South Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity on Monday held the finals of the 'My Research Challenge Story' contest at the SKY31 Convention in Seoul. They selected Lee Jong-won (이종원), an assistant professor at Keimyung University, as the top prize winner.

Launched for the first time this year, 'My Research Challenge Story' is a contest aimed at highlighting the trial and error and challenges researchers face on the way to new achievements.

Lee won the top prize for sharing his experience of tackling housing environment problems for vulnerable groups under the theme, 'Science begins with communication.' He developed a low-cost sensor but faced difficulties applying it in the field due to residents' concerns about exposure of their privacy. He received high marks for describing how he changed his approach by working with social workers and civic groups and having residents directly take part in the research.

The excellence prize went to Jeong Yong-hwan (정용환), a former head at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, and Oh Geon (오건), a postdoctoral researcher at Sungkyunkwan University. Encouragement prizes went to Chae Su-sang (채수상), an assistant professor at Korea University of Technology and Education, Jeong Seong-seok (정성석), a graduate student at Pohang University of Science and Technology, and Jeong Gu-ha (정구하), a principal researcher at the LX Spatial Information Research Institute.

The top prize winner received an award from the deputy prime minister and minister of science and ICT, along with 5 million won. Each of the 2 excellence prize winners received 3 million won, and each of the 3 encouragement prize winners received 1 million won and an award from the chair of the foundation.

Lee Jun-bae (이준배), director-general for future talent policy at the ministry, said, "We will create various opportunities so that we can support the concerns, trial and error, and challenges that researchers go through until research results are created."