Ewha Womans University, French Embassy to co-host forum in celebration of 140th anniversary

A poster for a forum scheduled for May 18 in celebration of the 140th founding anniversary of Ewha Womans University and the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Korea and France / Courtesy of Ewha Womans University

Ewha Womans University and the French Embassy in Seoul will co-host a forum next week in commemoration of the 140th anniversary of both the university’s founding and diplomatic relations between Korea and France, the school said Monday.

The forum will be held under the theme of “Women, Forces for the Future: 140 Years of Korea-France Dialogue” at the International Education Building's LG Convention Hall on the university campus in northwestern Seoul, May 18.

The event will bring together Korean and French women leaders active in various fields such as industry, culture and arts, and science in an effort to highlight the role and potential of women in shaping the future of society.

The university said the forum is scheduled to open with welcoming remarks by Ewha President Lee Hyang-sook and French Ambassador to Korea Phillipe Bertoux.

Yaël Braun-Pivet, the first woman to serve as president of the French National Assembly, and former French Minister of Culture Fleur Pellerin will send video messages to celebrate the event.

“This event will be a meaningful occasion that commemorates the 140th anniversary of Ewha Womans University and illuminates the present and future of women’s leadership based on the 140 years of exchanges between Korea and France,” a university official said.

During the gathering, three discussion sessions will be held to bring to light women’s issues.

The first session, titled “Leadership and Women Transforming the Future,” will be moderated by Lee Yoon-hee, a reporter from the Korean Broadcasting System.

Participants include Oh Young-ju, an honorary chair professor at Ewha Womans University and former minister of SMEs and startups; Elise Tchen, Asia-Pacific CEO of French drone maker Parrot; Megan Myungwon Lee, chairwoman and CEO of Panasonic North America and a board member of the International Foundation for Ewha Womans University; and Cho Yoon-ju, CEO of CEVA Logistics Korea.

The second session, titled “Women Shaping Culture and the Imagination,” will be presided over by Frances Morris, director emerita of Tate Modern, an art gallery in London.

Participants include Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio, a French novelist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Literature; Cho Hae-jin, a Korean novelist and Ewha alumna; Gaële de Medeiros, director of business and international development at the Centre Pompidou, a cultural complex in Paris; and Kim Sung-hee, director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

Under the theme of “Women Opening the Future of Science and Knowledge,” the third session will be moderated by Park So-jung, professor at the Department of Chemistry and Nanoscience at Ewha Womans University.

Pascale Senellart, professor of quantum mechanics at Polytechnique, Universite Paris-Saclay; Lee Yun-sil, dean of the Graduate School at Ewha Womans University and professor at the Division of Pharmacy; Jeon Kyung-hwa, a research professor teaching a graduate program on innovative biomaterials convergence at Ewha; and Alexina Ollier, postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Quantum Nanoscience at Ewha, are set to participate in the session.