- Selected as the winner of June, won the 'Science and Technology Award of the Month' on the opening day of the 'Seoul Forum 2024'

- In recognition of the achievements of marine microplastics research over the past three years, including the publication of Science Advances papers...

Kim Seung-gyu, a marine science professor at Incheon National University, was selected as the winner of the "Science and Technology Award of the Month" in June. The "Science and Technology Award of the Month" is an authoritative award hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT and co-hosted by the Korea Research Foundation and the Seoul Economic Daily, which has been given to scientists and engineers who have contributed to the development of science and technology every year since 1997.

Professor Kim Seung-gyu, who was selected as the winner in June, received a certificate, plaque and prize money at the first half of 2024 (January-June) award ceremony for the Science and Technology Award of the Month (Minister of Science and ICT) held on May 28 at the Shilla Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul.

Professor Kim Seung-gyu is a leading researcher in Korea who has been leading marine microplastics research and won the main award in recognition of his research achievements over the past three years. The Ministry of Science and ICT and the Research Foundation said that Professor Kim Seung-gyu highly appreciated the achievement of identifying the global plastic circulation, movement, and accumulation mechanisms that encompass the land, coastal, ocean, and polar regions to predict and solve problems with marine microplastic disturbances and quantitatively revealing that the Arctic Ocean is an important accumulation site for microplastics.

Professor Kim Seung-gyu's research team confirmed that a significant amount of marine microplastics, which were omitted from the past estimation, were accumulated in the northwest polar sea through exploration of the northwest polar sea using the Araon and calculation of the marine plastic material balance.

Related content was published in the July 2023 issue of Science Advances, and related papers (Title: Arctic Ocean subjects as important current and future sinks in the global microplastic budget, 2023, 9, eadd2348) can be found through the linked address (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add2348). 

Considering the travel time to the Arctic Ocean, even if plastic ocean emissions are dramatically reduced right now, the level of microplastic pollution in the Arctic Ocean is not expected to decrease immediately, but rather continue to increase over the next few decades. Therefore, efforts to reduce plastic use and emissions are urgently needed to protect the Arctic Ocean, which is a common asset of mankind and vulnerable to climate change, Professor Kim Seung-gyu said. "We need to draw tangible results at the last intergovernmental negotiation meeting for the 'legally binding UN Convention on Plastic Pollution to End Plastic Pollution' to be held in Korea later this year."

Detailed research and interviews can be found on this month's Science and Technology Award website (https://sci.sedaily.com/) and the Ministry of Science and ICT's blog (https://blog.naver.com/with_msip) ).