Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) master's student Han Sang-gu (Department of Archaeology & Anthropology) recently won the Outstanding Paper Encouragement Award at the '2024 Cultural Contents Joint Academic Conference'.

This conference was a large-scale academic event jointly organized by the Gongju Culture & Tourism Foundation and ten leading domestic scholarly organizations representing Korea's cultural contents field. Leading researchers studying cultural contents gathered to engage in in-depth discussions under the main theme "Cultural Cities and Cultural Contents" and the special theme "Exploring Exit Strategies for Cultural Cities."

At the conference, Han presented a paper titled "A Study on the Utilization of Cultural Heritage Content: Focusing on Buried Cultural Properties in Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan," earning the award.

Han is conducting research on issues related to overcoming regional crises through the utilization of cultural resources with scholarship support from the JBNU Department of Archaeology & Anthropology's Phase 4 BK21 Project Division, "In the Anthropocene Era, Education and Research Group for Overcoming Regional Crises and Building the Future through Research on Biocultural Diversity" (Director: Professor Im Gyeong-taek). He has a particular interest in buried cultural properties.

Han said, "Participating in the BK21 overseas training program was very helpful for conducting cross-national comparative research on buried cultural properties," adding, "In future research, I will carry out more focused studies on how cultural resources are utilized as cultural contents and how communities overcome crises and achieve mutual co‑prosperity."