Asia Research Institute awarded prestigious grant from Academy of Korean Studies

The Academy of Korean Studies (AKS) has awarded UB’s Asia Research Institute a “core university grant” that will strengthen UB’s position as a regional hub for multidisciplinary research and education in Korean studies.

The five-year, $900,000 grant was one of only four AKS core university grants awarded globally in the 2025 grant competition.

The grant will build on a recently completed three-year AKS seed grant that UB received in 2022. The seed grant expanded research and learning opportunities related to Korea for faculty and students, and significantly strengthened the Korean studies community at UB.  

“Not only will this grant be highly beneficial to faculty engaged in Korea-focused research and broaden student involvement in Korean studies, it will position UB as a major center for Korean studies in the U.S.,” says Nojin Kwak, vice provost for international education and principal investigator on the grant. “UB has a remarkable core group of faculty in Korean studies engaged in this grant project who are eager to advance their research and strengthen networks of scholars in their disciplines. At the same time, the grant taps into expanding student enthusiasm for Korean music, dramas and other forms of Korean culture.”

The core university project will feature a number of programs to further expand support for research in Korean studies and foster scholarly dialogue among faculty and students, including an annual Korean studies conference, two ongoing thematic research hubs, funding for faculty research grants and conference travel, and a lecture series in Korean studies.

The first conference funded by the new grant will be “AI and Data Science in Education: Insights from South Korea,” Sept. 26-27, organized by Sunha Kim, associate professor in the departments of Counseling, School and Educational Psychology and Learning and Instruction, and Kwak, who also holds an appointment as professor in the Department of Communication. This will be the fourth annual Korean studies conference at UB, with the previous three funded by the seed grant. This year’s conference is co-sponsored by the UB Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science and will take place in the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education in 205 Lockwood.  

The thematic research hubs, which are designed to facilitate collaborative projects among scholars and graduate students in the northeastern U.S., include Design Korea, led by Jin Young Song, associate professor in the Department of Architecture, and Korean Diaspora in the U.S., led by Sojung Lim, associate professor and Korea Foundation Professor of Korean Studies in the Department of Sociology and Criminology.

Student-focused activity will include development of new interactive and experiential learning modules for Korean language classes and the launch of a Korean literature society. Grant funding is also available to hire two graduate student assistants and support undergraduate student participation in the annual Korea America Student Conference.

The project will also fund an annual Korea artist-in-residence program. Artists in a variety of fields will conduct workshops and master classes at UB, present guest lectures and give lectures/demonstrations in local K-12 schools. The first artist-in-residence funded by the new grant is Bokyun Byun, winner of the 2018 JoAnn Falletta International Guitar Concerto Competition and currently assistant professor of guitar at the University of North Texas. In addition to her presentations at UB and in local schools, Byun will perform at 7 p.m. Oct. 2 in the Mary Seaton Room at Kleinhans Music Hall. 

For more information, visit the Korean Studies Program’s website or email asiainstitute@buffalo.edu.