Professor Richard Catlow, vice-president of the Royal Society.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

On behalf of the members of the Institute for Basic Science, it is my pleasure to welcome you to the third IBS-Royal Society Conference.

I wish to begin by expressing my sincere gratitude to all scientists who made the long trip to Daejeon, Korea to participate in this meaningful event. This year’s event is more meaningful since it is held in Daejeon where IBS HQ is located. Furthermore, the new IBS HQ is currently under construction near here. Starting from early next year, IBS staff will move into the new IBS HQ. I hope to invite everyone once again to the IBS – Royal Society Conference to be held at our new home in the near future.

As some of you may be aware, IBS and the Royal Society signed a memorandum of understanding in 2013 to foster research collaboration in the field of basic science.

Following year 2014, our first joint conference was held in October at Seoul National University in Korea and our second conference in 2015 at Kavli Royal Society International Centre in the United Kingdom.

Building up on the experience of hosting two joint conferences, this year we have narrowed the scope of sessions to encourage more active discussion among speakers and participants.

Without a doubt, the United Kingdom is the world leader in basic science research with the history of Royal Society dating back to 1660, and since then, around 80 fellows of the Royal Society have been awarded the Nobel Prize.

As a young institute, IBS has been actively seeking international partners for research collaboration and we are delighted to have formed a partnership with the Royal Society and co-host our third conference to explore more research collaboration opportunities.

It is my sincere hope that this conference will allow active exchange of creative ideas and provide opportunities to identify areas of collaboration which will mutually benefit both countries. As the president of IBS, I am prepared to provide any support to promote collaboration between IBS and the Royal Society.

I would like to conclude by thanking everyone for taking part in today’s event, and by saying a special thank you to professors John Wood, V. Narry Kim for organizing Biological Science Session and professors Richard Catlow and Je-Geun Park for organizing Materials Science Session.

I look forward to the further exchange of ideas between scientists. Once again, thank you all for your presence here today.