In June 2023, the project SKERIC, Sweden Korea Education, Research, and Innovation Collaboration, was granted 10 million by STINT. SKERIC is a project between Swedish and Korean universities, which builds on a long history of collaboration. The project aims to equip some of the best and brightest young researchers and innovators with the necessary tools, skills and networks to become leading researchers, academic leaders and outstanding innovators, capable of addressing current societal challenges and working for democracy and academic freedom.
The participating Swedish universities, in addition to Umeå University, are the Royal Institute of Technology, Lund University, Gothenburg University and Uppsala University. Korean partners in the project are Korea University, Seoul National University and Pohang University of Science and Technology. The project is also conducted in collaboration with the Swedish embassy in Seoul.
Since 2013, Umeå University has collaborated with the Swedish Embassy in Seoul to recruit students from South Korea. The collaboration was expanded 2020 to also include research. In November 2022, Swedish researchers from the participating universities met on-site for activities within the project in South Korea. Umeå University traveled to Seoul with a delegation of eleven people. The project has now taken another step with SKERIC.
SKERIC is about creating a platform for researchers from both countries to collaborate through different types of activities and forms of meetings. In addition, a Sweden-Korea Nobel Memorial Program is held annually, where researchers from both Sweden and South Korea comment on the new Nobel Prize recipients. SKERIC will work with mentoring, mobility and seed funding for young researchers, activities with a focus on science diplomacy as well as being a forum for research-based startups/spin-offs.
Sweden and South Korea have several common denominators that make the project interesting. Both are driving countries investing in research and innovation. Research and research collaborations are an important way to take on the global challenges.
In addition to the innovation and research component of SKERIC, several higher education institutions are collaborating on student recruitment. Sweden is highlighted as a nation of knowledge and one of the sub-goals is to increase the number of students from this region to the higher education institutions. In collaboration with business, internships are arranged for students, information about studying in Umeå and Sweden is spread, and a strong alumni network is built up.
News
2022-11-02: Researchers meet in South Korea
More about the South Korea collaboration project
Nobel Memorial Program
Nobel Memorial Program 2022 (recording on YouTube)
Study in Sweden Korea on YouTube
Previous activities
2021-10-27: Nobel program with Swedish and Korean researchers
2020-11-24: Unique Nobel program with Swedish and Korean researchers