Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) Institute for Southeast Asian Studies (Director Jeon Je-seong) will hold the 'JBNU Institute Academic Conference 2025: Toward Critical Studies of Southeast Asian Development' on December 17 (Wednesday) at 1:30 PM in Seminar Room 3 of the JBNU Convention Center, on the occasion of the institute's founding anniversary (December 20).

The JBNU Institute for Southeast Asian Studies was selected in September for the National Research Foundation of Korea's Research Institute Support Program in the Humanities and Social Sciences and is conducting a six-year, mid- to long-term research project titled 'Critical Regional Studies on Development Models of Southeast Asia in a Period of Transition.'

This conference is being held to review the overall research direction and the research issues before the full-scale launch of the project.

In particular, the conference will focus on academic discussions to elaborate the research planning for Volume 1 of the six-volume research series to be published in the future, titled 'Toward Critical Studies of Southeast Asian Development: Research Trends and Tasks.'

Part 1 of the conference will be chaired by Professor Choi Jong-hyun of JBNU and will begin with a keynote address by Director Jeon Je-seong, "An Introduction to Critical Studies of Southeast Asian Development." Presentations by all research team members will follow, covering a range of topics including Southeast Asian political economy, debates on development and growth, international development cooperation, authoritarianism and social movements, and environment and development.

The subsequent discussion session will include experts in Southeast Asian and development studies from Korea and abroad — Park Sa-myung (Kangwon National University), Shin Yoon-hwan (Sogang University), Lee Han-woo (Dankook University), Park Eun-hong (Sungkonghoe University), Lee Sang-guk (Yonsei University), Bae Ki-hyun (Sogang University), Yoo Ye-ji (Sogang University), Kim Tae-sik (Monash University Malaysia), Cho Young-chul (Kangwon National University), and Park Yoon-joo (Keimyung University) — who will offer in-depth opinions on the planning of the research series and future research directions.

The JBNU Institute for Southeast Asian Studies plans to use the conference as an opportunity to advance critical and alternative research on Southeast Asian development discourse and to expand the academic horizons of Southeast Asian studies in Korea.