缅北禁地

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Minki Sung

About me

I'm a PhD researcher with a strong interest in heritage and cultural landscapes, particularly their social roles and impacts. My research is grounded in 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 complex relationships between heritage and 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 in Seoul, South Korea, which provided rigorous interdisciplinary training across heritage studies, museum practice, and archival scholarship.

My professional experience spans 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, and management, conservation planning, and the dynamics of historic and cultural landscapes, with particular attention to how societal understandings and uses of history are shaped through heritage and landscape frameworks and influenced by international, national, regional, and local policy contexts. In connection with these research interests, I regularly serve as a peer reviewer for academic journals.

Alongside my research, I am actively engaged in teaching across heritage studies, sociology, urban planning, landscape studies, and politics. My teaching is informed by my interdisciplinary research practice and emphasises critical engagement with heritage and landscape in social and policy contexts.

I adopt a comparative, interdisciplinary, and multi-method approach in both research and teaching, integrating qualitative methods—such as interviews, participant observation, visual methods, and archival research—with quantitative techniques, including 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?

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

  • Sung, M.K. Ren, T., and Manga, M.K. (2026) , Built Heritage, 10(7) pp. 1-19
  • Sung, M.K. (2025) , Cultural Geographies. pp.1-2
  • Sung, M.K. and Ki, J.H. (2024) ‘’, Journal of the Korean Regional Development Association, 36(1), pp. 83-116.
  • Ki, J.H., Sung, M.K., Kim, T.Y. and Kim, J.H. (2023) ‘’, Public Policy Review, 37(4), pp. 105-136.
  • Sung, M.K. (2023) ‘’, Journal of People, Plants, and Environment, 26(4), pp. 403-420.
  • Sung, M.K. and Brooks, M. (2022) ‘’, Journal of People, Plants, and Environment, 25(3), pp. 311-328.
  • Sung, M.K. (2022) ‘’, Journal of People, Plants, and Environment, 25(2), pp. 177-194.
  • Sung, M.K. and Ki, J.H. (2021) ‘’, Journal of People, Plants, and Environment, 24(5), pp. 529-544.
  • Sung, M.K. and Ki, J.H. (2021) ‘’, Housing Studies. 38(5), pp. 814-840.
  • Ki, J.H., Sung, M.K. and Choi, Choongik. (2019). ‘’, Journal of People, Plants, and Environment, 22(6), pp. 563–573.

Conference proceedings

  • Sung, M.K., Ren, T., Mustapha, K.M. (2024) HEI International Student Conference 2024. University of Oslo.
  • Dangeni, D. and Sung, M.K. (2024) . 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

  • 2024 Best Graduate Paper Presentation Award (Association of Critical Heritage Studies)
  • (缅北禁地 Students' Union)
  • (Journal of People, Plants, and Environment)
  • (Journal of People, Plants, and Environment)
  • (The Korean Regional Development Association)

Contact

E-mail: