SNUAC’s HK⁺ Mega-Asia Research Project Group was selected as a group that has produced outstanding accomplishments among the groups granted academic research support for 2023 by the Ministry of Education. Selected as HK⁺ project in 2020, the Mega-Asia Research Project Group established the basis of a new research paradigm of “Mega-Asia studies” under the leadership of Prof. SooJin Park during phase 1 (2020-2023), and created an environment where outstanding research results can be derived. In phase 2 (2023-2027) of the project, Prof. Suhong Chae will seek the expansion of studies in Asian regions based on this legacy.  The Ministry of Education, which supports various projects in humanities, social sciences, technology, science, and Korean studies in order to support creative knowledge and create a balanced academic ecology, has selected the accomplishments of Mega-Asia Research Project Group as one of top 50. Mega-Asia Research Project Group is one of the two HK project groups that produced outstanding results in 2023.

HK⁺ Mega-Asia Research Project Group has presented the agenda of “Mega-Asia and Asias: Identity, Dynamics, and Data-telling” since 2020, suggesting new perspectives and frames for analysis on Asia, setting Asia in its entirety as one regional unit of study, and newly surveying Asia by combining the insights of humanities, social-scientific analysis, and data-scientific analysis. In this process, multiple books and series were published in Korean, with English monographs published through Routledge, and several papers published on international journals indexed in SCIE, A&HCI, and SCOPUS. Especially, Introduction to Mega-Asia Studies (co-edited by Beomshik Shin & Sung Hee Ru) is a publication whose 80% of the authors were the research staff of the HK group, and a representative outstanding accomplishment of the group. This publication is playing an important role in leading the turn in the paradigm for Asian regional studies.

On December 8th, 2023, Prof. Beomshik Shin (Dept. of Political Science & International Relations), a researcher of the HK⁺ Mega-Asia Research Project Group, received an award from Ju-ho Lee, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education, as a representative of the outstanding accomplishments put forth by the group. Prof. Shin is performing a crucial role in pursuing the agenda of the group as a co-editor and co-author of not only Introduction to Mega-Asia Studies but also Driving Forces and Dynamics toward Mega-Asia, both part of the Mega-Asia Research Series.