KAIST Professor Jae-Kyung Kim named 2026 Asian Young Scientist Fellow

Jae-Kyung Kim, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at KAIST, has been selected as a fellow for the 2026 Asian Young Scientist Fellowship (AYSF). The fellowship, operated by the Singapore-based non-profit organization The Future Science Ltd, recognizes 12 early-career researchers annually across basic sciences such as life sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, and computer science.

Selected fellows receive $100,000 in research funding over a two-year period. Professor Kim is a neuroscientist whose work focuses on how the brain reorganizes experiences and learning during sleep to form long-term memories. His research also explores the role of sleep in functional recovery following brain damage.

Recently, Professor Kim has expanded his research scope to investigate the biological principles of dreams and creativity. He aims to determine how dreams act as a process of combining past memories and experiences to generate new thoughts. His future research plans include comparative studies involving rodents, non-human primates, and humans to identify common neural mechanisms connecting sleep, dreams, and creative thinking.