Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy to Host 5th Social Impact Forum 2023 - Towards Diversity and Inclusion
- Date2023.02.17
- 3078
Ewha Womans University's Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy, ****the first master's and doctoral convergent program in Korea, held the 2023 5th Social Impact Forum on February 10 at ECC Isambong Hall.
The Social Impact Forum, now in its fifth year, was organized under the theme of "Toward Diversity and Inclusion" to provide a venue for domestic companies, academia, the public sector, and non-profits to gather the results of the Social Economy Cooperation Course in 2022. The event, which was sponsored by Shinhan Bank, was organized in collaboration with various on-campus organizations, including Joyful Rebellion, Ewha Womans University's Frontier 10-10 social economy co-op program, the BK21 Education Research Center at the fourth level of the Department of Social Work, Ewha Womans University Climate and Environmental Change Prediction Research Center, Ewha Womans University Entrepreneurship Support Center, and Ewha Womans University Eco-Science Institute. In addition, the Central Social Service Agency, Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency, Merry Year Foundation, AVPN, Mapo-gu Employment and Welfare Center, Morethan, MYSC, The Bridge, Social Cooperative Dream Sharing, Korea Social Welfare Council, and Seoul Social Economy Support Center have joined as eco-partners.
The forum began with a welcome speech by Choi Yoo-mi (Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy/Design), followed by congratulatory remarks from Ewha Womans University President Kim Eun-mi and encouraging words from Jung Hyun-gon (Korea Social Enterprise Promotion Agency). In her congratulatory remarks, President Kim Eun-mi said, "This forum is a gathering place for various social innovation efforts and attempts that have been carried out over the past year in the Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy, and it is a very meaningful place to connect academia, the field, and the public who are leading the future of the social economy,” adding, "I hope that we can continue to share and discuss the results of convergent social innovation on sustainable diversity and inclusion.”
(From left) President Kim Eun-mi, Director Choi Yoo-mi, and President Jung Hyun-gon
In addition, it consisted of presentations on social service innovation and planned lectures on ESG, and was a great opportunity to see thesis presentations by Ph.D. students from Ewha Womans University's Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy, as well as startup ideas from undergraduate students.
The first session was organized by the National Social Service Institute under the theme of 'Creating an Ecosystem for Social Service Innovation and the Social Economy'. The program consisted of a keynote presentation on 'Direction of Welfare Nation and Social Service Innovation: The Role of Social Economy' by Dr. Sangmi Cho (National Social Service Institute), a research presentation on 'Innovation of Social Service Providers' by Prof. Dan Oh (Gangnam University), a policy case presentation on 'Supporting Social Economy in Social Services' by Dr. Jae-eun Lee (National Social Service Institute), and a field case presentation on 'Community-based Social Service Innovation through Consortium among Social Economic Agents' by Dr. Jin-joo Hong (Mapo-gu Employment and Welfare Center).
The second session consisted of a presentation by Joyful Rebellion on the theme of 'ESG, Meet the Experts in the Field'. Starting with the introduction of Joyful Rebellion by Park Sae-ah, the executive director of Joyful Rebellion, Choi Yi-hyun, CEO of Morethan, opened the session with 'We Make the Earth cool' in relation to E (Environment). For S (Social), there was a lecture by Seok-geun Sun, PO (Shinhan Financial Hope Foundation), titled 'Measuring the Social Value of Shinhan Financial Group: Is it necessary for startups to pursue social value'. Regarding the last G (Governance), Mr. Yoo Hoon (Gyeonggi-do Social Economy Institute) presented on 'Building a Social Economy Ecosystem with Public-Private Partnerships and Gyeonggi-do'.
The third session was dedicated to presenting the research results of the PhD graduates of Ewha Womans University's Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy, and the audience was able to enjoy the poster presentations of the winning teams of the Ewha Social Economy Entrepreneurship Competition 2022.
(From left) Forum featured speakers, Forum group photo
The Social Impact Forum is Ewha Womans University's signature event for social responsibility and community engagement, and has been held annually since 2019, attracting about 5,000 academics, field experts, and the public through live streaming on YouTube, fostering heated debate and productive discussions.
Meanwhile, Ewha Womans University's Interdisciplinary Program of Social Economy is the first social economy master's and doctoral program in Korea at a general graduate school and opened in the second semester of 2017. Ewha Womans University's 16 departments (Architecture, Business, Economics, Christian Studies, Climate Energy Systems Engineering, Media Interaction Design, Law, North Korean Studies, Social Work, Consumer Studies, Speech-Language Pathology, Eco-Creative Cooperative Course, Design, Convergence Health, Special Education, and Public Administration) and the Entrepreneurship Center participate in the cooperative course, and have made various attempts to connect theory and practice by offering convergent courses, overseas trips, startup competitions, publishing the Ewha Social Economy Review, and holding the Social Impact Forum.