Ja Un Hwang

Project description

This research aims to describe and explain how entrepreneurs change the local institutional environment where they are embedded through the evolution of the local entrepreneurial ecosystem (EE), and how their dynamic relationships affect regional path development process.

The study adopts comparative case study of two South Korean old(former) industrial cities – Pohang and Gumi.

The novel contribution of my research project is to develop a dynamic framework that explains the evolving relationship between entrepreneurship and institutions through the local entrepreneurial ecosystem development, and how these varying relationships activate or deactivate the regional new path development. This research has been recognised for its social and academic value, winning the 2024 American Association of Geographers Graduate Research Award.

I am interested in political economic geographical factors that play a role in creating regional disparities in innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as the distribution of their outcome.

My current research subjects are as follows:

• regional innovation and entrepreneurship
• entrepreneurial ecosystem
• local venture capital market
• innovation and industrial policy

Publications

Publications in the Korean peer-reviewed (Korean Citation Indexed) journals

• Hwang, J., and Kang, M. (2021), Spatial distribution of startups and agglomeration externalities in the city. Journal of Korea Planning Association, 56(5), 182–198
• Hwang, J., and Kang, M. (2020). The impact of special economic zones on the location choice of foreign direct investments. Gyeonggi Research Institute Review, 22(3), 237–260

Presentations

• ‘The dynamic relationship between entrepreneurship and institutions in regional path development’, 2024 Regional Studies Association, Florence, Italy, June 2024
• ‘Industry 4.0 and regional growth: the role of regional entrepreneurship’, 2023 Korean Regional Science Association, Sejong, Korea, July 2023
• ‘Microgeography of highly innovative startups in the city: the role of localization and urbanization’, 2020 Korea Panning Association Conference, Seoul, Korea, October 2020.

Teaching

Lecturer (fixed-term contract)

• Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Seoul, September 2022–February 2023.
  Postgraduate: Seminar in Urban and Regional Economics

Teaching Assistant

• School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University, 2023–2024
  Undergraduate: Interconnected World, Economic Geography, Key Methods for Human Geography, Mapping a Changing World: GIS for Geographers
• Department of Urban Planning and Design, University of Seoul, 2019–2020.
  Undergraduate: An Introduction to Real Estate Economics/ Postgraduate: Urban and Regional Economics
• Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Design Major, Seoul National University, 2009
  Undergraduate: Urban Design Seminar

Academic qualifications, memberships and achievements

HaSS Faculty PGR Research Activity Fund, 2025
Graduate student research award, American Association of Geographers, 2024.
Award for the outstanding paper, University of Seoul, 2021, 2022
Award for the best paper in the Korea Planning Association Conference, Seoul, September 2020.

Contact and further information

e-mail: j.u.hwang2@newcastle.ac.uk 

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jaun-hwang-501383302