Hoon Han is a Professor of City Planning at UNSW Sydney, and the lead on Future Food Systems’ recently completed ‘Namoi agribusiness planning’ project –in which Prof. Han and his team used data-based geomapping and an AI-backed multi-criteria decision-making tool to guide land-use planning in one of NSW’s richest agricultural regions.
In July 2023, Prof. Han also became one of a select group of eminent Korean scientists and engineers from around the world chosen to meet the President of the Republic of Korea as part of the inaugural World Congress of Korean Scientists & Engineers.
“On the 5th of July, I had the privilege of meeting President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea in Seoul. It was an exceptional honour to be among the esteemed group of 18 academic leaders from around the world who were invited,” Prof. Han said in a social media post after the fact.
Prof. Han also met the Republic of Korea’s Minister of Science and Technology, Lee Jong-Ho, at the event, part of the 1st World Congress of Korean Scientists & Engineers, which ran from 4-7 July 2023 in the Republic of Korea’s capital.
The four-day symposium and research exchange forum, organised by the Republic of Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT, took place at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology Center in Seoul. It was attended by around 500 people, including several heads of overseas Korean science and engineering associations.
Republic of Korea to invest in ‘world-class R&D’ via global network of Korean scientists
Addressing the Congress’s opening ceremony, President Yoon Suk Yeol stressed his government’s intention to invest in “world-class research and development” and support building a “global network” of Korean scientists.
The President said he was particularly appreciative of the hard work and contributions to collective scientific knowledge produced Korean-born scientists and engineers now working abroad. “It is thanks to our scientists and engineers equipped with a challenging spirit, innovative capabilities and outstanding skills that Korea has catapulted into a state-of-the-art science and technology and digital powerhouse,” he said.
“I believe that the most important thing is to build a network promoting exchanges and cooperation with Korean scientists living overseas. [This is] the beginning of international solidarity in science and technology”, President Yeol said, exhorting the assembled scientists and engineers to become “mentors for the future generation and to conduct research together and share latest achievements” and a “strong guide for your junior colleagues to reach out to the world stage”.
More about Professor Han
Prof. Han is an Associate Director of the university’s City Futures Research Centre and Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI). Read more about him here.
Source: Yoon pledges support for Korean science at home and abroad I Korea JoonGang Daily
Lead image: UNSW Professor Hoon Han, 3rd from L, was one of 18 scientists chosen to meet the President of the Republic of Korea at the 1st Congress of Korean scientists & engineers, July 2023. Image courtesy of Hoon Han via Linked In