Europlanet Impact Case Study #3: KBSI – A National Institute’s Story
Since 2020, Europlanet’s Distributed Planetary Laboratory Facility (DPLF) has offered Transnational Access to 13 facilities of the Korean Basic Science Institute (KBSI). Up to 10 teams of European researchers can visit the KBSI facilities per call, with reciprocal access to Europlanet’s field sites and laboratories offered to Korean researchers.
KBSI, established in 1988, is a government-funded research institution that conducts R&D, research support and joint research related to high-tech research equipment as well as advanced analytical science technology.
The National Research Facilities & Equipment (NFEC), established by the Framework Act on Science and Technology, sits within KBSI. The role of NFEC is to provide systematic support for research infrastructure for the development of science and technology. NFEC identifies the needs and the domestic and global environmental changes required to support the advancement of research infrastructure in Korea. Its goal is to maximise R&D productivity by strategic investment in research infrastructure, promotion of co-utilisation of research infrastructure, nurturing of technical staff, and overall operational management.
The MoU and reciprocal arrangement with Europlanet 2024 RI has enabled KBSI and NFEC to provide opportunities for transnational use of facilities, widening their user communities, and to draw on Europlanet’s experience of building an international platform for knowledge exchange and collaboration. Through the pandemic, European and Korean researchers have also worked together to develop an effective programme for virtual Transnational Access visits.
By providing access to non-European facilities and analogue sites in Africa (Botswana and Ethiopia), Asia (China and South Korea) and South America (Argentina), Europlanet 2024 RI is developing collaboration with communities not necessarily used to interact with European scientists (and vice-versa). The reciprocal arrangement with Korea has demonstrated that a co-funded Transnational Access programme can operate sustainably and efficiently, strengthening the planetary science community and research institutions around the world.
Interview with Dr Keewook Yi about KBSI’s participation in Europlanet’s Global Collaboration task (EPSC2022 morning briefing, Tuesday 20 September).
Article in the Europlanet Magazine Issue 2
Article in the Europlanet Magazine on virtual transnational access between KBSI and the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VUA).
Back to Impact page
