyung University professor its top winner for a project that drew residents into the research itself.

The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity jointly held the My Research Challenge finals at SKY31 Convention in Seoul.

Lee Jong-won, an assistant professor at Keimyung University, took the top award for describing how his research into housing problems among vulnerable groups ran into resistance. He developed a low-cost sensor, but residents worried it would expose their private lives, making it difficult to use in the field. He changed course and worked with social workers and civic groups on a citizen-science approach in which residents took part directly in the research.

Jeong Yong-hwan, a former director at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Oh Kun, a postdoctoral researcher at Sungkyunkwan University, received excellence awards. Chae Su-sang, an assistant professor at Korea University of Technology and Education; Jeong Seong-seok, a graduate student at Pohang University of Science and Technology; and Jeong Gu-ha, a senior researcher at the LX Spatial Information Research Institute, received encouragement awards.

The top winner received the science minister's award and 5 million won ($3,743). Each of the two excellence award winners received 3 million won ($2,246) and the foundation chairman's award, and the three encouragement award winners each received 1 million won ($749) and the same award, for a total of 14 million won ($10,481) in prize money.

Jung Woo-sung, chairman of the foundation and himself a researcher in complex-systems physics, also presented his own experience after the researchers' talks. The ministry and the foundation plan to produce the winners' stories as video content and release them online, and to introduce them at events including the Republic of Korea Science Festival in April 2027.

"I congratulate the awardees and thank all the researchers who took part to share their research experiences with the public," Lee Jun-bae, director-general of the ministry's future talent policy bureau, said. "We will continue to prepare various opportunities so that people can understand and support not only research results but also the worries, trial and error and challenges researchers face on the way to those results."