8 Recipients Including Jo Han-hyejeong and Muk In-hee Receive 'Samsung Happiness Award'... "Contributing to Gender Equality and Dementia Prevention"

Awarding 8 Women and Youth Helping Neighbors in Gender Equality, Dementia Research, and Family Volunteering

The Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation announced the list of eight recipients of the '2023 Samsung Happiness Awards' on the 23rd. Eight women and youth who have quietly contributed to gender equality, dementia prevention, and other areas were selected.

The awardees are Professor Emeritus Jo Han-hyejeong of Yonsei University's Department of Cultural Anthropology (Women’s Leadership Award), Professor Muk In-hee of Seoul National University College of Medicine (Women’s Creativity Award), Park Young-joo, music teacher at Sejong Arts High School (Family Harmony Award), and Kim Seon-ae, Choi Byeol, Ok Hyo-jeong, Li Antian Nun, and Baek Hye-gyeong (Youth Award). A judging committee composed of scholars and experts in each field selected the winners after three months of verifying the achievements of candidates recommended by major institutions and professionals, as well as conducting on-site inspections. Each winner receives a plaque and a prize of 50 million KRW (5 million KRW for the Youth Award). The award ceremony will be held at 3 p.m. on the 20th of next month at the Samsung Child Education and Culture Center auditorium in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Professor Jo Han-hyejeong is a figure who transformed the family-centered care paradigm into social care. She worked to build infrastructure for social communities to raise future generations together and create a sustainable gender-equal society. In 1984, she formed the 'Another Culture' collective with fellow scholars to publicize gender equality issues. Since 1990, she supported co-parenting daycare centers and alternative schools, shifting childcare to a social care perspective. In 1999, she established the 'Haja Center,' an alternative education space with Seoul City, offering future-oriented career education models to youth burdened by entrance exams.

Professor Muk In-hee is a world-renowned authority on dementia research. She identified the causes of Alzheimer's disease and studied treatment methods and early diagnostic indicators. She has published about 210 papers in international prestigious journals and holds 37 patents. She serves as the Korean representative to the OECD Alzheimer's Disease Subcommittee, co-leads the Korea-UK Alzheimer's joint research, and is the director of the National Dementia Overcoming Research and Development Project Group. She guides the direction of national dementia research and plans research projects.

Teacher Park Young-joo has lived since 2000 in a house on an alleyway in Okryong-dong, Gongju-si, Chungnam Province, caring for her parents-in-law, maternal grandmother-in-law, and mother-in-law, and now lives as a family community with both her in-laws and her own family. For 20 years, she has supported and volunteered at facilities for people with disabilities by providing food, facility repairs, and event assistance. Over her 33 years as a teacher, she played the role of a mother to her students. She presented a new family model where communities help neighbors in the era of nuclear families.

The five Youth Award recipients also practiced volunteer activities while balancing their studies and part-time jobs.

Meanwhile, the Samsung Life Public Welfare Foundation established and operates the Samsung Happiness Awards in 2013 by integrating and succeeding the Bichumi Women’s Award and Samsung Filial Piety Award. The Samsung Happiness Awards seek to widely recognize and encourage individuals who have enhanced women’s social roles, achieved outstanding accomplishments in their professional fields, and created family cultures suited to the times, thereby realizing a happy society of coexistence. Up to the 11th award ceremony this year, a total of 88 recipients (85 individuals and 3 organizations) have received prize money totaling about 2 billion KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.