Professor Nguyen Van Tuan: Inviting the right person is better than inviting talented people.

Professor Nguyen Van Tuan - Photo: NGOC PHUONG

Resolution 57 is a positive move, clearly demonstrating the determination of the Party and State of Vietnam in promoting the development of science and technology. That is the affirmation of Professor Nguyen Van Tuan when asked about Resolution 57 of the Politburo on breakthroughs in science, technology, innovation and national digital transformation.

During his working trip to Vietnam, Professor Nguyen Van Tuan shared frankly with Tuoi Tre about Resolution 57 as well as major issues related to the mechanism for attracting and using domestic and international talents.

It is not necessary to invite "the best"

* According to the professor, how should the problem of choosing the right person in the process of attracting talent back to the country be solved?

- I think the story is not just about "inviting talented people" but "inviting the right people". Professors and experts in the world are very diverse. There are people with real abilities, but there are also many cases where they may be ambiguous about their status or just want to take advantage of opportunities to benefit more than contribute.

Therefore, to effectively attract talent, it is necessary to have an evaluation board with sufficient scope and objectivity. This board must include people who truly understand the international academic world and have a clear understanding of the global scientific evaluation system.

It is not enough to simply consider the background or title, but also to look at what that person has done, what international publications, patents, applied projects or the ability to lead a research team.

* But are good people willing to return to Vietnam to work?

- The best people - "the best" - usually have a solid position abroad. They have a career, an ideal environment and a high income, so the possibility of them returning home is not high.

However, that does not mean that we do not have opportunities. In the world, there are experts and post-doctoral scientists whose topics have not been developed in the US or Europe, but when they return to Asian countries such as China and Korea, they have the opportunity to realize those ideas.

So it is not necessary to just aim for "the best" but to find suitable people, with potential and desire to contribute. It is important that we have clear criteria and a transparent selection process.

China is a typical example. They have built a "Thousand Talents" program, not only attracting human resources in the field of science but also expanding to other fields. They invite through official channels and even hire professional intermediary companies to handle the entire negotiation and procedure process.

In particular, after signing a contract, scientists will be directly attached to a specific unit such as a university, research institute, or hospital and will be subject to clear constraints on the results to be achieved.

Professor Nguyen Van Tuan in a training program in Ho Chi Minh City in 2025 - Photo: NGOC PHUONG

Need civilized working environment

* What are your views on Resolution 57, which is attracting a lot of attention from experts and scientists?

- For experts living abroad like me, I am more interested in attracting international talent, highly qualified Vietnamese people living abroad to return to contribute to the country. The resolution mentions the need for preferential mechanisms such as naturalization, real estate ownership, income improvement and creating a favorable working environment to attract international experts.

However, we must frankly admit that there is still a long way to go from resolution to practice. We have had good policies but when implementing them, we are stuck with administrative barriers.

After more than 25 years of scientific activities in the country, I still have to ask permission from many agencies, from the media, security to health, and even local authorities, to organize a workshop or short-term training course. This is an example of how cumbersome procedures can inadvertently discourage many experts.

* From another perspective, many people have returned and many others have left. Is it possible that we have barriers in the working environment?

- That's right. I used to directly manage a department in a unit in Vietnam. After a while, I saw that in my department, people in higher positions used too many harsh words and behaved disrespectfully and unprofessionally even within the organization.

I even had to make a rule that superiors were not allowed to insult subordinates. Sadly, after I left, the old habits returned.

Recently, three doctoral students returned to work in Vietnam from abroad, but after a short time, all three left because they could not stand the somewhat conservative working environment and lack of encouragement for creativity.

To attract sustainable talent, it is necessary to build a civilized, modern working environment that inspires scientists. Especially when most of the people we invite have worked in a Western environment.

Regarding treatment policies or facilities, I think Vietnam is gradually not much different from the world. Many Vietnamese hospitals are willing to pay international doctors up to 15,000 or 20,000 USD/month. The biggest problem is still the working environment.

Some studies take decades.

* One point that is positively evaluated in Resolution 57 is the mechanism for accepting risks and investing in venture capital in scientific research. Do you see this as a huge step forward that will "untie" scientific research?

- I agree. In fact, I have seen in Vietnam that there are scientific topics that require a commitment to produce a product within two years and have the ability to commercialize. However, science does not work that way. There are studies that take decades to reach practical application.

For example, research into a gene linked to osteoporosis could take 20 to 30 years to develop an effective treatment.

Even in Australia, to bring a new pharmaceutical product to market, the process usually takes 5 years just for the product development stage, of which it takes 2-3 years to convince professional associations and it can take another 7-8 years to officially apply it to patients.

Therefore, I completely agree that we should not tighten the output in scientific research, because this is a field where the results are very difficult to measure and price in advance. Instead, what we need to do is to strictly control the input. That means we should only fund topics that are truly worthy - topics that are new and have the potential to impact practice.

Professor Nguyen Van Tuan is a leading expert in the field of medicine and biomedical sciences. He is currently a professor at the University of New South Wales (Australia) and the director of the Garvan Osteoporosis Research Institute - one of the leading biomedical research institutes in Sydney. He is also a member of the editorial board of many prestigious international scientific journals and the author of hundreds of research works published in international specialized journals.

In Vietnam, he has contributed more than 25 years to the development of science and medicine in the country through teaching, training, knowledge transfer and research cooperation with major hospitals and universities such as Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Ho Chi Minh City National University...

Course "Data Analysis Methods with R" with Professor Nguyen Van Tuan

In order to improve the research and scientific data analysis capacity of scientists, graduate students and lecturers, the Southern Institute for Social Resources Development in collaboration with Professor Nguyen Van Tuan organized an expert course "Data analysis methods with R".

The course takes place from May 10 to May 15, 2025 in Ho Chi Minh City, focusing on modern data analysis techniques, including: descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, linear and logistic regression, bootstrap analysis, hypothesis testing and AI applications, ChatGPT in practical data analysis...

The highlight of the course is the direct teaching from Professor Nguyen Van Tuan and Dr. Tran Son Thach - experts in research design and data analysis with more than 15 years of international experience, along with dozens of scientific publications in ISI journals.

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