Researchers & Fellows

 Dr Chung-soo Park

Dr Chung-soo Park is a distinguished diplomat and scholar specialising in Northern economic cooperation. He earned his BA from Sogang University, South Korea and holds both an MA and a PhD in Economics from Saint Petersburg State University, Russia, complemented by an honorary doctorate from the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Professionally, Dr. Park served as a Minister at the South Korean Embassy in Russia and chaired the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation at a ministerial level. He currently serves as a Co-Representative of Peace and Unification Solidarity. An influential author, his publications, including Finding a Path in the North, have significantly shaped South Korea’s New Northern Policy.

Publications

Books

• Beyond Borders: Encountering the Northern Blue Ocean (2025)
• Northern Policy White Paper (Lead Author as Chairman of the Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation, 2022)
• Understanding Modern North Korea–Russia Relations: Seeking a Shift from Patronage to Partnership (2021)
• Finding a Path in the North (2017)
• East Asian Territorial Disputes and International Cooperation (Co-author, 2014)
• 21st Century North Korea and Russia-mythology, anecdotes, and evolution (2012, elected to excellent works)
• Human Resources Development in G-20 Countries (Co-author, 2010)
• Russia and Korea - Finding the Memory of the Lost Hundred Years (2001)

 Dr Haisuk Kim

Dr Hai Suk Kim is a Korean language educator and researcher at the University of Queensland, Australia. Her research focuses on Korean language education, critical discourse analysis, visual image analysis, colonial Korean language textbooks, and multicultural children's literature. She has published research on language, identity, ideology, and visual representation in educational and literary texts, including studies of Japanese colonial textbooks and immigrant identity in Australasian picture books. Her current research explores the construction of cultural identity through multimodal discourse, contributing to Korean studies, language education, discourse analysis, and multimodal literacy from interdisciplinary perspectives.

 Dr Jisoo Han

Dr Jisoo Han's research examines what learners actually do with generative AI: the strategies they draw on, the repertoires those strategies form, and the ways they exercise agency throughout a course of study. She completed her PhD at Ewha Womans University in 2026 and is the author of AI Chatbots and Korean Language Learner Agency (CommunicationBooks, 2026). Her interests span Korean language and culture education, learner agency, AI-mediated interaction, and prompt literacy. Her recent work draws on constructivist grounded theory and co-occurrence network analysis. She also builds what she studies, designing Korean-language learning applications and instructional content, and has taught beginner Korean at university level.

Publications

Journal Articles

• Understanding beginner Korean language learners’ motivation and cultural learning orientations (2026)
• Exploring practical elements of prompt literacy in human–AI communication (2025)
• How is culture represented in textbooks? “Marriage” in Korean language textbooks used in English-speaking countries (2019)
• The effects of multimodal texts on reading to learn (2019)
• The implications of imagance as multimodal textuality (2018)
• How middle school students perceive mode informativity: An eye-tracking study (2018)
• Reconceptualising the textuality of multimodal texts: A preliminary study (2018)

Books

• AI Chatbots and Korean Language Learner Agency (2026)
• The Psychology of Reading for the Theory and Practice of Reading Education (Co-author, 2021)

 Dr Ruihua Yin

Publications

Journal Articles

• Languages put restrictions on large sonority distances (2023)
• Frequent violations of the sonority sequencing principle in hundreds of languages: how often and by which sequences? (2023)
• Supplementary Materials: Frequent violations of the sonority sequencing principle in hundreds of languages: how often and by which sequences? (2022)
• A cognitive semantic approach to the meaning extensions of the skin-sense adjectives in Chinese and English (2016)

Conference Proceedings

• Sonority-driven morpho-phonological alternations in hetero syllabic consonant clusters in Korean: A preliminary descriptive study (2023)

Thesis

• A comparative study on polysemy “Hand” idioms in Chinese and English: A cognitive linguistic approach (2013) – Master’s thesis

 Dr Ki Young Choi

Dr Ki Young Choi is a Teaching Associate in Korean Studies at The University of Queensland, Australia. His research focuses on Korean language education, textbook analysis, and the representation of culture and ideology in educational materials. Using Critical Discourse Analysis and Visual Image Analysis, he investigates how social norms, cultural values, and identities are represented in Korean language textbooks. His work contributes to a deeper understanding of Korean language education and supports the development of culturally informed teaching materials in international contexts.

 Dr Penny Bailey

Dr Penny Bailey is a Lecturer in Japanese in the School of Languages and Cultures at The University of Queensland. Her research examines Korean visual culture and modern Japanese engagements with Korean art during the colonial period, with particular interests in art history, aesthetics, museums, collecting, and transnational cultural exchange. She is currently completing a monograph on Yanagi Sōetsu’s interpretation of Korean art. Her publications explore Korean and Japanese visual culture, colonial art history, museum collections, and the translation of modern Japanese writings on Korean art.

 Ms Haegyeong Hong

Haegyeong (Hae) Hong is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on identifying dominant ideologies and cultural values embedded in texts and visual images of North Korean English textbooks by using the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Visual Image Analysis (VIA). Hae has presented at several international conferences and served as the primary organiser and editor for international conferences at the UQ Korean Studies Centre. Hae is also a casual tutor and a course coordinator at the University of Queensland for Korean language and culture courses including LTCS2023: Korean Popular Culture.

Publications

Conference Proceedings

• Cultural ideologies and values in North Korean English textbooks (2023)
• Dominant ideologies and values within the theme of environmental issues of English textbooks in South Korea: A Critical Discourse Analysis (2022)
• Critical Discourse Analysis of Cultural Values and Ideologies in English Textbooks in South Korea (2021)

Thesis

• Critical Discourse Analysis of cultural values and ideologies in English textbooks in South Korea (2021) – Honours Thesis

 Ms Dabin Kang

Dabin Kang is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland whose research focuses on environmental education in Korean and English language textbooks. Drawing on Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Visual Image Analysis (VIA), the research examines how environmental knowledge, values, and behaviours are represented through language and visual images, with particular attention to underlying ideologies and power relations. Her broader research interests include textbook analysis, environmental literacy, critical curriculum studies, and ethnic minority education. Alongside her doctoral research, Dabin teaches Korean language courses at the university.

Publications

Journal Articles

• Environmental literacy in ethnic Korean textbooks in China (2023)
• The comparative analysis of treatment of environmental issues in three primary school textbooks for ethnic Koreans residing in China: Korean language, morality and rule of law, character and society (2022)

Conference Proceedings

• Environmental Literacy From the Moral Textbooks Used in Ethnic Korean Primary Schools in China (2023)
• Environmental issues in the ethnic Korean textbooks in China (2022)
• The Comparative Analysis of Green Ideologies in the three Chosunjok textbooks Series: Korean Language, Morality and Rule of Law, Character and Society (2021)

 Mr Jung Soon Kim

Jung Soon Kim is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. His thesis titled "The influence of ethnic Korean churches on heritage language and identity maintenance among 1.5 and 2nd generation Koreans in Brisbane" explores the role of the ethnic Korean church in Australia and its influence in heritage language and ethnic identity among 1.5 and 2nd generation Koreans. He also is a casual tutor for several Korean courses.

Publications

Conference Proceedings

• The language and identity influence of the Korean ethnic church on 1.5 and 2nd generation Koreans in Australia (2024)

Thesis

• The influence of ethnic Korean churches on heritage language and identity maintenance among 1.5 and 2nd generation Koreans in Brisbane (2025)

 Ms Suhyun An

Suhyun An is a PhD candidate at Griffith University, Australia. Her research focuses on climate change adaptation and coastal resilience, particularly in relation to sea-level rise, coastal hazards, and climate adaptation planning and governance in Australia and South Korea. She takes an interdisciplinary and comparative approach to examining climate adaptation policies and planning processes across different governance contexts. She has presented her research at several international conferences and has published research on urban heat islands. Her broader research interests include climate adaptation, comparative planning, environmental governance, sustainable urban development, and urban climate.

Publications

Journal Articles

• The Heat Is on: How Well Are Densely Populated Korean Cities Adapting to Increased Temperatures and Urban Heat Island Effect? (2025)
• A Review of Adaptation Strategies to Increased Urban Temperatures and Heat Island Effect (2025)

Conference Proceedings

• Adaptation of densely populated cities to increased temperatures and urban heat island effect: Case study of South Korea (2022)

 Ms Qunyi Wang

Qunyi Wang is a PhD candidate at The University of Queensland and has worked as a research assistant in the School of Languages and Cultures since 2020. She graduated with First Class Honours in Korean in 2023. Her research examines Chinese language textbooks used by ethnic Korean students in China, focusing on cultural values, ideology, and national identity. She has published two peer-reviewed articles in Q1 and Q2 journals and presented her research at Korean Studies and Asian Studies conferences in Australia. She currently teaches Chinese at the School of Languages and Cultures at the University of Queensland.

Publications

Journal Articles

• Chinese nationalism portrayed in textbooks designed for ethnic Korean students (2025)
• Portrayal of the national identity in Chinese language textbooks (2023)

Conference Proceedings

• Shaping minds: Cultural values, ideologies, and national identity in Chinese textbooks for ethnic Korean students (2025)
• Chinese nationalism in Chinese Korean language textbooks (2025)
• Cultural values and ideologies in Chinese language textbooks used by Ethnic Korean students (2023)

 Ms Xueying Feng

Xueying Feng is a PhD candidate at the University of Queensland. Her research focuses on identifying dominant ideologies embedded in texts and visual images of second or foreign language textbooks by using the methods of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Visual Image Analysis (VIA). Xueying has a particular research interest in cultural and ecological representations in Chinese and Korean language textbooks. She has published two articles in peer-reviewed journals. Xueying is also a casual tutor at the University of Queensland for Chinese language and culture courses including CHIN2600: Essentials of Chinese Language in Social Life.

Publications

Journal Articles

• The portrayal of environmental literacy in Chinese language textbooks for non-native speakers (2026)
• Navigating the digital nexus: new tech achievements in Chinese textbooks for foreigners (2025)