Scientific research of young cadres: are we really passionate?

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh, Vice Principal of the School spoke at the exchange session.

Research is a mandatory task

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities currently has 526 staff, of which the number of young staff (under 40 years old) is 224, accounting for 42.6%. 94.2% of young staff have postgraduate qualifications. This is a fairly high rate compared to other universities. The team of young staff has been playing an important role in scientific research activities in particular and the development of the University in general.

Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Minh affirmed: Scientific research is a mandatory task for young lecturers at the University of Social Sciences and Humanities. This is the team that the University has determined to focus on investing in and supporting so that teachers have favorable conditions to conduct their scientific research, while expanding academic exchanges with international partners.

Currently, the University staff is implementing 14 national-level projects, dozens of Nafosted fund projects, and projects at all levels; publishing an average of more than 600 scientific articles per year, dozens of books; organizing more than 30 scientific conferences and seminars, of which half are international conferences. In particular, since 2010, the number of international publications has increased. If in 2010 there were only 7 international publications, by 2014, there were 42 international publications, including publications in scientific journals in the ISI and Scopus systems. With the goal of developing in the direction of a research university and integrating with the region and the world, scientific research activities will certainly be promoted more in the coming time. This is a favorable environment for young staff to promote their capacity.

In addition, the School has policies to encourage young staff such as: rewarding works published internationally; supporting tuition fees for young staff studying for master's degrees and doctoral degrees; supporting fees for international English certificate exams; supporting staff with PhDs to work at the School in the first year... Scientific conferences for young staff are held annually, aiming to create a forum for academic exchange for master's students, doctoral students, and young researchers. This year, the School launched a scientific journal on Social Sciences and Humanities, which will create more opportunities to support young staff to publish their works.

Obstacles come from many sides

At the conference, many opinions commented: the scientific activities of young cadres are still not commensurate with the potential of the team. The reasons come from many sides.

Scientific management activities have not yet fully promoted the function of consulting and supporting staff in accessing resources for research. Associate Professor, Dr. Hoang Thu Huong (Faculty of Sociology) said that young staff really need support to increase their opportunities to access topics at all levels. These opportunities are currently not many. On the other hand, the process of registering topics is still complicated, and information about topic approval to staff is slow.

Postgraduate student Pham Van Hung (Faculty of Literature) presented some opinions at the discussion.

PhD student Pham Van Hung (Faculty of Literature) pointed out that one of the difficulties in international publication is the authors' ability to use foreign languages. This PhD student also suggested that the University have solutions to support scientists in translating their research into foreign languages.

MSc. Tran Thi Mai Hoa (Faculty of Tourism Studies) shared that the difficulty of young staff is that they have little time to do research due to too much management and administrative work. In addition, they have difficulty accessing the latest scientific information due to the limited scientific database of the School.

Explaining why not many of the researches of young scientists are published internationally, some other opinions say that the problem lies in the quality of the articles. The researches lack connections with other studies in the same field, and cannot find a common voice with the international scientific community. Although the University organizes dozens of international conferences a year and supports staff to exchange science abroad, a number of young staff have not really taken advantage of these opportunities.

Be passionate and dare to challenge

"We have been really passionate about research." - Associate Professor Dr. Pham Quang Minh asked the young staff. How can research not only fulfill obligations and responsibilities to the School, but also, at a higher level, scientific research must come from the personal needs of each young researcher?

"We have a great advantage, that is, the School has a long history, a strong research tradition with great scientific names in the development periods. The tradition of scientific research has been continued through many generations of scientists and lecturers. Young lecturers, please take advantage of this, learn from the experiences of previous generations of teachers." - Associate Professor, Dr. Pham Quang Minh suggested.

Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Tich (Head of Science and Technology Department, VNU) is sharing his opinions.

Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Tich (Head of Science and Technology Department, VNU) said that young scientists need to be bolder and more proactive in finding funding for their research: "Collect a list of international research funding funds, they are also very "open" to topics in social sciences and humanities and boldly try. Besides, look for opportunities in localities - but where there is a real need for the intelligence of scientists to contribute to the socio-economic development of the province or region.".

Connecting domestic and international scientists, connecting social scientists and humanities with natural scientists and technology scientists to solve major, interdisciplinary problems of society and the country - this is an inevitable trend of science and social practice. If young scientists are outside this trend, it will be very difficult to improve their research.

Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Van Tich affirmed: "Young scientists must be aware of making a living from their own research and in fact, Vietnamese scientists today can completely live well thanks to research.".