The Oxford Centre for Korean Studies

The Oxford Centre for Korean Studies (OCKS), based within the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford, is an interdisciplinary hub for research, teaching, and public engagement on Korea and contemporary Korean culture (Hallyu). Responding to growing international interest in Korea and K-culture, the Centre brings together scholars, students, artists, filmmakers, and practitioners working across Korean language, linguistics, literature, history, film, media, society, politics, and the creative industries.

Why have Korean music, food, beauty, drama, film, and digital culture become so influential worldwide? OCKS aims to explore these questions through interdisciplinary Hallyu research while also actively creating new K-cultural content and creative collaborations.

As Oxford’s first dedicated centre for Korean Studies, OCKS seeks to serve as a bridge between South Korea, Oxford and the wider international community, connecting researchers, students, cultural organisations, and industry partners. The Centre will conduct research across Humanities and Social Sciences while also developing documentaries, films, translation initiatives, exhibitions, workshops, performances, and other public-facing cultural projects.

Through research, education, and creative partnership, OCKS aims to foster deeper understanding of Korea’s culture, history, society, language and contemporary global presence, while contributing to the future development of Korean Studies and K-culture.

Oxford Centre for Korean Studies Community Image

Staff

Prof Jay Lewis

Professor of Korean History; Fellow of Wolfson College

Prof Jieun Kiaer

YBM KF Professor of Korean Linguistics, Fellow of Hertford College, Director

Dr Hark-Joon Lee

Korea Fellow at the Department of Politics and International Relations, Deputy Director

Dr Young-Hae Chi

Lecturer in Korean Language

Dr Simon Barnes-Sadler

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Dr C W Winter

Dr. C.W. Winter is an award-winning filmmaker who won the Golden Bear in the Encounters section at the Berlin International Film Festival. He is currently working with Professor Jieun Kiaer on a film about the Haenyeo women of Jeju.

Dr Loli Kim

Post-Doctoral Researcher

Alfred Wet-Lo

DPhil researcher

Joohyun Song

DPhil researcher

Research

AKS Core University Project (2021-2026)

Building K-wave Hub

The Leverhulme Research Project Grants (2022-2025)

Support from Prof Myeongho Cha (2025-2026)

Sea, song and survival: the language and folklore of the haenyeo women

K-Language Unity Map (2025-2026)

Supported by UniKorea Foundation

Interactive mapping and research initiatives.

Visit Website →

Hallyu South Korea Studies Programme

(Site to be included / under construction)

Hallyu Korean International Forum

Korean is no longer spoken only on the Korean Peninsula or within Korean diaspora communities. Through the global rise of K-culture, Korean is now being learned, used, and reshaped by people all around the world. Like English, Korean is becoming an increasingly global, diverse, and transnational language.

Annual “Why K-?” Symposium

2026 September | Why Korean Food?

The first “Why K-?” Symposium, Why Korean Food?, will explore the philosophy of Korean cuisine beyond taste alone, focusing on ideas of care, harmony, community, and wellbeing. The symposium will revisit the culinary wisdom of eighteenth-century Korean writer and food scholar Yi Bingheogak and Seo Yugu, whose works reveal the deep relationship between food, everyday life, and human flourishing.

* The event will conclude with a special hands-on kimchi-making workshop.

Events

27 July - 29 July 2026

K-Translation Masterclass with Jieun Kiaer & Deborah Smith

We are delighted to announce our first Korean Literature Translation and Reading Workshop at the University of Oxford in collaboration with the Korean Education Centre in the UK. Led by Professor Jieun Kiaer (Professor of Korean Linguistics, University of Oxford) and Deborah Smith, winner of the Man Booker International Prize 2016, acclaimed translator of works by Han Kang, the 2024 Nobel Prize laureate in Literature. This workshop will take place from the afternoon of 27 July to the afternoon of 29 July. Bringing together a group of ten participants, the workshop offers a unique opportunity to explore Korean literature in depth through guided reading and translation practice. Applicants are invited to submit a short self-introduction, along with a brief statement outlining their interest in Korean literature and translation.

Send application to: oxfordkoreanlanguage@gmail.com

21 July 2026 | Online via Zoom

Oxford Future of the Korean Language: A Colloquium

The University of Oxford will host Oxford Future of the Korean Language: A Colloquium on 21 July 2026 (online via Zoom), bringing together scholars and practitioners to explore the evolving forms and futures of the Korean language in an international context. As Korean continues to expand beyond the Korean Peninsula through diaspora, digital media, K-wave fandom, mobility, and North–South linguistic divergence, the colloquium will discuss Global Korean, World Korean(s), translanguaging, MZ language practices, and emerging forms of future Korean.

September 2026 (TBA) | University of Oxford