Often found at theaters and museums, Kwon Mee-yoo has covered a wide range of cultural fields from K-pop and dramas to theater and fine art for over a decade. Now as K-Culture Desk editor, she tries to connect Korean culture with global readers through fresh perspectives.
Korea Foundation endows $2.7 mil. Korean digital media professorship at SOAS
SOAS University of London / Courtesy of the Korea Foundation
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The Korea Foundation (KF) is set to establish an endowed professorship at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) University of London, backed by a gift of 2 million British pounds ($2.7 million), to create a new chair in Korean studies. The first endowed professorship of its kind at the institution, the post marks a strategic expansion of Korean studies into digital culture and the creative industries.
Formalized through an agreement signed in December 2025, the chair is a permanent position funded jointly by KF and SOAS on a 50-50 basis, with the university drawing on investment income from the endowment to sustain it.
It will be based in the SOAS School of Arts under Korean art history professor Charlotte Horlyck, who leads the department. The School recently launched an undergraduate program in Korean digital media and the new chair will anchor its growing teaching and research in K-content, digital culture and creative industries at both undergraduate and doctoral level.
SOAS Vice-Chancellor Professor Adam Habib welcomed the development, saying, “The Korea Foundation’s impact has been significant in many areas of our work at SOAS. From establishing a specialist center, providing fellowships and conference grants to enhancing our Library resources, we are immensely grateful for their ongoing support … We very much look forward to advancing Korean Studies at SOAS with the Foundation’s support.”
The appointment builds on a relationship between KF and SOAS that stretches back decades. KF previously established two tenure-track professorships at the university — one in Korean literature in 2002 and another in Korean studies in 2011 — and has long supported the SOAS Centre for Korean Studies, Britain's first dedicated Korean studies institution. Many SOAS postgraduate students have also received KF's Graduate Studies Fellowship.
Beyond SOAS, KF has established 177 Korean studies professorships at universities worldwide since its founding in 1991.
“This endowed chair in Korean digital media will broaden the scope of Korean Studies to encompass contemporary digital culture, while further strengthening academic collaboration between Korea, the U.K. and Europe,” KF President Song Gui-do said.
"We will continue supporting major overseas universities that are producing promising next-generation scholars, in order to expand the reach of Korean studies research and education globally."