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Dear Colleagues,

Congratulations to everyone for numerous recent breakthroughs in research conducted by Academia Sinica. From capturing images of a black hole to advances in nanoscience, these exciting results have helped carve a niche for Academia Sinica in the world’s scientific arena. Nevertheless, as international competition becomes increasingly intense, we must recognize that the only way of ensuring our existence and sustainable development is to become world-class.

Last year during the 90th Anniversary of Academia Sinica, I put forward a vision for our future, expressing my expectation that all colleagues should possess ambition, responsibility and wisdom. This means that we should aim at solving major problems in science and the humanities. Moreover, we should shoulder responsibility for guiding and reaching out to society. Finally, we should be wise enough to guide and execute plans effectively. In other words, we should aspire to be leaders in our field for all of the projects we undertake.

In late March 2019, we convened a two-day, nine-session Strategic Planning Meeting at Yangmingshan (also known as the Tsaoshan Meeting) of all Institute Directors, Central Office administrators, and research fellow representatives. Based on the vision described above, we established the following three objectives for the next five to ten years: 1) Achieve global peaks of excellence; 2) Fulfil social responsibilities in crucial areas; and 3) Attract and cultivate top talent. As noted above, the purpose of our existence lies in the achievement of world-class research. While recognizing our social responsibilities, we also need to focus on critical issues that can be addressed via research. To attain these goals, top professional talent is essential. Therefore, we need to actively seek out the world’s best researchers and then mentor them tirelessly, so that each one achieves his or her highest potential.

The above three objectives are not flowery language but fundamental guiding principles for Academia Sinica’s future development that will shape the ways in which we allocate resources and evaluate performance. From now on, all Academia Sinica research plans and related projects should be aligned with these three objectives; programs that diverge from the principles described above will need to be re-oriented or transformed. In short, we need to critically reconsider work that is either inefficient or undertaken without a clear sense of purpose, while also concentrating our resources to achieve essential goals.

To reach these targets, we need to make every effort to adhere to the principle of valuing quality over quantity. In assessing research performance, all Institutes and Research Centers at Academia Sinica should carefully critique research results rather than simply fixating on numbers of papers published or other numerical indices. We should establish criteria for assessing scholarship and instilling a sense of self-confidence in academic judgment. In addition, it is essential that our colleagues be encouraged to dedicate themselves to critical issues instead of pursuing the short-sighted goal of maximizing the number of papers they publish. We expect all works published by our fellows to be both insightful and thought-provoking. Likewise, research teams should aim to be of high-quality rather than large-scale. From Institutes and Research Centers to individual researchers, each unit should focus on critical research topics.

In selecting research fields, we should not aim at covering all possible issues, but instead focus on areas that will generate impactful results. Since sciences and the humanities advance rapidly, when initiating new fields of research each Institute and Research Center must shift away from topics that are no longer competitive or relevant. With wise allocation of resources, we can ensure that colleagues with insightful research visions, ambition to excel, and responsibility to deliver, have the support to achieve world-class results.

During the next ten years, one-third of our research faculty will reach the age of mandatory retirement. Recruitment of new faculty members should be undertaken based on candidates’ academic accomplishments and potential, rather than simply filling openings or maintaining existing capabilities. We expect each new faculty member to play a major role in helping Academia Sinica reach peaks of excellence worldwide.

In light of today’s fierce international competition, we will soon become obsolete unless we “run twice as fast”, as Lewis Carroll described in his Red Queen’s Race. Since most of you did not join us in the Tsaoshan Meeting, I am taking this opportunity to inform you of Academia Sinica’s vision, objectives and guiding principles. I strongly encourage each Institute, Research Center and individual researcher to apply these principles to their tasks, while considering if their research work is truly aligned with them. As we move forward towards the start our new centennial less than 10 years from now, let us work together in raising Academia Sinica to new heights of global academic excellence.

Sincerely,
James C. Liao
President