research study about kangkong

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• v.58(9); 2021 Sep

Development of water spinach powder and its characterization

Pallawi joshi.

1 Department of Dairy Science and Food Technology, Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, India

Aparna Kumari

Anil kumar chauhan, meenakshi singh.

2 Technology Management Directorate (Socio-Economic Ministry Interface), Council of Scientific Research, New Delhi, India

Associated Data

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

The study was performed on water spinach ( Ipomea aquatica ), a hidden gem with lots of nutritional attributes and medicinal properties. To check its feasibility as an ingredient in other food products and to know its nutritional attributes, powders were made by drying the leaves and stems of the plant using different drying techniques such as sun drying, freeze-drying, and tray drying. The physicochemical analysis of powder was done to get a comparative result, in which the freeze-dried powder showed the most significant result. The physicochemical analysis revealed that lyophilized water spinach powder has a good amount of carbohydrates (58.15%), ash (12.39%), protein (4.01%), and fat (4.46%) content. The powder also possessed a high antioxidant property of 77.25% and a total phenolic content of 32 µg/ ml. SEM and XRD results showed that the water spinach powder was amorphous in nature.

Introduction

Ipomoea aquatic Forsk, commonly called Water spinach, belongs to the family Convolvulaceae. It is a tender, trailing, or floating perennial plant that grows on moist soil along the margins of freshwater in ditches, marshes, and wet rice fields (Prasad et al. 2008 ).

It is a vascular aquatic and marshy plant native to tropics and subtropics that grow wild and sometimes cultivated in south-east Asia, India, and southern China (Gothberg et al. 2002 ). Although it grows as a weed in India and the USA, in south-east Asian countries like Malaysia, China. It is grown commercially and one of the popular green leafy vegetables (Prasad et al. 2008 ). All parts of the young plant are edible, but the shoot tips and younger leaves are comparatively used more. Stems take relatively more time than leaves to cook (Top and Ashcroft 2002 ). Ipomea aquatic has been seen to be a good source of plant fibers, vitamins. It has natural antioxidants and can be used as a food supplement or pharmaceutical and medical industries (Huang et al. 2005 ).

Drying is the most ancient method of preserving foods. Even today, hundreds of variants are being used to dry particulate solids, pastes, continuous sheets, slurries, or solutions; thus, drying provides the most diversity among food process engineering unit operations (Patil et al. 2014 ).

Drying means the “removal of water” and is considered the most common and economical preservation method for many fruits and vegetables in many countries. Despite there being so many drying methods, which are traditional and primitive, there is a constant need to apply advanced techniques in drying with the objectives of increasing productivity and obtaining closer control of the process to achieve a product quality (Patil et al. 2014 ).

There are three types of drying processes used to dry different kinds of food products. They are (a) Sun drying or solar drying, (b) Atmospheric drying (kiln, cabinet, tunnel, spray, microwave), and (c) Sub-Atmospheric drying (vacuum & freeze drying).

However, freeze-drying is the most advanced method as well as the best method used for the dehydration of the food (Srivastava and Kumar 2003 ).

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is a widely utilized electron beam instrument used for imaging surface topography. It can easily interpret and generate the nature of the micrograph for the characterization of food materials. Similarly, X-Ray diffraction methods (XRD) is a very useful and quick characterization tool that is used to identify and characterize the crystallinity, which is an important aspect to check the stability of the powder and also provide data to unit cell measurements that came about as finely ground, homogenized and average bulk composition. The basis for all the diffraction analysis is creating of X-ray in the X-ray tube. The aim of this study was to study the microstructure of water spinach powder produced by different drying methods (Alsebaeai et al. 2018 ).

Exploring the technologies in the processing of this underutilized & cheap vegetable “water spinach” may help to know its potential to make the value-added product and a low-cost food product that will help the malnourished population in providing them all type of nutrition for a better lifestyle.

Material and methods

Fresh leaves of Water spinach along with the whole vine was procured from the local market of Varanasi, India. The experiments were conducted out at Center of Food Science and Technology (Institute of Agricultural Sciences); Department of Physics (Institute of Science); Department of Microbiology (Institute of Medical Science); Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (UP)India.

Processing of water spinach powder

The method of processing of water spinach powder is shown in Fig.  1 a. Three drying techniques made three different samples. The control sample (C) was unblanched while the other three samples were blanched at 85 ◦ C for 3 min after that, grounded as powder and named as blanched sundried sample (S), blanched tray dried sample (T), and blanched lyophilized sample (L).

a Flow diagram for development of water spinach powder

Physical analysis of water spinach powder

Surface color measurement was determined using the (L, a, b)* system by Color Flex, Hunter Lab. Bulk density was determined according to the protocol (Sahin et al. 2013 ). Where L* represents lightness, a*represents greenness, and b*represents yellowness.

Proximate analysis of water spinach powder

Proximate water spinach powder analysis, including moisture content, acidity, ash, crude fat, crude protein, and crude fiber, was analyzed (AOAC 2000 ). Carbohydrate content was determined using the difference method (FAO 2003 ).

Analysis of bioactive compounds in water spinach powder

Antioxidant activity of water spinach was evaluated by 2, 2 Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) method according to Benzie and Strain ( 1996 ).

The total polyphenol content (TPC) of each water spinach dried sample was evaluated using the Folin-Ciocalteu phenol reagent by the method of Huang et al. ( 2005 ). Gallic acid was used to prepare a standard curve (5–60 μg /mL; y = 0.00128x + 0.3079; r 2  = 0.989; y is the absorbance; x is the solution concentration).

Microscopy of water spinach powder

Microstructure analysis by scanning electron microscopy.

The powdered samples' appearance and shape were observed by scanning electron microscope (Quanta 200 camera, Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). In SEM analysis, the powdered sample was placed on aluminum stubs using a double-sided adhesive tape with an acceleration of 20 kV voltage (Alsebaeai et al. 2018 ).

X-ray diffraction

X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) characteristics of water spinach powder were examined by Empyrean multipurpose diffractometer (Malvern P analytical, UK). A small number of samples were pressed in an aluminum holder, and the diffractometer was operated with input energy of 40 mA and 45 kV. The diffract grams were taken between the angle of 10◦ and 79◦ (2θ) with a step angle of 0.013◦ for 6 min.

Results and discussion

As the leaves of water spinach wilts rapidly, drying techniques were used to make its powder and study its attributes and its feasibility to add it in other products to make a value-added product. The results show the lyophilized sample is more acceptable in most of the aspects. However, the results also showed various attributes of water spinach by which water spinach powder can be used to make value-added products and also be added in the regular diet as a green leafy vegetable.

Determination of the Physical & Chemical properties of the Water spinach powder

Physical analysis.

The effect of the drying method on the color of water spinach powder is presented in Table ​ Table1. 1 . The color was measured by spectrophotometer in which values of L*, a*, b* were determined. The values for L* ranges from 33.41 to 44.28, greenness indicated by a negative value for a* ranges from − 1.73 to − 2.83, while b* value ranges from 14.87 to 22.52. Shin et al. ( 2015 ) confronted similar results in case of sundried sample (L* = 45.68, a* = − 2.63, b* = 22.57). The green color was more retained in lyophilize dried powder as processing at low temperature and vacuum.

Effect of drying on the color, bulk density, pH, acidity, and proximateanalysis of all the powdered samples of water spinach

Bulk density

Untapped density is a significant parameter for the powder because it indicates the area covered by the powder, which is vital for the packing industry. Untapped density is expressed in grams per milliliter, and the results are presented in Table ​ Table1. 1 . The untapped density known as bulk density was found in the range from0.248 to 0.576 g/ml, of which the blanched tray dried (T) sample had the highest bulk density (0.576 g/ml).

pH and acidity

pH and acidity of the water spinach powder are presented in Table ​ Table1. 1 . The pH ranged from 6.74 to 7.50, while the acidity was to be found to be from 0.0032 to 0.0068. The lyophilized sample has a higher pH with low acidity. Shin et al. ( 2014 ) confront more or less similar results in the case of lyophilized (5.96) and sundried (5.57) water spinach powder. Powders being in the neutral pH range show the better shelf life and its use in value-added products as the proliferation and growth of microorganisms would be less.

Moisture content, ash, protein, fat, and carbohydrate content of the powder made from different drying techniques is given in Table ​ Table1. 1 . The table clearly shows that there are no major significant differences among the entire four samples. More or less similar results for protein, fat, fiber, ash, and carbohydrate were reported by Umar et al. ( 2007 ) in oven-dried water spinach powder at 60 °C.

The Proximate analysis of the samples revealed a diversified result; however lyophilized sample seemed to be nutritionally richer than other samples. The higher carbohydrate content can make a significant contribution to dietary intake, especially in diets for malnourished. The high ash content can result in a good sign to find some nutritionally essential minerals.

Analysis of bioactive compound in water spinach powder

Antioxidant activity of water spinach powder.

The inhibitor color of the free radical compound (DPPH) determined the antioxidant activity of the powder. The results range from 68 to 77.25% and are presented in Fig.  2 a. According to the results, the powder obtained from the lyophilize drying has the highest inhibition activity. A similar trend of results for lyophilized (77.93%) and sundried water spinach sample (77.24%) has been reported by Shin et al. ( 2014 ).

a Antioxidant activity of water spinach powder. b Total phenolic content of water spinach powder

Total phenol content of water spinach powder

The total phenol content of the powder ranges from 21 to 50 (µg/ml) and is shown in Fig.  2 b. The control sample has the highest phenolic content of 50(µg/ml). Phenols are a vital plant constituent. There is a definite connection between total phenols and antioxidant activity because phenolic compounds are active hydrogen donors, making them excellent antioxidants (Tyagi et al. 2020 ). Prasad et al. ( 2005 ) also found that water spinach powder is good source of phenolic content; therefore it is good source of natural antioxidants.

Study of characterization of water spinach powder

Morphological characterization of water spinach powder by sem.

The three-dimensional characteristics of the surfaces of powder particles obtained from water spinach by different drying were analyzed using SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy).

The micrographics are shown in Fig.  3 a, b, c, and d. According to the images, continuous, intact, amorphous and porous regions were destroyed during the shift from freeze to sun drying technique. Dried water spinach samples showed collapsed inter-cell connections and damaged tissue structures with the broken cell wall. The comparative study between all four samples shows that the morphology of the control sample, lyophilized, sundried, and tray dried sample, is almost similar. The amorphous nature of the powder significantly increases its solubility with the solvents, thus making it more bioavailable.

a Scanning electron microscope of control sample. b Scanning electron microscope of sundried sample. c Scanning electron microscope of Tray dried sample. d Scanning electron microscope of lyophilized sample

X-Ray diffraction analysis of the water spinach powder

The crystalline or amorphous nature of the powder can be determined by X-ray diffraction analysis. The results are shown in Fig.  4 a, b, c, and d. X-ray spectra were recorded with 2θ angles over the scanning range of 10◦ to 79◦. The diffused curve shows that the sample is amorphous in nature as the molecules are disorderly placed, producing dispersed bands. The parameter of main diffraction peaks from water spinach powder is given in Table ​ Table2. 2 . It was observed the curve for all four samples were almost similar.

a XRD of the water spinach powder (Control sample). b XRD of the water spinach powder (Sample S). c XRD of the water spinach power (Sample T). d XRD of the water spinach power (Sample L)

XRD parameter of water spinach powder

This study has explored more research possibilities for this “hidden gem” green leafy vegetable. Results of this study showed drying treatments to be effective in preserving water spinach for future and more extensive use. Comparatively, freeze-dried samples showed better nutritional content and color retention. The plant water spinach grows more or is cultivated generally in unsuitable areas for crop production because of the presence of pollutants and heavy metal content. The study can be used to give a proper reputation and cultivation practices to this vegetable despite calling it only weed or noxious. The low and affordable price of this vegetable will provide the low-income group and malnourished people with the option of nutritionally rich food. It is expected that the results of this study might be useful to promote the commercial application of dried water spinach as a raw ingredient/additive while developing novel value-added food products.

Acknowledgements

The work described has not been published before, it is not under consideration for publication elsewhere, its submission to JFST publication has been approved by all authors as well as the responsible authorities—tacitly or explicitly—at the institute where the work has been carried out, if accepted, it will not be published elsewhere in the same form, in English or in any other language, including electronically without the written consent of the copyright holder, and JFST will not be held legally responsible should there be any claims for compensation or dispute on authorship. The author is grateful to Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi for providing the SEM and XRD facilities required for the study.

Abbreviations

Authors contributions

This work was designed by PJ, AK, AKC, MS; the experiments were carried out by PJ and AK under the supervision of AKC and MS. All authors contributed to the results and discussion. The first draft of the manuscript was prepared by PJ and AK, and all authors contributed to the final version. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Not Applicable.

Data availability

Declarations.

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects.

All authors agree to publish.

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Contributor Information

Pallawi Joshi, Email: moc.liamg@6191ihsojiwallap .

Aparna Kumari, Email: [email protected] .

Anil Kumar Chauhan, Email: moc.liamg@tsfcnahuahclina .

Meenakshi Singh, Email: moc.liamg@51hgnisihskaneemrd .

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Central Philippine University

Kangkong – the edible healthy vegetable (6th of a series).

by Central Philippine University | Nov 18, 2022 | Uncategorized

By Manny C. Palada PhD Visiting Professor, CPU and former scientist at the Asian Vegetable Research and Development (AVRDC)

Kangkong (Ipomoea spp.) is one of the most popular leafy vegetables in South and Southeast Asia. It is known by many names including swamp cabbage, water convolvulus, and water spinach. The plant has flowers that range in color from white to pink, and its stems come in shades of green and purple. The leaves are a good source of protein, vitamin A, iron, and calcium.

The following suggested cultural practices were developed at AVRDC in the Taiwan lowlands. Growers may need to modify the practices to suit local soil, weather, pest, and disease conditions.

Kangkong is adapted to a wide range of climate and soil conditions but requires a relatively high soil moisture for optimum growth. Soils with high levels of organic matter are preferable. The plant produces optimum yields in the lowland humid tropics under stable high temperatures and short day lengths. Temperatures averaging between 25– 30°C are ideal. Plants are damaged at temperatures of 10°C or less.

There are two common types. Upland Kangkong (Ipomoea reptans) has narrow leaves. It is adapted to moist soils and is harvested once. Lowland or aquatic kangkong (Ipomoea aquatica) has broader, arrow-shaped leaves It is adaptive to flooded conditions and is harvested several times. Regardless of type, the choice of variety can be influenced by local growing conditions, seasons, and consumer preferences. Local testing is recommended to identify superior varieties.

The Kangkong is an edible, healthy vegetable that is now among the delicious vegie menu at home and in restaurants.

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CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND

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What will it take to open South Korean research to the world?

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Yaowu Liu, Stefano Reale and Lei Fang at the Center for Quantum Nanoscience, where local and international researcher numbers are split. Credit: Caroline Hommel, QNS

At the Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS), nestled in the hilly campus of Seoul’s Ewha Womans University, director of operations, Michelle Randall, shows off the facilities. “This is where we isolate our scanning tunnelling microscopes (STM) from any vibrations,” she says, pointing to an 80-tonne concrete damper, a mechanism that reduces interfering movements to near zero. Researchers at QNS are using STMs to image and manipulate individual atoms and molecules, chasing breakthroughs akin to last year’s assembly of a device made from single atoms that allows multiple qubits — the fundamental units of quantum information — to be controlled simultaneously ( Y. Wang et al. Science 382 , 87–92; 2023 ). The work, done by QNS in collaboration with colleagues in Japan, Spain and the United States, could have applications in quantum computing, sensing and communication.

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Nature Index 2024 South Korea

The diversity of the QNS team offers a glimpse of what research looks like in a country that is betting big on international collaboration. For 2024, South Korea has more than tripled its budget for global research and development (R&D) collaboration, committing to 1.8 trillion won (US$1.3 billion), up from 2023’s 500 billion won. The investment, which represents an increase from 1.6% to 6.8% of the government’s overall R&D budget, could see a shift away from using metrics such as university rankings, quantified research outputs and international student and faculty recruitment in favour of boosting ties with leading overseas research institutions in strategic areas. “There’s a huge amount of money that has suddenly been assigned to international research. With this comes many opportunities,” says Meeyoung Cha, scientific director of the Max Planck Institute for Security and Privacy, in Bochum, Germany, who holds joint positions at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Korean Institute for Basic Science, in Daejeon.

The budget increase is part of the Korean Ministry of Science and ICT’s (MSIT) wider R&D Innovation Plan, announced in November 2023 . It includes a new Global R&D Strategy Map, which will guide tailored collaboration strategies with specific countries based on their strengths in 12 critical and emerging technologies, such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum science. Industry strengths in 17 technologies related to achieving carbon neutrality and mitigating climate change will also be considered. In addition, MSIT has amended laws to allow overseas research institutions to directly participate in state R&D projects and aims to develop Global R&D Flagship Projects in key areas that will receive prioritized allocation of government funds.

Such moves are designed to refocus South Korea’s R&D, which has become stagnant over the past decade, according to MSIT, despite the country being the world’s second highest spender on R&D as a percentage of GDP, after Israel. In 2023, South Korea’s legislative national assembly approved a 14.7% cut to the overall 2024 R&D budget, from 31.1 trillion won in 2023. The cuts include shifting some more general funds for universities to a separate budget.

Foreign students line up to submit their applications at a job fair in Busan, South Korea. Credit: YONHAP/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

“It seems that the term ‘budget cut’ really means redistributing money to more applied projects and international research initiatives,” says computational biologist, Martin Steinegger, based at Seoul National University. Steinegger experienced a 15–25% reduction in existing grants, paid annually from the National Research Foundation of Korea, the country’s main funding agency. This forced him to reduce conference travel for his students and use older hardware for research. “I have effectively less money than I did last year, but I can apply to many new things, it seems,” says Steinegger.

Changes could come next year, as South Korea continues to adjust its spending in science. In June, the government proposed a record 24.8 trillion won for R&D focused on basic and applied scientific research in 2025 , which is up from 2024’s 21.9 trillion won, although further details were not available at the time of writing.

Global collaborator

Off the back of such policy shifts, becoming the first Asian country to join the European Union’s Horizon Europe programme, the world’s largest research-funding scheme, is a major win for South Korea. Announced in March, the new partnership will drive collaborations between South Korean and European researchers in areas such as quantum technologies, semiconductors and next-generation wireless networks. South Korea is also forging bilateral cooperation agreements across Europe, such as with Denmark on clean-energy technologies and Germany on basic sciences, including the launch of a joint centre with the Max Planck Society, Germany’s flagship basic-research organization, at Yonsei University in Seoul.

Taking on more joint projects with Europe could help to diversify South Korea’s internationally collaborative outputs in the Nature Index. The United States, which has deep historic ties with South Korea dating back to the Korean War in the 1950s, is the country’s most important research partner in natural-sciences output, with a collaborative Share — a measure of joint contribution to research tracked by the Index — of 639.94 in 2023. China forms South Korea’s second-strongest partnership, with a collaborative Share of 300.81, followed by Japan, at 114.88 (see ‘Research ties’).

The number of natural-sciences articles in the Nature Index that have been co-authored by China- and South Korea-based researchers has grown considerably in recent years, up 222% between 2015 and 2023, compared with US–South Korean output, which dropped by 4% over the same period. But South Korean researchers report that collaborations with China are becoming more difficult, particularly in technology areas. According to data from South Korea’s national police agency, of the 78 cases of industrial technology leaks recorded between 2018 and mid-2023, 51 involved leaks to places or people in China. There is now also more oversight of collaborations with China than with other major research partners. “Researchers occasionally receive requests from their institutions or the government asking who is collaborating with China, says Cha. “They are aware that any collaboration may be monitored, creating a sense of censorship.”

In order to minimize its exposure to any supply-chain disruptions or political risks associated with ongoing US–China tensions, South Korea must look farther afield when establishing research links, says Lee Myung-hwa, who studies policy and innovation at the Science and Technology Policy Institute think tank, in Sejong. “The key is building trust with collaboration partners, which needs to be long-term, stable and maintained without being swayed by policy directions,” she says.

Cha highlights southeast Asia, a region that has long been of strategic and diplomatic interest to South Korea, as a place with untapped potential for joint innovation projects. “For instance, in Indonesia, there’s no governmental institution in charge of AI,” she says, which could open up the possibility of future collaborations around ethical and strategic development of AI technologies.

In 2023, the South Korean government committed to boosting cooperation with southeast Asia in areas including cybersecurity and communications technologies, and with individual nations, such as Vietnam, to help advance digital transition and clean-energy sectors. “Huge collaboration could happen if we work together,” says Cha.

Domestic challenges

With more than 10 million visitors moving between southeast Asian nations and South Korea each year, the region could also be important to South Korea in dealing with its dual demographic challenge: attracting overseas scientists in a country that is traditionally conservative towards immigration, and retaining homegrown talent. Solving these problems is paramount, as South Korea contends with the world’s lowest birthrate, driven by factors such as the rising costs of housing, education and childcare, a highly competitive and demanding work culture, and gender inequality issues, including the biggest gender pay gap among Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development members. Student numbers are also in steep decline, which is putting some universities at risk of closure. An analysis of 195 Korean universities published by Seoul-based institute Jongro Academy in March showed that 51 had failed to fill their enrolment quotas for 2024. Of those, 43 were located outside the Seoul metropolitan area, accounting for 98% of the total unfilled seats.

To boost numbers, the South Korean Ministry of Education has announced new initiatives, including annual financial support for master’s, doctoral and postdoctoral researchers. These measures, which are part of the overall R&D budget, aim to incentivize mostly local students to continue their careers in research. For foreign students, the ministry wants to attract 300,000 of them by 2027 through its ‘Study Korea 300K Project’. Students will be targeted at events and language centres abroad and science graduates may be offered an easier pathway to permanent residency and South Korean citizenship. Language proficiency requirements for admission will also be reduced. Scholarship programmes are being expanded, including the government-funded Global Korea Scholarship invitation programme, which will increase recipient numbers from 4,543 in 2022 to 6,000 by 2027. The ministry has identified India and Pakistan in particular as important sources of science and engineering talent.

It’s unclear whether efforts to attract international students will bring more of a spotlight to the challenges faced by those who are already in the country. Lewis Nkenyereye, who studies computer and information security at Sejong University in Seoul, expresses concern for the many foreign students who work part-time to satisfy the minimum bank balance requirements of their enrolments. Language barriers and administrative hurdles have led to some of them being deported for not having adequate permits, says Nkenyereye, who is originally from Burundi. “The government is aware that most foreign students have part-time jobs and should adapt its policies to better accommodate their needs,” he says.

Religious and cultural differences also pose difficulties. Muaz Razaq, a student, who left Pakistan to pursue his PhD in computer science at Kyungpook National University in Daegu, is involved in a small mosque-reconstruction project next to his university that has ignited strong opposition from segments of the local community. Razaq says he’s heard many stories from other Muslim students across South Korea who describe being taunted by their peers over food choices and who lack designated spaces for practices such as ablution before prayers.

Challenging conditions for foreign students might be contributing to South Korea’s low levels of retention after graduation. According to a 2022 report by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Education and Training in Seoul, the number of foreign students that are earning doctorates in South Korea quadrupled in the period 2012 to 2021. But the proportion of foreign students who returned to their home country after graduation has consistently increased, from 40.9% in 2016 to 62.0% in 2021.

Source: Nature Index

It is hoped that government-funded initiatives such as the Brain Pool programme, which gives doctoral researchers access to up to 300 million won annually for three years, and Brain Pool Plus, which offers outstanding researchers with expertise in core technology fields up to 600 million won annually for up to ten years, can help to attract and retain foreign talent. MSIT also plans to introduce support programmes to help new arrivals settle in and build networks.

Recent updates to visa rules for foreign researchers and students could make it easier for universities to attract overseas talent. In July, the Korean Ministry of Justice, which oversees immigration, greatly expanded the number of universities that are eligible to recruit foreign postgraduate and undergraduate students on D-2-5 research study visas and waived the three-year work-experience requirement for international master’s and PhD holders to obtain E-3 research visas.

New opportunities

The relatively low levels of English used at South Korean universities and research institutions is a major hurdle in the country’s drive towards internationalization. The number of university courses taught in English has increased in recent years, but Korean remains the primary language of instruction at many institutions. This affects foreign researchers at all career stages because they often require help from others or full-time assistance to navigate the environment, particularly in administrative matters, says Steinegger, who can manage daily life in Korean, but needs staff to help him with paperwork.

Seoul Robotics, a company that develops AI-powered software for autonomous driving and traffic management, has mandated an English-speaking work environment to attract international talent. Such a culture is unusual in South Korea; although many companies have English-speaking requirements, these are often not enforced, says Evan Thomas, business development manager at Seoul Robotics. “The ability to communicate in English without constant translation and cultural interpretation has been a significant advantage compared to more traditional South Korean companies,” he says.

Cultural attitudes towards foreigners can also hinder long-term retention, says Thomas. “Many South Koreans view foreigners as temporary visitors rather than potential long-term residents, discouraging them from settling in,” he says. A 2023 survey by the Korea Institute of Public Administration, a government-sponsored research institute in Seoul, seems to back this up, reporting that less than half of the respondents say they accept foreign nationals as members of South Korean society.

Given the shortages of local staff that are being recorded in strategic industries such as semiconductors and AI, it’s a problem that South Korea needs to address. Another report, by the University of Science and Technology in Daejon and the Korea Industrial Technology Association in Seoul, found that just 24% of 300 South Korean companies surveyed had foreign staff. Many cited a lack of information about foreign students as the reason, suggesting that there is a disconnect between academia and industry regarding graduate careers.

Hong Bui, a student from Vietnam, accepted a postdoctoral position at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich in April, after completing her PhD at QNS. Bui cites the limited permanent career opportunities that are available to international researchers in Seoul as one of her reasons for wanting to leave, despite having a positive experience in QNS’s internationally focused environment. “South Korean companies often value overseas experience more than domestic experience, and many workplaces require Korean language proficiency,” she says.

As South Korea devotes record levels of resources to building ties with overseas institutions and attracting foreign researchers and students, its leaders hope that stronger research performance and innovation prowess will follow. But the success of such efforts hinges on the country’s ability to foster a more diverse research ecosystem, with fewer cultural challenges for foreigners to contend with.

“If the barriers are lowered and support is provided for overseas researchers to utilize South Korea’s leading research facilities and equipment, I think South Korea will become an attractive country for conducting research activities,” says Lee.

Nature 632 , S2-S5 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-02685-y

This article is part of Nature Index 2024 South Korea , an editorially independent supplement. Advertisers have no influence over the content. For more information about Nature Index, see the homepage .

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