I am an Associate Professor of Science Education in Southampton Education School, University of Southampton. I serve as a Deputy Chair of the Research Ethics Committee at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and the Ethics Champion for Southampton Education School. I am also an Associate Programme Director for MSc Education.

I am Associate Editor of Research in Science Education and Journal of Research in Science Teaching (from 2025), Guest Editor of International Journal of Science Education and Science & Education, Editorial Board Member of Journal of Research in Science Teaching and Journal of Science Teacher Education. I am a Co-Chair of Strand 12 (Equity, Diversity and Identity in Science Education) of the European Science Education Research Association and an incoming Strand Coordinator for Strand 13 (History, Philosophy, Sociology, and Nature of Science) of NARST: A Global Organization for Improving Science Teaching and Learning Through Research.

My work and research

My research revolves around the intersections of science, humanities and society in education. I am particularly interested in exploring the role of science and STEM education in promoting social justice in times of various local and global crises. I use cross-curricular and interdisciplinary approaches between science and other subjects such as history, citizenship, religious education, and music.

My projects have been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, Research England, the National Science Foundation, UNESCO, the Academy of Korean Studies, the Grenfell Foundation, and Ilju Academic and Culture Foundation. I am putting together a Bibliography of Disaster Education, a comprehensive list of publications, podcasts, news, policy reports and other sources for researching and teaching about disaster education. For more information, see the Projects page.

My background

I grew up in an industrial coastal city in South Korea. I completed my undergraduate degree and teacher training in physics education and obtained an MSc in science education, both from Seoul National University. After teaching in secondary schools in Seoul, I moved to the UK to undertake a DPhil in Science Education at the Department of Education, University of Oxford, from 2018 to 2021. In my doctoral project, I looked at how three high school science teachers assessed students’ knowledge of the nature of science in their classrooms.

Study with me

I am keen to hear from prospective PhD students interested in science education, STEM education, disaster education and teacher education. I do not supervise PhDs outside of my expertise. For more information about PhD application, see this page.

Funded PhD opportunity for 2024-25 entry

I am accepting applications for a fully funded 4 year PhD studentship. Find out more at: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/composing-resilience-the-role-of-music-in-post-disaster-recovery-and-community-resilience-in-the-uk/?p178533=