| 中央研究院 (Chinese) | |
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1928 (inNanjing) 1949 (inTaipei, Taiwan) |
| Headquarters | Nangang,Taipei[1] 25°2′45″N121°36′37″E / 25.04583°N 121.61028°E /25.04583; 121.61028 |
| Employees | ~5,800[2] (incl. 976principal investigators, 111 research specialists, 775post-docs, 2,150 students)[3] |
| Annual budget | 12.5 billionNTD ($400 million) (2020)[4] |
| Agency executives |
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| Parent agency | Office of the President |
| Website | www |
| Academia Sinica | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese | 中央研究院 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中央研究院 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中央研究院 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | "Central Research Academy" | ||||||||||||||||||
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Academia Sinica (AS;Latin:Academia Sinica;Chinese:中央研究院) is thenational academy of theRepublic of China (Taiwan). It is headquartered inNangang,Taipei.
Founded inNanjing in 1928, the academy supports research activities in mathematics,physical sciences,life sciences, humanities and social sciences. As an educational institute, it providesPhD training and scholarship through its English-language Taiwan International Graduate Program inbiology,agriculture,chemistry,physics,informatics, andearth and environmental sciences.[5]
The current president since 2016 isJames C. Liao, an expert inmetabolic engineering,systems biology andsynthetic biology.[6]
Academia Sinica, which means "Chinese Academy",[7] was founded in 1928 inNanjing, then capital of theRepublic of China, with its first meeting held inShanghai. By December 1948, all fourteen institutes of the Academia Sinica had agreed to move from Nanjing to Taiwan alongside other institutions of thegovernment of the Republic of China as a result of theChinese Civil War. In the end, only the Academia Sinica's Institute of History and Philology was relocated to Taiwan, because the head of the Institute of Mathematics,Jiang Lifu, resigned his position in June 1949, and never traveled to Taiwan.[8]
Of the 81 inaugural research fellows appointed by the Academia Sinica prior to its move, nine crossed theTaiwan Strait. The institution was low on monetary funds, and reopened with the Institute of History and Philology in December 1954. In the same year, its main campus was constructed inJiuzhuang [zh], Nangang, Taipei. Due to the importance ofagriculture to theeconomy of Taiwan, efforts were made to revive the Institute of Botany.[8] The second convocation of the Academia Sinica was held in 1957. At the same time, the mainland part of Academia Sinica remained functioning under Communist rule and was renamed as theChinese Academy of Sciences in the 1980s.[9]
In the 2000s, many of the current institutes and research centers were established, partially through reorganization of old ones. Academia Sinica's first PhD program, the Taiwan International Graduate Program, was inaugurated in 2006.[citation needed]
The president of Academia Sinica is appointed by the president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) from three candidates recommended by the Council Meeting. The president of Academia Sinica must be an academician. After the appointment, the president serves a five-year term and can serve up to two consecutive terms.
Academia Sinica's current president isJames C. Liao, a biochemist, who replacedChi-Huey Wong, a biological chemist and the Parsons Foundation Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, as the 11th president on 21 June 2016.[citation needed] The list of past presidents also includesHu Shih, aphilosopher and essayist, and a key contributor toChinese liberalism andlanguage reform in his advocacy for the use ofvernacular Chinese, as well as an influentialredology scholar and holder of the Jiaxu manuscript (Chinese:甲戌本; pinyin:Jiǎxū běn) until his death. The fifth president,Yuan T. Lee, won theNobel Prize in Chemistry for "contributions to the dynamics of chemical elementary processes".
The Convocation of Academia Sinica consists of 281academicians, including 105 domestic and 176 overseas appointed scientists.[10] Seven academicians of Academia Sinica areNobel laureates.[11] Academician membership is an honorary lifetime privilege without remuneration. They do not necessarily perform research or reside at the Academia Sinica campus. According to their own expertise, academicians are grouped into three divisions: Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, and Social Sciences and Humanities. A maximum number of ten new members is allocated to each of the three divisions during the biennial convocation. The eligibility of the academicians is not restricted to the residents of Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens. More than half of the academicians are overseas scholars and scientists.[citation needed]
At the convocation, the academicians elect new academicians and honorary academicians, and elect members to the Council of Academia Sinica. The convocation can also recommend policies to the government on academic research.[12] The academicians also have responsibilities to carry out research at the government's request, although the government has never requested any task.[citation needed]
Academicians are elected every two years,[13] with nominations open in July and ending in October. Outcome of election to academicians are publicly announced in July the following year. Election to the academy is regarded a national honor in Taiwan. Up until the 34th convocation of academicians in 2022, any scientist of Chinese descent could be elected a member of Academia Sinica. Starting in 2023, election is to be restricted tocitizens of the Republic of China. This change led Academia Sinica to discuss formally classifying non-Taiwanese members as honorary or foreign members. Such a classification system would require amendments to the Organic Act of the Academia Sinica. A group of academicians proposed that membership be further restricted toTaiwan passport ornational identification card holders.[14]
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Academia Sinica has its main campus located inNangang,Taipei, and runs over 40 research stations distributed across the country and throughout the world.[1]
The main campus inJiuzhuang [zh], Nangang was constructed in 1954. In addition to the Central Office of Administration and 28 institutes and research centers, the main campus has 10 museums or memorial halls open to the public, as well as an ecological pond, a forest park, aTudigong temple (Fude Temple福德宮), and Sifen Creek (四分溪), which runs through the campus and to the north by the National Biotechnology Research Park.
The National Biotechnology Research Park, finished in 2017 and inaugurated in October 2018 by Taiwanese PresidentTsai Ing-wen,[15] is located about 500 m north of the main campus and 500 m south of theNankang Software Park, with theNangang station to the west and theTaipei Nangang Exhibition Center MRT station to the east.[16] It is home to four Academia Sinica centers fortranslational medicine,innovation,incubation, andbioinformatics service, as well as the Biotechnology Development Center of theMinistry of Economic Affairs, the Food and Drug Administration of theMinistry of Health and Welfare, and the National Laboratory Animal Center of theMinistry of Science and Technology.[16]
Three physical sciences institutes, Mathematics, Astronomy, and Atomic and Molecular Sciences, are located in the main campus ofNational Taiwan University inGongguan,Daan,Taipei. A joint office between the two institutions was established in 2014.[citation needed]
A campus in theShalun Smart Green Energy Science City, near theTainan High Speed Rail station,Guiren District,Tainan,[17] opened in 2024.[18] The Southern Campus is part of an effort to promote regional balance in the academic landscape of Taiwan and will prioritize research on agricultural biotechnology, sustainable development, and archaeology of early Taiwanese history and culture.[18]
Academia Sinica covers three major academic divisions:[19][3]
11 centers; 339 research fellows
8 centers; 329 research fellows
12 centers; 319 research fellows
The research stations in Taiwan include:[20]
The research sites abroad include:[21]
In general Academia Sinica is a non-teaching institution, but it has very close collaboration with the top research universities in Taiwan, such asNational Taiwan University,National Tsing Hua University,National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University andNational Central University. Many research fellows from Academia Sinica have a second appointment or jointprofessorship at these universities. In addition, Academia Sinica established jointPhD programs[22] in biological sciences with Taiwan's universities, such as the Doctoral Degree Program in Marine Biotechnology withNational Taiwan Ocean University.[23] Through these mechanisms, the faculty at Academia Sinica give lecture courses and supervise graduate students.
Since 2002, Academia Sinica set up the Taiwan International Graduate Program (TIGP),[5] open to local and international students for PhD programs. All courses at TIGP are conducted inEnglish. Students can choose theiradvisor among a faculty selected for the program out of outstanding researchers and professors appointed at Academia Sinica or at one of the partner universities (or both). Currently, admittance to the programme guarantees a monthlystipend of 40,000NTD, roughly$1,200 or€1,150 in their first year and up to 50,000 NTD, roughly$1,500 or€1,400 in their third year.[5]
The TIGP offers PhD programs only in selected disciplines agreed upon by Academia Sinica and its national research universities partners. The program offers doctoral degrees in highlyinterdisciplinary areas in the physical sciences, applied sciences, engineering, biological and agricultural sciences, health and medical sciences, humanities and social sciences. As of March 2017, Academia Sinica administers 13 such programs with degrees issued from partner universities:[5]
Launched in 2009, theTIGP International Internship Program (TIGP-IIP) is an intensive,predoctoral, summer research training program for two months that prepares its participating interns with the necessary knowledge and skills for future research or career development through rigorous hands-on training.[24]
Academia Sinica has a high number of both domestic and international postdoctoral fellows. They are funded by grants of theMinistry of Science and Technology or by Academia Sinica. The latter, the Academia Sinica Postdoctoral Fellow Program, consists of two tracks: Regular Postdoctoral Scholars (starting annual salary:NT$810,351 (US$28,100), additional benefits depending on the principal investigator) and Academia Sinica Postdoctoral Scholars (annual salary up to NT$1,167,278 (US$40,000), plus round-trip ticket and research subsidy of (US$4,500).[25][26]
The institute has extensive cooperation with research and academic institutions from other countries (such asHarvard-Yenching Institute[27]) and hosts several foreign institutes and their scholars.
The Taipei Center of the French School of Asian Studies (EFEO) was hosted by the Institute of Modern History, AS, from 1992 to 1996 and since 1996 by the Institute of History and Philology.[28] Its research projects center on the local and cultural history of Taiwan and China, and it organizes conferences and talks, support visiting scholars and students, and hosts EFEO fellows.
Academia Sinica currently sponsors the following journals:
(in English and Chinese)
