News

The latest news about the Centre for Korean Studies at the University of Sheffield.

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Korea Day

Korea Day 2026

On 25th April Sheffield students, staff and the public enjoyed our annual Korea Day, organised by the Korea Society at 51²è¹Ý¶ù.
Video game imagery - Wonhon

Exploring historical trauma in South Korean videogame narratives

On 22nd April, Álvaro Trigo Maldonado joined us online from the University of Salamanca in Spain for a talk on a lesser discussed area of Korean popular culture, the video game industry.

Conference attendees

Korea Futures: Society, Sustainability, and Transformation- Conference

On 26–27 March 2026, The Centre for Korean Studies (CKS) welcomed 13 speakers from nine countries to our annual conference, which this year was on the theme Korea Futures: Society, Sustainability and Transformation.
Korean Women's Literature Exhibition

Her Pages, her Power: Celebrating Contemporary Women’s Writing from South Korea

The initial idea for this new exhibition project came about as early as 2024, the year that Han Kang won the long-awaited Nobel Prize for literature for South Korea.

From PhD to Print: Transforming your research for publication in academic journals - Early Career Researcher Workshop 2026

On 22nd January, the Centre for Korean Studies welcomed Early Career Researchers from across the UK for our annual two-day workshop.
Kyung Hwa Shon - Excess of Elsewhere

Seams and Streets - Creative arts through Korea and beyond

Our final Centre for Korean Studies event of 2025 took place on 11 December and brought together two exciting speakers for a joint seminar exploring intersections between public art, walking, fashion and textiles and questions of cultural identity.
Jinjoon Lee

Bridging Media Art and East Asian Philosophy in the AI Era

On 13th November we had the privilege of welcoming internationally renowned scholar and artist Jinjoon Lee to the Diamond Building for a fascinating lecture titled Bridging Media Art and East Asian Philosophy in the AI Era.
Video game imagery - Wonhon

Exploring historical trauma in South Korean videogame narratives

On 22nd April, Álvaro Trigo Maldonado joined us online from the University of Salamanca in Spain for a talk on a lesser discussed area of Korean popular culture, the video game industry.

Singing as Storytelling - Chan Park’s ‘Korean Pansori as Voice Theatre’

On Wednesday 30th April The Centre for Korean Studies welcomed Professor Chan Park, Emeritus Professor of Ohio State University to Mappin Hall.
Conference attendees group photo

Reflections on the North: The Spaces and Subjects of the DPRK – April Conference 2025

On 3rd April 2025, the Centre for Korean Studies welcomed leading academics, postgraduate researchers, and members of the public for the two-day international conference ‘Reflections on the North: The Spaces and Subjects of the DPRK’.
photograph of Monica Macias speaking

Black Girl from Pyongyang: Book talk by Monica Macias

On the evening of February 26th, the Centre for Korean Studies had the privilege of hosting author Monica Macias for a sold-out talk on her memoir, Black Girl From Pyongyang.

Understanding the Declaration of Martial Law in South Korea

Dr Yookyeong Im, Dr Derek Kramer, Dr Sarah Son provide insight into president Yoon Suk Yeol's declaration of martial law, and the subsequent protests.
The audience for the squid games event

Surviving Squid Game: Designing the Maze of Psychological Terror

On the 4th November, the Centre of Korean Studies hosted UCLA’s Professor Suk-Young Kim. Kim gave a fascinating talk on the Netflix phenomenon Squid Game as part of a part of a four-city tour coordinated by the British Association of Korean Studies.
SKKU Visit

Roundtable and Student Discussion: The Past Present and Future of Korean Philosophy

On October 11th, Professor Sojeong Park and Dr Farrah Sheikh from Sungkyunkwan University’s K-Academic Expansion Center visited the Centre for Korean Studies here at 51²è¹Ý¶ù.

Launch Event 1

K-pop Worlds: Exploring the Global Influence of a Korean Phenomenon Launch Event

K-pop came to Sheffield on Thursday 3rd October when the University Library and the Centre for Korean Studies held a launch event for an exhibition titled K-pop Worlds: Exploring the Global Influence of a Korean Phenomenon.
Korea Day

Korea Day

51²è¹Ý¶ù’s Korea Society hosted another successful “Korea Day” event on Wednesday 11th May in the university’s Octagon Centre.
Film Festival

Korean Documentary Film Festival 

The Centre for Korean Studies partnered with the historic Showroom Cinema in Sheffield in April to screen a special Korean documentary season featuring films on themes ranging from football and the Korean War, to cats and K-pop fandom.
Korean Music - Heritage and Memory

Korean Music - Heritage and Memory

The Centre for Korean Studies partnered with Dr Hannah HK Chang’s AHRC-funded project “Transpacific Voicings” to host an afternoon of traditional and contemporary Korean music.

Beyond the Academy 2

Beyond the Academy - Communicating Korean Studies Research to Non-Academic Audiences

In late January the University of Sheffield’s recently-opened Centre for Korean Studies ran a workshop for PhD students and early career scholars on channels for sharing their research beyond academia.
Image 1

North Korean Refugee Mobility, Settlement and Activism

Roundtable co-hosted by the Centre for Korean Studies and the Migration Research Group at the University of Sheffield.
Slide Launch

Centre for Korean Studies Launch

On 23rd October, the Centre for Korean Studies had its official launch event in the prestigious Mappin Hall in the Sir Frederick Building.
CKS Header

University of Sheffield launches Centre for Korean Studies

A new Centre for Korean Studies that will boost the UK’s body of specialists in Korean language, culture and society, has been officially launched by the University of Sheffield.
Event

Roundtable on Human Rights in North Korea

On October 25th the Centre for Korean Studies held an event looking at the human rights situation in North Korea, co-hosted by the Korea Institute for National Unification and the UK’s All Party Parliamentary Group for North Korea.

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