Research interests

Sangwoo's current research primarily focuses on inequalities in higher education and the labour market as well as job quality in the 21st century. Within this broad theme, he is particularly interested in a) how we can improve students' academic achievement and help them develop the skills they need in the labour market, regardless of their socioeconomic background, and b) the importance of job quality including:

• Inequalities in access to and success in higher education;
• Higher education and employment as vehicles for social mobility;
• Job quality premium for university graduates;
• Trend of job quality across countries;
• Relationship between job quality and well-being.

Sangwoo has particular methodological interests in:

• Longitudinal research and tracking (using mainly quantitative methods);
• Survey data analyses;
• Cross-cultural comparative analyses.

Academic profile

Sangwoo has a background in both Economics and Higher Education and has been trained at Grinnell College (US), Harvard University (US), and the University of Cambridge (UK). He joined IER in October 2023. Prior to this, he worked as a researcher at the UCL Institute of Education and the University of Cambridge.

Selected current projects

• New challenges for occupational safety and health in times of the digital transformation in Europe: the role of digital labour platforms, with Trine Larsen, Chris Warhurst, Beate Baldauf and Stef Poole, Funded by CHANSE; Project duration: until October 2025
• Social Mobility/Immobility and Graduates' Skills: Future Track Survey, with Kate Purcell
• LMI for All, 2018-2024;Link opens in a new windowLink opens in a new window With Sally-Anne Barnes, Jenny Bimrose, Rob Wilson, David Owen, Terence Hogarth, Daria Luchinskaya, Luke Bosworth and Rosie Day from IER, and Pontydysgu. Funded by the Department for Education. Project duration 2018 - 2024
• Barriers to Good Work; with Emily Erickson; Chris Warhurst and Jamelia Harris; Funder: ACAS; Project Duration: Dec 2023 - April 2024

• 'Bad Jobs' in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold, with Francis Green; Funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis
• Job Quality in South Korea: Progress or Decline? With Francis Green, Funded by the ESRC Secondary Data Analysis

Selected Publications

• Green, F., Lee, S., Zou, M., & Zhou, Y. (2024). Work and life: The relative importance of job quality for general well-being, and implications for social surveysLink opens in a new window. Socio-Economic Review.
• Lee, S. (2023). Does the university level the playing field? Impacts of spatial inequalities on the gap in the earnings of similar graduates: Evidence from the United KingdomLink opens in a new window, Higher Education Policy
• Lee, S. & Vignoles, A. (2022). Does college level the playing field? Socioeconomic gaps in the earnings of similar graduates: Evidence from South KoreaLink opens in a new window. Higher Education, 83, 1335-1354.
• Lee, S. (2022). A social ladder or a glass floor? The role of higher education in intergenerational social mobility: Empirical evidence from South Korea.Link opens in a new window Higher Education Policy, 35, 969-998.
• Lee, S. & Song, M. (2018). The socioeconomic ceiling and perceived employability in higher education.Link opens in a new window Korean Journal of Youth Studies, 25(11). 231-258.

Selected Conference Presentations

• "'Bad Jobs' in Europe: Derivation and Analysis of a Wellbeing-Related Job Quality Threshold"Link opens in a new window at the Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics and Political Science, Well-being Seminar (2024).
• "Job Quality Premium: Trend Changes in Job Quality in South Korea"Link opens in a new window at the Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE) Seminar (2024).
• "Unequal Labour Market: Job Quality Premium for Graduates and Its Trend in South Korea" at the Korea Inequality Symposium (2023).
• "The Comparative Importance of Job Quality for General Well-being" at the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies (2023).
• "Work and Life: The Comparative Importance of Job Quality for General Well-being" at the CIPD Applied Research Conference (2023).
• "Does University Level the Playing Field? Impacts of Spatial Inequalities on the Gap in the Earnings of Similar Graduates: Evidence from the UK" at the Society for Research into Higher Education (2021).
• "The Socioeconomic Ceiling and Perceived Employability in Higher Education: Evidence from South Korea" at the American Economic Association Annual Meeting (2018).

Teaching

• Education for Employment? Understanding Learning in the 21st Century Economy (Guest Lecturer, UCL Institute of Education, 2023)
• Methods of Enquiry II (SPSS Session Lecturer, UCL Institute of Education, 2023)
• Social Inequality and Mobility (Seminar Leader, UCL Institute of Education, 2022)
• Economics of Education (Seminar Leader, UCL Institute of Education, 2022)
• Designing Education Research: Quantitative Course Work (Undergraduate Supervisor, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, 2021)
• Research Methods Strand for MPhil (Teaching Assistant, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, 2021)

Professional memberships

• American Economic Association (AEA)
• British Educational Research Association (BERA)
• Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE)