Here's the thing, ALL research is a solo thing, since it's per character. You simply can't do anything to speed it up for one player not in a corp, without it efftively changing it for a corp player.

Seperating out the research makes it much too easy, because much like Cable TV, 80% of the crap in the research line you don't really want anyway, so instead of using 1000 kernels to get through all (30) T2 items, it would be a bargin to only need 500 to do the (3) you want, and never go back for the rest.

To be positive though, maybe if you were allowed to specialize in a certain type of research, like there are specialized extensions for each mineral, that would encourage more than one research character instead of piling all of it into 1 as it is now.

I totally agree that kernel research needs improving, and that a specialty choice is a very good idea.

I’ll go even further than that, my dear industrious bees, and I’ll kick your hive by stating this obvious flaw in the kernel research system:

Currently only industrials can get a PERMANENT increase in ability (ie knowledge base), if they farm, grind, beg, steal or borrow kernels. The more time they spend playing, the greater their PERMANENT ABILITY (ie knowledge base) gets.

On the other hand, poor fighters can not obtain in anyway impacting way a permanent bonus of their own through playing, grinding, begging or stealing etc… they could eat the kernels they farm themselves but to what use is that? Someone whose specialty is breaking things doesn’t care about building things. 

The brave fighters, hard kernel gatherers, sweat and blood of the industrials’ “knowledge base”, for their work, receive a paltry sum of NIC, from the producers who’ll in time sell tiered items back to them with exorbitant margins.

Yes! A specialty choice when eating kernels is a good idea, but I suggest two schools.
1 INDUSTRY, as is the current system.
2 COMBAT, as I’ll describe here below.

You’re a fighter and you choose to let the industrials work for kernels themselves and keep the kernels for you and eat them with the COMBAT specialty. You start to receive PERMANENT combat bonuses of your own.

It doesn’t look good to call it the “PERMANENT combat bonus acquired through grinding day in and out”, just as the industrials’ permanent manufacturing bonus is called “knowledge base”, we could baptize this “Kung Fu Mind Power Base”.

So the “Kung Fu Mind Power Base” permanently acquired through eating kernels with the COMBAT specialty kernel eating choice; grants with time and many kernels; bonuses such as:

1)    Seeing how many players are on the island/ map quadrant / adjacent area. Not necessarily who or where, just how many.
2)    Seeing if there is Noralgis or not and if yes how much on the island / map quadrant / adjacent area.
3)    Can see trails of robot and maybe even identify the type and the amount that went past recently.
4)    Remotely (roughly) locate an agent on Nia.
5)    Become temporarily invisible to NPCs, dissipates if shooting locking repairing or scratching.
6)    Magic missiles and magic bullets, when you’re out of ammo you can load your Kung Fu Mind Slugs, (which are sub par to normal ammo made of titan and polynitrocol, but better than nothing).
7)    Self heal when out of combat for a prolonged time
8)    Discount when buying ammo from npc orders for a limited quantity of ammo

Admittedly I derailed a bit off topic here.