INU Professor Ki-soon Han Research Team Receives Outstanding Paper Award from the Korean Society for the Gifted and Talented

Incheon National University (President: In-jae Lee) announced that the research team led by Professor Ki-soon Han of the Department of Creativity Development—consisting of Dr. Dae-gi Jo and doctoral students Seung-yeob Shim, Soon-geun Kim, and Jeong-eun Park—received the Outstanding Paper Award at the 2026 Spring Academic Conference of the Korean Society for the Gifted and Talented, held on May 1 at the National Busan Science Museum.

Founded in 1991, the Korean Society for the Gifted and Talented is one of Korea’s leading academic organizations in gifted education and publishes Gifted Education Research, an academic journal indexed by the National Research Foundation of Korea. The journal is recognized as a highly influential publication in the field of gifted education, and the Outstanding Paper Award is a prestigious honor presented annually to the single most distinguished paper published during the previous year.

The award-winning paper, titled “A Phenomenological Study on Lock-In and Lock-Out in the STEM Career Choice Process of Scientifically Gifted Students,” analyzed the career decision-making processes of graduates from science high schools and gifted schools based on the Social Cognitive Model of Career Self-Management. The research team conducted in-depth interviews with nine scientifically gifted students to closely examine the psychological and experiential factors influencing career decisions. The study received high recognition for both its originality and its policy implications.

The research was carried out with continued support from the university’s internal research funding program and is expected to provide foundational data for future gifted education policy development through a systematic understanding of the career development processes of scientifically gifted students.

Professor Ki-soon Han stated, “This research is meaningful in that it sought to understand career decisions among scientifically gifted students not simply in terms of whether they enter STEM fields, but within the broader context of individual experiences and psychological factors.” He added, “It is significant in that it closely illuminated the concerns and conflicts scientifically gifted students experience throughout their development.”

Co-researcher Seung-yeob Shim, a doctoral student, commented, “Although concerns have been raised regarding some scientifically gifted students moving away from STEM pathways toward medical schools, our findings confirmed that many students continue making sustained efforts to remain on STEM career tracks.” He added, “We hope this study will serve as valuable foundational data for future STEM gifted education policy development.”

Professor Ki-soon Han previously received both the Best Researcher Award and the Best Gifted Education Program Award at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Conference on Giftedness (APCG), and this latest recognition once again demonstrates the team’s research excellence and standing in gifted education both domestically and internationally.

With the educational goal of “cultivating communication-oriented talent that challenges creative innovation,” Incheon National University will continue identifying outstanding researchers and supporting research achievements across diverse academic fields.