YPF 2018 참여 후기

September 1, 2018October 5, 2018 Emilie Hillarøy

Young Professional Forum 2018

Jie-Hyun Choi – Master student at Karolinska Institutet

Young Professional Forum had its first edition in the summer of 2018 in Seoul. From Master students to Post-docs, it was an event where Korean diaspora could come back to Korea to interact with Korean researchers and exchange ideas.

The 4^th industrial revolution was the main topic of the forum. 4^th industrial revolution is not something that is mentioned much in my daily environment, but I got to experience more about it during the Korean Science and Technology Annual Meeting held in COEX. Many lectures and discussions were organized throughout the day, but the highlight of the meeting was the lecture of Prof. Song, who was the PyeongChang Olympics director for the opening – and closing ceremony. He presented how Korean technology combined with art has led to a fantastic show and unravelled the mystery of the lost drones during the closing ceremony.

Since I am currently a master’s student in Toxicology, I wanted to know more about the current state of toxicological research in South-Korea. I was fortunate to meet several young professionals working in this fields, more specifically about occupational toxicology and chemical risk assessment. As a European, I could share how the field of Toxicology has evolved and how the system is harmonized in Europe.

One thing that I noticed during the forum was that the Nobel prize was mentioned several times by professors. While studying at Karolinska Institutet, I had heard about the Nobel prize winners quite often but there was some kind of concern about this prize in Korea: How come the Nobel Prize in the field of Science has not been awarded yet to a Korean scientist while so much money is invested in research in South-Korea?

One of our lecturers presented the following paper saying:

“We should not be encouraging scientists to think about science through awards but through having fun and desire to do their best science. That should be enough”.

By Richard J. Roberts – Ten Simple Rules to Win a Nobel Prize

Every researcher would like to win the Nobel Prize but when some professors encouraged us to actually enjoy science rather than stressing about winning another award, I was very relieved! It’s not about: am I winning the Nobel prize? It’s about whether I am I living a live like Nobel.

We furthermore discussed the opportunities to come back as a researcher from abroad to Korea and vice versa. There are quite many professionals who would like to pursue a career in Korea, and their concerns and issues could be discussed during the mentoring sessions with professors from different fields. While living in Europe my whole life, I had never thought about opportunities in Korea, but it was great to see that there were many.

On the last day, we visited Korea’s biggest pride: Samsung Electronics. It was a huge campus where we could meet employers who lived aboard but decided to come work for Samsung in Korea. They explain how big the capacity of Samsung is and how much research they do.

Overall, the young professional forum has allowed me to expand my network all over the world and it was great to see what my mother country has achieved in the different fields of science!

최주송 학생 후기

저는 이번 6월 트론하임 자연공과대학에서 전자공학 석사과정을 마친 최주송입니다. 작년 여름에 오슬로에 있는 IDEAS (Integrated Detector Electronics AS) 라는 회사에서 논문을 쓰러 오슬로로 이사오게 되었고 아는 지인의 소개로 오슬로 한인과학기술협회에 가입하게 되었습니다. 저는 12살 때 한국에서 노르웨이로 이민을 왔고 Odda라는 조그마한 도시에 살았어서 대학가기 전까지 한인 분들과 교류할 기회가 많지 않았습니다. 대학에 입학한 이후 트론하임에서 한인 교환- , 석사- , 박사 공부하시는 분들과 알게 되서 초등학교 때 이후로 처음으로 한국사람들과 어울려서 좋은 시간을 보냈었습니다.

올해 초, 한국에서 차세대과학기술리더포럼을 개최한다는 메일을 받았습니다. 목적은 국내외 차세대 과기인재의 역량 강화와 육성을 위한 상호교류의 장을 만들고 글로벌 리더로 성장시키기 위한 교육 및 네트워킹, 그리고 학술교류를 통하여 자부심과 민족 유대감을 고취시킨 다는 것을 알게되었습니다. 참가자격을 보니 제가 신청할 수 있는 조건이 되어서 신청을 하게되었습니다.

서울에서 약 5일 간 여러가지 강연 및 세미나에 참석하였었고 전세계 각국의 나라에서 각기 다른 전공을 공부하시는 여러 학생분들과 멘토분들을 만나고 교류할 수 있는 시간을 가졌었습니다. 여러 주제를 가지고 토론을 하였고 4차산업혁명, 글로벌 리더쉽, 그리고 산업계, 학계와 연구 쪽에서 큰 업적을 이루신 분들의 강연을 듣고 제 미래는 어떤 방향으로 갈지 조그미나마 정해진 것 같습니다. 또한 삼성전자, 코엑스, 민속촌을 방문하였고 새로운 것들과 그 동안 쉽게 보지 못한 것들을 보며 많은 것들을 느꼈습니다.

2018 YPF에서 알게 된 분들과는 아직까지도 연락을 하고 있고 훗날 각자의 길에서 멋지게 다시 만날 날을 기약하고 있습니다. 너무나도 유익하고 재밌던 시간이었고 이런 포럼을 열어주신 한국과학기술단체총연합회, 스칸디나비아 한인과학자협회와 노르웨이 한인과학기술자협회께 감사히 말씀을 드립니다.