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Minki Sung

About me

I am a doctoral researcher with a strong interest in heritage and cultural landscapes, particularly their social roles and impacts. My research is informed by sustained scholarly and professional engagement with heritage and landscape as cultural, social, and institutional practices. Prior to commencing my doctoral studies, I worked as a contract researcher on a range of heritage and landscape projects, examining the relationships between heritage, landscape, policy, and society. I hold an MA in International Cultural Heritage Management from Durham University and an MA in Museum and Archival Studies from Myongji University, Seoul, South Korea. These programmes provided interdisciplinary training in heritage studies, museum practice, and archival scholarship, while my doctoral research examines the role of heritage in conservation planning and its social, cultural, and policy implications. My professional experience spans both academic research and institutional practice, including roles as a research assistant, archivist, administrative and research intern, and public affairs officer

Research Interest

My research explores how history is mobilised through social constructs such as heritage, historic urban landscapes, and cultural landscapes. I examine heritage values, impacts, management, and conservation planning, as well as the dynamics of historic and cultural landscapes, with particular attention to how understandings and uses of the past are shaped through heritage and landscape frameworks and influenced by international, national, regional, and local policy contexts. Reflecting these research interests, I regularly serve as a peer reviewer for academic journals.

Alongside my research, I teach across heritage studies, sociology, urban planning, landscape studies, and politics. My teaching is informed by an interdisciplinary research approach and emphasises critical engagement with heritage and landscape within their broader social, cultural, and policy contexts. Across both research and teaching, I adopt a comparative, interdisciplinary, and mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative methods, including interviews, participant observation, visual methods, and archival research, with quantitative techniques such as survey analysis, GIS, and statistical modelling.

Project Title

Heritage Governance and Power in South Korea

Project Description

Heritage is often described in many different ways, but it is increasingly understood not as a fixed set of objects from the past, but as an active process through which certain histories are selectively mobilised for present-day purposes.

In my research, I explore how this selective use of history operates as a resource for shaping power relations in South Korea.

Abstract

Drawing on a conceptualisation of power as the ability to mobilise resources, Minki analyses this case through the lens of power, focusing on its different forms and modes of exercise.

The research addresses the question: for whom, and how, is heritage mobilised and valued when examined through the lens of power?

Keywords

Heritage governance; Social hierarchies; Scales of power; Heritage policy; Quiet registers of power; Heritage values; Heritage management; Cultural landscape, Social capital

Supervisors

Qualifications

  • BA in History of Myongji University
  • MA in Cultural Resources & Archives of Myongji University
  • MA in International Cultural Heritage Management of Durham University (Distinction)
  • Teaching Fellowship (Advance HE)
  • Associate fellowship (ICOMOS)
  • Certified Archivist (Ministry of the Interior and Safety)

Peer-reviewed articles

Conference proceedings

  • Sung, M.K., Ren, T., Mustapha, K.M. (2024) ‘Rural Heritage for Enriching Social Capital within South Korean Rural Villages: Which Stakeholder Group Mobilised Heritage for Enriching Social Capital?’ HEI International Student Conference 2024. University of Oslo.
  • Dangeni, D. and Sung, M.K. (2024) ‘Developing Graduate Teaching Assistants (GTAs): A Co-created Developmental Space via Community Building Chat’. GTA Developer Network: Summer Meeting 2024. AdvanceHE (organiser) hosted by the University of Sheffield.
  • Sung, M.K. and Ki, J.H. (2022) ‘Influence of Cultural Heritage on Social Capital from a Perspective of Migrants: A Case study of Rural Villages of South Korea’. 2022 Spring Conference Proceeding. Korean Regional Development Association, pp. 1-30.
  • Sung, M.K. (2022) ‘Analysis of Domestic and International Cases for Korean Land and Housing Corporation’s Urban Facilities’ Management. 2022 Winter Conference Proceeding. Korean Regional Development Association, pp. 1–29.
  • Sung, M.K. (2021) ‘A Study on Residents’ Participation through Local Cultural Heritage and Social Capital: Focused on Jeojiri and Handongri, Jeju Island’, 2021 Spring Conference Proceeding. Korean Regional Development Association, pp. 857–871.
  • Ki, J.H. and Sung, M.K. (2020). ‘Residential Performance Assessment Based on Accessibility to Local Cultural and Educational Facilities: A Study of Impact Factors with Spatial Regression Model’, 2020 Spring Conference Proceeding. Korean Regional Development Association, pp. 3–30.

Research group memberships 

Awards

Contact

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