Soyoung completed her DPhil at the Department of Education in 2024, and won the Best Dissertation Award for her doctoral dissertation, ‘Students’ Academic Self-formation in Local and International Higher Education: Evidence from South Korean Students’.
Her doctoral research focused on students’ self-formation in higher education, and developed a theory of higher education that emphasises its intrinsic and educational aspects, students’ personal growth and intellectual exploration. The study challenged the narrow but dominant economic framing of higher education (e.g. students as consumers or cash cows), which often undermines student agency. Soyoung compared the self-formation experiences of South Korean students in both local and international higher education contexts.
On receiving the Best Dissertation award, Soyoung said: “I feel deeply grateful and honored to receive this award. My first thought was that this achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the support of my supervisors Professor Simon Marginson and Dr Steve Puttick, colleagues, and family. If I could, I would reiterate everything I wrote in the acknowledgements section of my thesis.
“This recognition has given me confidence in my research. For early career researchers, reassurance from peers and the community is crucial to sustain and pursue our ideas. Receiving this award feels like a ‘green light’, encouraging me to keep going and keep questioning. It is truly rewarding.
“The journey of completing my doctorate was both the most fulfilling and the most challenging (and, at times, loneliest) experience of my life. The process itself was a reward, but this award represents a tangible milestone. It motivates me to continue my research journey and work toward my long-term ambition of advancing higher education research in East Asia and providing alternative language/frameworks.”
Soyoung is currently on a career break for maternity leave and parenting. Her dissertation is being developed into a forthcoming book, Empowering Student Minds: Academic Self-Formation in Higher Education, of which the proposal is currently in the final stages of review with Oxford University Press.