Academia Sinica Logo

In 2021, the world actively promoted the Covid-19 vaccination, the economy has gradually recovered. Domestically, starting from the end of July, spread of the pandemic slowed down. Furthermore, foreign trade continued to expand, mainly driven by acceleration of infrastructure construction and digital transformation in major countries. Real GDP growth rate in Taiwan in the third quarter reached 3.70% and growth in the year 2021 is expected to be 6.04%. Looking forward to 2022, due to supply chain bottlenecks and inflation risk, foreign demand is expected to slow down. However, with the gradual increase in domestic vaccination rate, consumption is expected to pick up. Considering high base period factors, the real economic growth rate in 2022 is expected to be 3.85%.

The Awards Ceremony for the 10th Scholarly Monograph Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences was held on December 9 on the first floor of the Tsai Yuan-Pei Memorial Hall (Faculty Club), Academia Sinica. This year, five books were selected for the award: two in Mandarin and three in English, covering topics such as history, art, and English literature. It was our great pleasure to recognize this year’s award winners, whose thought-provoking books explored a vast range of ideas and challenged preexisting theoretical frameworks.

The names of awardees for the 2021 Academia Sinica Early-Career Investigator Research Achievement Award have been announced, and the Awards Ceremony was held on November 5, with Academia Sinica Vice President Chin-shing Huang presiding and presenting medals and prizes to the awardees. This year, there are a total of 9 awardees: 3 from the Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, 3 from the Division of Life Sciences, and 3 from the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. Each awardee will receive a medal, a NT$300,000 prize and a research grant of NT$300,000.

After a year of anticipation, the finest science carnival in Taiwan -- Academia Sinica Open House -- is ready to go! This year will be the first time that all activities take place online, so you can watch popular science talks and learn about our latest research without having to leave the comfort of your home.

As the global pandemic has not yet ended, this year’s international Pacific Neighborhood Consortium Annual Conference and Joint Meetings (PNC 2021) will be held for the first time as an online virtual conference, from September 28 to 30, 2021. PNC 2021 will be hosted by Academia Sinica. The conference theme will be “Sustainable Digital Heritage.” It will feature 3 keynote speeches from world-class experts, and 17 conference presentation sessions. Over 120 experts from over 10 countries are expected to gather online to explore how we can sustainably preserve cultural heritage and civilization in this age of digital sharing.

The Welch Foundation has announced Academician Chi-Huey Wong as the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Robert A. Welch Award in Chemistry, in honor of his outstanding contributions in chemical research.

Former ROC Vice President Academician Chien-Jen Chen was appointed by Pope Francis as a new member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, the second scholar from Taiwan so honored following former Academia Sinica President Yuan-Tseh Lee.

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 in Taiwan has highlighted the important roles that collective wisdom and action have played in battles against epidemics throughout history. Following Academia Sinica’s launch of the “Reflections on COVID-19” website this year (2021), its companion result is being published today (July 15), a book entitled Reflections on COVID-19. This work features 19 articles by 20 humanities and social science scholars, whose work contributes valuable knowledge to aid Taiwanese society during this critical period.

According to the Presidential Office’s Personnel Order of March 15, 2021, Academia Sinica President James C. Liao has been reappointed to serve for a second term from June 21, 2021 to June 20, 2026. President Liao has in turn reappointed Academicians Mei-Yin Chou, Fu-Tong Liu, and Chin-shing Huang to continue serving as Vice Presidents for the Division of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, Division of Life Sciences, and Division of Humanities and Social Sciences respectively.

Academia Sinica’s 34th Convocation of Academicians and 33rd Election of Academicians and Honorary Academicians was originally scheduled to be held in 2020, but had to be rescheduled to July 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, due to the ongoing severity of the pandemic in Taiwan, the Conveners for the Convocation of Academicians and the Preparatory Committee for the Election of Academicians jointly decided to postpone the Convocation again, until July 2022. All future plans will be made according to Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) policies.

Although Taiwan’s pandemic alert level is rising, and gatherings have been restricted, the national treasures of Taiwan are still available at your fingertips. Following the success of last year’s “The Museum Opens Up” virtual event, the Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures (ASCDC) and the Chinese Association of Museums are teaming up again for this year’s International Museum Day (May 18), calling on even more collecting institutions across Taiwan to jointly launch the “Treasure Hunt Challenge” special event.