The National Science and Technology Council (NST) will hire 100 specialists to professionalise common administrative functions at government-funded research institutes.

NST said on Sunday it is starting open recruitment for specialists in five fields to fully push ahead with the professionalisation of shared administrative functions at the institutes.

The recruitment will be carried out in two rounds. In the first round, NST will hire 64 people across four roles: recruitment, public relations, grievance handling and audit. Applications will be accepted through Sept. 29. The second round will be held after October for 36 positions in audit and information security.

Hiring by field will be 24 in recruitment, 10 in public relations, 10 in grievance handling, 40 in audit and 16 in information security. In audit, NST will hire 20 people each in the first and second rounds.

Specialists in these fields will take on the role of integrating and professionalising common administrative work that the institutes have carried out individually. The public relations field will handle joint public relations planning, global public relations, outreach, joint exhibitions and content production.

The grievance-handling field will be responsible for everything from receiving complaints to investigations, deliberations and follow-up management for grievances including workplace bullying and sexual harassment and sexual violence. In audit, service and conduct audits that had been conducted by each institute will be unified under the NST audit committee to carry out comprehensive, specific and service audits. The information security field will operate an information security system for joint responses to cyber threats through measures including protecting the institutes' information assets and jointly using secure networks.

NST will hire both entry-level and experienced workers to secure specialist staff. It will gradually foster entry-level hires into administrative experts for the institutes, while using experienced hires as specialists able to perform duties immediately.

The recruitment follows the "basic plan for professionalising common administrative functions at government-funded research institutes" that NST confirmed at a board meeting in May. NST then held 26 consultations through specialised working groups by role and a professionalisation steering body with parties including the institutes and labour unions, and the National Association of Government-funded Research Institutes' Scientists and Engineers Councils.

NST Chairman Young-sik Kim (김영식) said, "We will continue to reflect the views of the research field to reduce the administrative burden on government-funded research institutes and create an environment in which researchers can focus more on research."