Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) is drawing attention by granting, for the first time since its founding, a tangible benefit of early promotion to professors with outstanding research achievements.

The first professor to receive the honor of early promotion is Professor Youngsang Yoon of the Graduate School's BIN Convergence Engineering Department.

At the recent Committee on Early Promotion of Educational Officials, Professor Yoon received excellent evaluations across world-class research, outstanding teaching activities, and contributions to the university, and was promoted from Associate Professor to Full Professor.

Beginning this year, JBNU established detailed provisions under Article 8, Clause 11 of the Regulations on the Appointment of Educational Public Officials allowing outstanding professors to receive early promotion.

Until now, JBNU has provided robust support to outstanding professors—such as offering incentives of up to KRW 100 million for papers published in the world’s three top science journals and reducing teaching hours—and has now prepared an exceptional personnel reward measure to grant significant recognition to professors who have achieved outstanding results in research and teaching.

Under these provisions, candidates must meet research performance at least four times greater than the Headquarters' promotion requirements and have one or more papers published as first author in Nature, Science, or Cell, or at least ten first-author papers in SCI-indexed journals ranked in the top 10% by citation index.

In fact, since 2008 Professor Yoon has published a total of 22 papers in world-renowned SCI journals within the top 10% by impact factor (IF). His contributions to academic advancement through activities such as serving on editorial boards of international journals and participating in domestic and international scholarly organizations were recognized. He has also taken a leading role in external service by serving as a policy advisor to various central government bodies.

President Seo Geoseok said, "The establishment of an early promotion system for the first time since the University’s founding is intended to provide tangible incentives to professors who have contributed to outstanding research, creative student education, and the development of the university," adding, "I congratulate Professor Youngsang Yoon, the first recipient of an early promotion, and we will strive to provide more benefits to professors who work diligently for the advancement of the university and scholarship."