I am devoted to scientific research, but you want to trick me into having a love relationship?

Chapter 786 The Vision of the Advanced Research Institute
office.

"This is just a general framework; the details still need to be refined."

"In addition to these academic departments, there are also specialized platforms, such as the Computing and Data Science Platform and the Academic Exchange Center."

Xu Qingzhou slowly told Ji Yunshi about his ideas for the Institute for Advanced Studies.

Currently, Ren Nan, Zhao Shengwen, and others are each responsible for their respective sections, and everyone is doing their job. He, on the other hand, is not so busy. He only needs to control the overall progress and act as a brick, going wherever he is needed.

Ji Yunshi put down the information Xu Qingzhou had given him and said in a deep voice, "Alright, I'll come down and organize the experts to come up with a plan."

The operation of large research institutes is much more complex than that of research institutes.

Just considering the management structure design, for example, a council is needed, composed of top scientists from around the world, government representatives, and corporate donors, to ensure academic independence and resource support.

An academic committee is still needed. Although academic departments have been established, a committee is still needed to break down disciplinary barriers.

The institute's current administrative departments will be merged into the future operations support department.

Xu Qingzhou poured tea for Ji Yunshi, and smiled as he said, "The preparations can be slow, but they must be steady. I don't want to follow the same path as Tsinghua University."

In China, many universities are trying to emulate Princeton's IAS model. Tsinghua University is one such example, aiming to create a hub for pure academic research and attract top scholars from around the world, but the results have been less than ideal.

The staffing and resource allocation of university research institutes are under the dual management of the Ministry of Education and the universities, making it difficult for them to escape bureaucracy. Moreover, they are mostly dependent on the university system and lack independence.

In short, constrained by various factors, even if domestic research institutes are built in imitation style, they can only achieve the form but not the spirit, failing to grasp the true essence.

"This is something to be wary of. As a new institution, we have unique advantages, such as a high degree of autonomy and no heavy burdens."

Ji Yunshi nodded in agreement and slowly said, "But if we want to establish an advanced research institute that can truly rival Princeton and become our own academic mecca, I'm afraid there are still many thorny paths to take."

"During the wars in Europe in the 1930s, the IAS received Jewish scientists such as Einstein and von Neumann (Document 4). This concentration of talent is a historical contingency that cannot be replicated. Not to mention us, even Americans themselves would probably find it difficult to create such a miracle again."

"Yes, it's very challenging. But from another perspective, isn't it also quite interesting?"

IAS’s core advantage is that it is completely independent of universities, supported by private foundations, and free from administrative interference.

When the Institute of Materials was established, it took a path completely independent of the Xia State Research Institute system, making its own development decisions, similar to a private enterprise, and was able to give full play to its own initiative.

Compared to established institutions, this is their biggest advantage: they have no baggage and huge potential.

Nevertheless, the task remains incredibly challenging.

Without teaching duties or research funding pressures, this kind of purity is almost impossible to replicate in the modern research environment, and is nearly utopian in today's highly utilitarian research environment.

Which institution today can completely disregard research output and funding applications?

Moreover, even if there are no teaching duties or research funding pressures, it is still a question whether the scholars themselves can endure the long hours of research.

Previously, Fudan University's Xianghui Research Institute attempted to implement a 10-year no-assessment policy, but some scholars admitted that the lack of assessment actually increased the pressure, which is an inertial anxiety formed under a long-term quantitative assessment environment.

Everyone's participating in the lottery, and then suddenly you're told you don't need to anymore. Anyone would panic.

In short, setting up an institute for advanced studies is quite troublesome, involving far too many aspects.

As the days went by, Xu Qingzhou moved between various experimental groups.

In addition to the existing 4-plus staff at the institute, the Institute of Plasma Physics has also dispatched four support teams, totaling 72 people.

The support team from the Institute of Plasma Physics, led by Professor Xiao Chenghan, fully demonstrates their attitude of providing full support.

After all, Professor Xiao Chenghan is considered a veteran of EAST, and the researchers who came to provide support this time have an average of 10 years of experience in the field of fusion. In fact, EAST actually benefited from conducting joint testing with Qiankun-1.

There is no doubt that Qiankun-1 has a technological advantage.

The non-circular cross-section configuration verification of EAST, as the world's first non-circular cross-section fully superconducting tokamak, can help Qiankun-1 optimize the stability of high-confinement mode with its D-shaped cross-section plasma configuration control experience.

EAST also has relatively mature radio frequency heating and boundary local mode (ELM) suppression technologies.

Qiankun-1 provides a "steady-state extreme environment" testing platform, which can directly verify the theoretical model derived by EAST/HL-3 in only the pulse mode.

For example, if EAST predicts that the expansion rate of a material under 30 minutes of neutron irradiation is 0.5, then Qiankun-1 is needed to calibrate the error range.

Qiankun-1 can greatly reduce the upgrade time of EAST.

While the Longwan Demonstration Reactor and EAST are developing rapidly, Zhang Zhigao, in the southwest of Xia State, has been having a very difficult time lately.

In just ten days, more than twenty resignation applications appeared on his desk.

Moreover, many of them are key members of the institute.

People were panicked for a while.

He had been in charge of the Southwest Institute of Nuclear Physics for many years and handled the situation with ease. He led the leadership team to implement one-on-one communication and cash incentives to stem the wave of resignations.

Keep what you should keep, and let go of what you should let go of.

For those who have already decided to leave, assist with the handover and departure to avoid delays that could spread anxiety.

In addition, regarding compensation, a "contribution award" consisting of six months' salary was given, and the institute's future plans were explained in detail.

The wave of resignations has finally been contained.

"Senior researchers are generally not willing to change jobs."

Zhang Zhigao squinted. "They don't lack research funding. They're already employed in the institute. As long as they don't make any big mistakes, their current jobs are secure. Why would they want to go to Kyoto to start over?"

"All of this is because of Xu Qingzhou."

HL-3 has been running for so many years, when has this ever happened?

"The Qiankun demonstration reactor has not yet been officially ignited and put into operation, so no one knows its actual operating efficiency."

Zhang Zhigao's gaze darkened.

"Victory or defeat is still uncertain."

"The traditional tokamak approach is the most suitable approach that has been verified and determined by countless top experts over decades."

"HL-3 is undergoing upgrades, and if all goes well, the first net energy gain verification can be conducted this year."

"As it turns out, even without being hypocritical and cooperating with Kyoto, we were able to tackle this tough challenge on our own."

"Once we get past this hurdle, the subsequent experiments will proceed naturally, and there may even be an opportunity to build a demonstration reactor."

In the short term, there will definitely only be the Longwan Demonstration Reactor to quickly verify the performance of the composite tocanak reactor, so as to quickly seize the high ground in the field of fusion and occupy an advantageous position in the future. However, in the long run, there will definitely be more than one such large-scale demonstration reactor.

These traditional tokamak and stellarator models are technical options.

(End of this chapter)