Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity makes first push into Europe to recruit Korean scientists

The Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity held an overseas talent recruitment event Tuesday in Toulouse, France, aimed at supporting the return and resettlement of Korean scientists working in Europe.

The event — previously held only in the United States — expanded to Europe for the first time in its history, further strengthening a cross-ministry cooperation framework for recruiting global science and technology talent.

It was held in conjunction with the 2026 EKC (Korean-European Science and Technology Conference), the largest Korean science and technology academic conference in Europe, drawing strong attention and participation from leading researchers active across the continent.

A total of 28 domestic industry, academic and research institutions took part, including government-funded research institutes, the four major science and technology institutes and leading companies such as Samsung Electronics. Participating organizations held institution-specific recruitment briefings for European-based researchers and offered tailored one-on-one career consulting sessions, providing practical guidance on career concerns researchers might face upon returning to Korea. Government-funded research institutes drew particular interest by proactively disclosing the fields in which they plan to recruit overseas science and technology professionals — including aerospace, advanced materials, AI and defense — and conducting in-depth research consultations.

Jung Woo-sung, president of the Korea Foundation for the Advancement of Science and Creativity, said it was "deeply meaningful to be able to comprehensively introduce recruitment projects that had previously been carried out separately by individual ministries." He added that the foundation would "upgrade the integrated support platform for overseas talent recruitment to provide seamless support from initial settlement through long-term career growth."

The foundation plans to strengthen cooperation with government ministries and related agencies to help global science and technology talent enter Korea's industry, academic and research environments smoothly and consolidate their capabilities, while continuing to expand pan-government integrated support to establish a stable foundation for them in the country.