Introducing the 2025 ‘Social Engagement Fund’ Cohort
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We are proud to present the finalists of Yonsei University’s 2025 Social Engagement Fund (SEF), hosted by the Institute for Global Engagement & Empowerment (IGEE). As an institution committed to advancing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), IGEE designs and implements a variety of social contribution programs to address real-world challenges and generate practical solutions for a better future. The SEF program empowers students to transform their awareness and ideas about global social issues into tangible, positive change. In 2025, 34 teams applied; after a rigorous review by multiple faculty members, 12 teams (10 domestic and 2 international) were selected to receive support (Figure 1).
Our 2025 SEF Finalists (Project titles translated from Korean for the following publication).
Following last year’s commitment to incorporate more comprehensive IRB guidance and oversight, this year’s program placed greater emphasis on research ethics and on preparing results for publication in IGEE Proceedings. Where ethical approval could not be fully secured, all authors were required to report the issues faced transparently in their ethical statements. However, we wish to emphasize that these activities continued to offer invaluable learning experiences for our undergraduate students as they engaged with real-world social challenges. Future initiatives will further strengthen this guidance so that ethical approval precedes recruitment in every project.
Across all four projects, a total of seven different Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were mainly addressed: SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities), SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production), and SDG 13 (Climate Action). The projects demonstrated a broad and integrated approach to sustainable development by targeting multiple goals. For example, the Uganda electric motorcycle project addressed SDGs 3, 7, 8, 11, and 13 through its focus on public health, clean energy, riders’ livelihoods, urban mobility, and climate action. The Hyderabad household waste study targeted SDGs 11 and 12 by examining what sustains waste segregation once the rules are already known. The Seoul environmental inequality study was aligned with SDGs 10 and 11, examining whether environmental burdens and housing vulnerability coincide across the city’s neighborhoods, while the REGREEN initiative addressed SDGs 7 and 13 by linking renewable energy policy to youth participation and balanced regional development.
The following four articles showcase the exceptional work and dedication of several of these teams in advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
1. Can Electric Motorcycles Save Lives? Causal Evidence from Uganda and Rider-Level Barriers to Electric Transition
Authors: Hyeongchan Yun, Beomjun Kim, Seoyoon Jung
Departments: Underwood International College; School of Economics, College of Commerce and Economics; Department of Cultural Anthropology, College of Social Sciences
Confronting the intertwined challenges of air pollution, road safety, and precarious livelihoods in Kampala’s motorcycle taxi (boda boda) sector, this project asked whether electric motorcycles can save lives, and why riders may find it difficult to switch to electric transition in Uganda. Utilizing a complex, difference-in-differences (DID) design that incorporates data about the 2022 Ebola-induced lockdown in Mubende district as a natural experiment, the team estimated that transportation accounts for roughly half of ambient PM2.5, implying that full boda boda electrification could reduce PM2.5 by 18% and avert approximately 510 premature deaths annually in Kampala.
2. Where the Effort Disappears: Opacity, Reciprocity, and Household Organic Waste Practice in Hyderabad, India
Authors: Sohye Park, Sara Nuruddin Panjawani
Departments: Underwood International College; Yonsei School of Business
This study examined how urban households in Hyderabad, India handle organic waste, and why segregation mandates so often fail to translate into everyday practice. Through ten household interviews, in-home observation, and the distribution of composting kits followed by a return visit two and a half months later, the team found that neither knowledge nor equipment was missing: households could state the rules and had received containers twice, yet the only stage of the waste chain they could see was the building gate, where their separated bags were consolidated. As one participant explained, “The government is not doing their part. Why should I do mine?” The authors concluded that “where collection infrastructure functions, the obstacle lies in what households can see of it.”
3. Environmental Inequality and Socioeconomic Vulnerability: A Meta-Analysis and Exploratory GIS-Based Spatial Analysis of Seoul
Authors: Seoyoung Park, Minseo Kim, Dayoung Lee, Seohyun Lee, Sohye Lee
Departments: Department of Chinese Language and Literature; College of Nursing
This research examined the relationship between environmental inequality and socioeconomic vulnerability by combining a PRISMA-guided systematic review and meta-analysis of ten empirical studies with an exploratory GIS analysis of Seoul’s 426 administrative dongs. The meta-analysis yielded a positive pooled association between environmental disadvantage and socioeconomic vulnerability (r = 0.316, 95% CI: 0.183–0.438) despite substantial between-study heterogeneity, while the Seoul analysis identified a weak positive association between environmental infrastructure facility proximity and the proportion of publicly supported housing (r = 0.187), together with statistically significant spatial clustering of the proximity indicator (Moran’s I = 0.216).
The project was commended for its methodological ambition and, equally, for its restraint: the Seoul findings are framed as a first-stage screening tool for identifying candidate areas for closer investigation rather than as definitive evidence of environmental injustice. The study aligned with SDGs 10 and 11.
4. Climate Action for Balanced Regional Development: Exploratory Youth Preferences for Renewable Energy Policy Using Conjoint-Informed Scenario Ratings
Authors: Sujin Kim, Dain Jin, Sihyun Jung
This project, led by the student initiative REGREEN (Regional Equity for GREEN Action), investigated which features of renewable energy policy design make young Koreans willing to participate in climate action initiatives. A field study at the Yeongdeok community wind energy cooperative informed an online pilot study (N = 50, ages 18–29) combining an educational video, four gamified learning modules, a simulated cooperative market, and a conjoint-informed rating of six policy scenarios. According to the research data, renewable energy awareness increased from 4.2 to 5.7 on a 7-point scale (Cohen’s d = 1.18), and governance structure emerged as the strongest preference signal, with cooperative joint ownership rated on average 1.77 points higher than the expert-managed scenario. In quote of the authors:
“Governance architecture emerged as the strongest observed preference signal among these young Korean university participants, but the finding should be interpreted as exploratory and post-intervention rather than as a stable national estimate for Korean youth.”
The study was commended for developing a potentially replicable research platform and for the transparency with which it reports the limits of a pilot study. The project contributed especially to SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy) and SDG 13 (climate action), with its emphasis on balanced regional development speaking to SDG 10 as well.
These projects were a testament to the creativity, research expertise, and empathy valued by our student community. SEF 2025 reminded us that the SDGs are not abstract targets but lived commitments shaped by our students’ commitment to foster a more sustainable world.
We extend our deepest congratulations to all SEF 2025 finalists and look forward to the continued impact of their work.
Warm regards,
Sarah Soyeon Oh is a research professor at the Institute for Global Engagement & Empowerment (IGEE) at Yonsei University, where she helps coordinate the Social Engagement Fund and leads a range of research projects focused on sustainable development and student empowerment. With a background in public health, Oh’s primary interests include applying machine learning and statistical analyses techniques to maternal and child epidemiological research to build inclusive support systems for underrepresented communities.
Eun Kyoung Rhee is a visiting professor at Yonsei University’s Institute for Global Engagement & Empowerment (IGEE), where she supports the Social Engagement Fund and conducts research on sustainable development. With a background in Political Science, her work focuses on balanced regional development as a core strategy for achieving sustainable development, exploring policy approaches and practical solutions to address social challenges such as regional decline.