A Message from the President
Academia Sinica was founded on June 9, 1928. Over the years, it has expanded from its initial 5 research institutes to encompass 24 research institutes and 7 research centers, which are organized into three divisions: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences and Humanities and Social Sciences.
As the foremost academic research institution in Taiwan, Academia Sinica has the mission to promote cutting-edge research in the humanities and sciences, cultivate academic talent and issue policy advisories to the government. In the past years, Academia Sinica has made tremendous efforts to formulate new approaches to academic research, assess research organization and reform, strengthen academic cooperation between domestic and overseas research institutions and universities as well as undertake a range of projects to foster academic excellence.
Academia Sinica's steadfast commitment to continually enhancing its research caliber in the humanities and sciences is clearly shown by the significant increase in articles published by its researchers in top-notch international scholarly journals, particularly in recent years. Based on the number of journal articles published as well as citation count and impact, Academia Sinica has emerged as one of the most distinguished research institutions in the greater China region. In 2011, its number of papers listed in the SCI, SSCI and A & HCI has reached an average of 2.6 per researcher. Furthermore, according to the ESI Essential Sciences Indicators, Academia Sinica has an average of 11.08 citations per paper in the last 11 years, which exceeds the world-wide average of 10.68, National Taiwan University's 8.83, National Singapore University's 11.03, Seoul National University's 9.77 and Peking University's 8.78.
Academia Sinica is firmly dedicated to raising standards of higher education among domestic universities and rendering them more internationally competitive. In order to nurture young talent, Academia Sinica has cooperated with numerous research universities in Taiwan to launch a series of inter-disciplinary Ph.D. programs in cutting-edge research fields, culminating in the establishment of the Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP) in 2002. Academia Sinica's relentless efforts in this respect have proven successful: Many Ph.D. dissertations by TIGP students have been published in leading international journals. The majority of TIGP graduates are recruited for employment at internationally-renowned research institutes or offered positions at domestic high-tech companies, thus making significant contributions to the advancement of our society.
Academia Sinica has also launched 6 Ph.D. programs in cooperation with domestic universities to foster innovative, inter-disciplinary research in the sciences. In addition, Academia Sinica has worked actively to establish cooperative ties with leading domestic and overseas universities and research institutions. As of now, 322 such partnerships exist.
Academia Sinica is keenly aware that the true goal of specialized, well-grounded academic research is to resolve the urgent problems that confront our society today. For this purpose, in addition to translating important discoveries into commercial sectors, various committees have been established to draft policy advisories to the government for reference. Several policy advisories have been issued in recent years, including "Energy Strategies in Response to Global Warming", "Analysis of Academic Competitiveness of Academia Sinica and Prospective Planning for Scientific and Technological Developments in Taiwan", "Recommendations for Health Care Policies", "Recommendations for Population Policies", "Coping Strategies for Emerging Infectious Diseases", "Recommendations for Laws for Differentiating Professors and Researchers from Civil Servants", "Environmental Change and Land Use Planning Proposals", and "Foresight Taiwan: Funding Research for Economic Gains".
Sustainable development is clearly one of the most pressing challenges facing mankind in the 21st century. Academia Sinica is actively partaking in the quest to develop new approaches and technologies to tackle a range of issues related to this field. Academia Sinica is working wholeheartedly to promote research in sustainability science and the topics explored are closely related to the range of themes currently being addressed by the International Council for Science (ICSU) led by former Academia Sinica President Yuan-Tseh Lee. Our researchers are exploring sustainable development issues from the perspective of the earth sciences, green energy, agricultural technology, natural disaster prevention and relief measures, infectious disease epidemiology, health care for the elderly, sustainable development policy-planning and decision-making and international comparative studies.
In order to assist economic transition and facilitate the growth of the biotechnology industry in Taiwan, the government has launched a Diamond Action Plan for Biotech Takeoff. In accordance with these developments, Academia Sinica is working in cooperation with some other research institutes to develop the National Biotechnology Research Park in Nankang. The park will be built using environmentally sustainable construction and will feature a biotechnology platform focusing on research and development that will be closely linked to the basic scientific research conducted at Academia Sinica.
Looking to the future, Academia Sinica will continue to improve the domestic academic research environment and structure, establish standards of academic integrity, forge closer ties with universities and research institutions around the world as well as promote basic scientific research to develop innovative applications of new technologies for the benefit of humanity. In the upcoming years, our dedicated researchers will continue to explore the frontiers of knowledge through pioneering research in the humanities and sciences, making a lasting impact on society in Taiwan and throughout the world.
