Lt-Rt: Janice C.H. Kim, Philip Kelly, Woonhyoung Woo, Jong Jin Kim

YCAR was pleased to host Mr. Woonhyoung Woo at York in early April.

Mr. Woo and his family have generously endowed two important awards for graduate students engaged in research on Korea and its diaspora.

The Dr. Sangdeok Woo and Mrs. Kwisoon Lim Woo Graduate Award supports graduate students undertaking research on the topics of Korean history, culture or society. Dr. Woo, one of Korea's most distinguished scholars in Legal Medicine, laid a foundation for the development of National Institute of Scientific Investigation.

The award’s 2015 winner is Jong Jin Kim from the Graduate Programme in History. His research examines the way in which South Korea, a decade after the colonial rule and the Korean War, started to emerge as a global economic power. The award will enable Jong Jin to travel to South Korea this summer to access primary sources at archives, company headquarters and other locations.

The Young-Rahn Woo Memorial Graduate Award supports graduate student research in Korean language or cultural studies. The Woo family established this award in loving memory of their wife and mother. The 2015 winner of the award is Eui Yong Zong, who is working towards an MFA in the Graduate Programme in Film. Yong is a multiple award winning filmmaker whose most recent documentary Julio is an official selection at the 2015 Hotdocs Documentary Film Festival. His MFA project is titled 'Until Tomorrow' and will explore the experiences of left-behind family members of international migrants. He will travel to Jilin Province in China this summer to document the transnational experiences of ethnic Koreans.

YCAR would like to extend thanks to Mr. Woo and his family for their generous support of York graduate student research.

Both awards are administered by YCAR and more information can be found on the Awards page.

Photograph by Muchu Zhang