From October to December 2002 Young-Ian KO from the Media Division at Hansung University in Seoul is a Design History Research Centre Visiting Researcher at the University of Brighton. She has come to Brighton to examine the ways in which design history is approached in Britain as a means of developing the curriculum in South Korea. She is also interested in the wider framing of design studies in Britain and feminist studies.
With an academic background in universities in South Korea (National University, Seoul) and the United States (Cornell University Graduate School), she majored in industrial design, aesthetics and design theory. Subsequently, Young-Ian has played a significant role in South Korean design promotion, research and pedagogy. Since the early 19990s she has been a member of the Korean Association of Industrial Design (KIAD) and the Korean Society of Design Studies and has made a number of presentations at home and abroad, including ICSID (International Council of Societies of Industrial Design) ’97 in Toronto. More recently she has been involved in the ICSID Conference in Seoul 2001, as a member of its Planning Committee, Conducting Committee and Presenter of the 2001 Seoul Designers’ Charter. She has also been involved in the adjudication of a number of competitions including the Korea Design Management Awards (2001).
