Korea Institute Undergraduate Research Assistantship

Applications due: February 28, 2026, 11:59 PM ET
The Korea Institute will offer Undergraduate Research Assistantships for Korea focused projects supervised by Harvard faculty for summer 2026.  The RAships will be remote or hybrid. There will be a range of opportunities for Harvard undergraduates to work on faculty research projects in a variety of capacities. RAships are a great opportunity for students with little research experience to get hands-on exposure to the research world. Research Assistant positions offer unique possibilities for intellectual growth, while providing students with invaluable skills and experience. Work is arranged and directed by faculty members, who will directly supervise student RAs. The specifics of the intellectual goals for the student and the research tasks involved will vary. The student and faculty member will discuss and clarify in advance the research responsibilities and outcomes. Students may assist with data collection, data analysis, literature reviews, or other aspects of a faculty project. If awarded a KI Research Assistantship, the student will be paid $20 per hour (up to $2,000 total summer stipend per Assistantship) over 5-10 weeks, based on the needs of the faculty project.

Faculty project listings for summer 2026 will be forthcoming in late January onward. Please continue to check back. Directions to apply are found towards the bottom of this page.

2026 Summer Faculty Projects:

Prof. Jungyoon Kim, Associate Professor in Practice of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD; and
Prof. Nicholas Harkness, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology
Faculty Email:  jungyoonkim@gsd.harvard.edu
Project Title: Book Project "Designers of Mountain and Water"
Project Description: We are looking for two RAs for the summer 2026, who can help us prepare a manuscript for a post-conference/exhibition publication, aiming to publish by the end of 2027. 
RA's tasks will include:
• transcribe the recording of panel talks/ discussions
• refine the transcription to make it suitable for publication
• make a draft INDD file to communicate with a book designer/ publisher
Skills Needed: Adobe programs, such as InDesign (for book layout) and Photoshop (for very basic editing  of photos/ project images). It will be helpful if the RA is fluent in Korean and Chinese, but it is not an absolute requirement. The RA must be someone who enjoys reading and literature research. At least 1-2 in-person meetings before summer with me on campus, then the work can be done between June and August remotely. Anticipated work hours: 100 hours
Compensation: $20/hour; start date early June 2026; a minimum of 10 hours/week; 10 weeks (maximum compensation is $2,000)
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Prof. Chan Yong Bu
Faculty Email: cbu@fas.harvard.edu
Project Title: "Korean film subtitling Project"
Project Description: This project aims to expand the range of Korean films accessible to students who do not speak or read Korean but are eager to explore works beyond those commonly known in the United States. Over the past two years of teaching multiple film courses, I’ve seen a strong student interest in discovering “hidden gems” of Korean cinema outside the canon of well-known directors. This summer presents an ideal opportunity to develop teaching materials that respond to that demand. A student assistant will subtitle 3–4 Korean films (each approximately two hours long) and convert them into digital formats for classroom use. All selected films have already received approval from their directors for educational use. 
Skills Needed: Basic knowledge in video editing programs such as Final Cut Pro
Compensation: $20/hour; start date early June 2026; a minimum of 10 hours/week; 10 weeks (maximum compensation is $2,000)

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2025 Summer Faculty Projects as FYI:
Prof. Si Nae Park, Associate Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Faculty Email: sinaepark@fas.harvard.edu
Project Title: Literary History, Literary Information, and the Making of Korean Literature
Project Description: This project examines the intersection of literary historiography and the history of the book with a regional and temporal focus on Korea at the turn of the twentieth century. Research assistance is needed for compilation of bibliographies, generation of timelines, data visualization, and data collection.
Skills Needed: Reading ability in Korean is required. Reading ability in sinographs (Chinese characters, especially traditional characters), Japanese, and French are greatly welcome. Spreadsheet skills (data entry, formatting, filtering, etc.), basic Adobe Acrobat skills (OCR generation and text extraction, for example) are welcome.
Compensation: $20/hour; start date late May/early June 2025; a minimum of 10 hours/week; 10 weeks or less depending on the RA’s progress (maximum compensation is $2,000)
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Prof. Nicholas Harkness, Modern Korean Economy and Society Professor of Anthropology; Director, Korea Institute, Harvard University
Faculty Email: harkness@fas.harvard.edu
Project Title: Korean Natural Language Processing and AI Research
Project Description: Goal is to survey the published literature on Korean Natural Language Processing and AI research, to compare approaches across Korean and English language models, and to reanalyze exemplary studies in terms of Peircean semiotics, particularly focusing on the role (explicit or implicit) of indexicality (referential and non-referential) and abductive inference. The aim is (a) to identify and explain patterned differences in Large Language Models designed for Korean and English and (b) to differentiate the patterns in terms of the syntax-semantics interface, the semantics-pragmatics interface, the genre-register interface, and broader linguistic ideological inferences about interaction and social indexicality. 
Skills Needed: Bilingual in Korean and English; Computer Science 
Compensation: $20/hour; start date early June 2025; a minimum of 10 hours/week; 10 weeks or less depending on the RA’s progress (maximum compensation is $2,000)

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2024 Summer Faculty Projects as FYI:
Prof. William Alford
Cohen Professor Law and Director of East Asian Legal Studies, Harvard Law School
Email: alford@law.harvard.edu 
Project Title: Why Creative Thinking about Disability is Vital to Korea’s Future
Project Description: The Harvard Law School Project on Disability blends traditional academic endeavor with pro bono service, each informing the other. We have engaged with scholars, officials and civil society in over 40 nations, including working this AY closely with SNU’s Law School on its first conference on disability law. We anticipate extensive additional scholarly and public interest undertakings regarding disability in Korea, with a focus on topics such as the empowerment of persons with a disability, ways in which fuller inclusion of persons with a disability may speak to Korea’s demographic challenges, Korea and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and Korean industry and assistive technology. Toward that end, we would welcome involvement of one or more student research assistants to work with us this summer on projects concerning disability in Korea.
Desired Skills: Students need not have a legal background, as some of the work we anticipate will involve sociological, cultural, political and economic questions. Students should have strong Korean language skills (e.g., the ability to read newspapers and journal articles in Korean and do careful, thoughtful translations or summaries as needed), intellectual curiosity and a generosity of spirit. 
Details: 10-20 hrs/week but we are flexible and could arrange this to include more or less time. (up to a maximum of $2000 at $20/hour)
Contact: alford@law.harvard.edu
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Prof. Mary C. Brinton
Reischauer Institute Professor of Sociology, Harvard University
Email: brinton@wjh.harvard.edu
Project Title: Gender-Role Attitudes and Daily Lives of Highly-Educated Korean Men and Women
Project Description: This project is the Korea portion of a comparative examination of the work and family lives of highly-educated young adults in four countries (Japan, South Korea, the U.S., and Sweden). Student research assistance is needed for translating and coding excerpts from transcripts of interviews conducted in Korean; the excerpts cover topics such as the structure of the interviewee’s typical weekday, gender-role attitudes, and feelings about marriage and children. The excerpts are needed for a book the principal investigator is writing.
Desired Skills: Language Skills: Proficiency in spoken Korean.
Details: Hours: 10-20 hours a week, depending on student availability.
Contact: brinton@wjh.harvard.edu
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Prof. Si Nae Park
Associate Professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations 
Email: sinaepark@fas.harvard.edu
Project Title: ‘Literary Listing: Enumerated Titles of Korean Books and Realignment of Literature’
Project Description: This project explores literary listing—the act of enumerating works of literature broadly conceived—performed by readers in Chosŏn Korea and by Korean and foreign collectors, readers, and users of ‘Korean antiquarian books’ between the late seventeenth through the early twentieth centuries. Research assistant needed to aid data collection, data entry and organization, and bibliography compilation. 
Skills Needed: Reading ability in Korean is required. Reading ability in Chinese (traditional characters, especially), Japanese, French, German, and/or Russian are also welcome. Spreadsheet skills are welcome.
Compensation: $20/hour; start date early June 2024; a minimum of 10 hours/week; 10 weeks or less depending on the RA’s progress (maximum compensation is $2,000)
Contact: sinaepark@fas.harvard.edu

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Dr. Chan Yong Bu
Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations
Email: cbu@fas.harvard.edu
Project Title: Translating and subtitling Korean music videos and documentaries
Project Description: I am looking for a research assistant(s) to translate and subtitle old Korean music videos and documentary shorts to be shown in my upcoming courses for AY 2024-2025, titled "Korean Stars" and "Documentary and East Asia," respectively. 
Desired skills: Proficiency in spoken Korean is required. Knowledge of subtitling software is strongly preferred, but not required.
Hours: 3-5 hours for music video translation and subtitling+5 hours for documentary short film translation and subtitling (student can choose whether to do both or only one) 
Rate: $20/hour
Contact: cbu@fas.harvard.edu

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Students should reach out to individual faculty members to inquire about their RA opportunities, scope, and duties. Students may apply for only one KI research assistantship opportunity. For questions about specific projects, please contact the professor directly.

Applications due: February 28, 2026, 11:59 PM ET

Decisions emailed in March. This opportunity is in Round B.

Please note: You are ineligible to apply if you are on a Leave of Absence during Spring Term.

To Apply:

First, reach out to individual faculty to learn more about each faculty RAship.

  1. To apply, email the following information to each faculty sponsor of an RAship before the deadline
    (February 28, 2026, 11:59 PM ET)
  • Full name (first, LAST)
  • Harvard ID Number
  • Email Address/es
  • Current physical address and citizenship
  • Concentration; class year
  • Korean language proficiency level (if any)
  • Financial Aid status (recipient or not)
  • 1-2 paragraphs explaining reasons for interest in the project; and
  • 1-2 paragraphs describing relevant coursework (if any), relevant work/research experience (if any), or reasons for interest in learning more about research via this project.
  • Budget: Include the number of available work hours per week, the number of weeks available to work, the earliest beginning date and latest end date. Please note: Living/travel/equipment expenses may not be included.
  1. Faculty will review applications. Faculty may invite final candidates to interview via Zoom.
  2. Following the College’s new unified funding decision timeline, students will be notified between March 6-20 of the RAship award decision. Students must accept or decline the RAship offer by March 24 or sooner, via emailing cglover@fas.harvard.edu and including all RAship project/timeline details.
  3. The KI will contact students to process compensation.
  4. KI Undergraduate Research Assistantship awardees will submit to the Korea Institute a 1-2-page written report detailing the RAship experience, along with a photo of yourself and/or your work, by August 31, 2026. Awardees will also be expected to give a presentation and speak with students on the RAship experience at an information session during the 2026-27 academic year and become an ambassador for this program. 

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Harvard College Summer Funding Policy 2026

https://oue.fas.harvard.edu/experiential-learning/summer-funding/

Harvard College prioritizes the wide distribution of Summer funding to ensure that as many undergraduate students as possible can have a meaningful summer experience.

For funded Summer 2026 experiences, students may only apply Harvard University funding to one Summer experience*, regardless of duration of time (ex. only four weeks or a part-time effort). Co-funding between multiple sources of funding is discouraged and only permitted if the funding jointly supports the same Summer experience.  

Once a student accepts an award from any Harvard office, it is binding. The student will automatically be removed from consideration for other Harvard-funded opportunities.  

Exceptions to the Summer Funding Policy are uncommon and will be reviewed on an individual basis; students should send exception requests to the Director of Summer Funding Opportunities at summerfunding@fas.harvard.edu. All exceptions will be approved by the Summer Funding Opportunities Office. 

Failure to adhere to the Harvard College Summer funding policy may result in a student being referred to the Administrative Board or Honor Council. 

* The only recognized deviation from the Summer Funding Policy applies to students conducting senior thesis research. Students in this specific situation may apply Harvard University funding to two different opportunities, given that one source of funding supports thesis research and that the dates of the two opportunities in question do not overlap. Thesis researchers in this case may still apply to multiple sources of research funding to enable potential co-funding opportunities.