KDI School opened a data science special program under the name of “Data Science for Public Policy and Management. Furthermore, aside from regular courses, KDI School provides extra opportunity to indirectly experience the data science world by offering special lectures and a data science contest. The school provides lectures of specialists in the data science (DS) area and motivates students to approach politics, economy, society and culture through the lens of data science. e data. 

The 2023 KDIS Data Science Policy Special Lecture Series invites DS experts from various fields, including public, private, media and academic, sharing practical and vivid stories. The special lecture series is designed to expand the DS network through discussions for sharing the current utilization experience of DS and increasing the future value for use. 

The first lecture was offered by Google on June 5th, the largest internet search engine in the world. Dr. Park Dong-oh is a policy advisor for the Google Safety and Trust Team. Dr. Park gave a lecture with the title of “Resolving Unintended Consequences: Digital Platform Policy.” The audience was able to hear an interesting and complex  story about digital platform policy.  

The second lecture was scheduled on 9th, August, given by reporter Bae Yeo-woon from SBS. In her lecture titled “Data Science Journalism”, she shared her 10 years’ experience in the field. Reporter Bae has won several awards, including “This Year’s Data Journalist of Note” in 2022. Bae won also won the SBS Broadcasting Journalist Award for “The Story of Our Town Election”, which analyzed the previous presidential election ballot count data. 

In September, Chief of Staff from ETRI, Kim Ji-yong, will give a lecture on “AI Data Technology Trends and Ethical Issues.” And in October, the deputy director from the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Cho Yun-hui will give a lecture on “Data Policies and Improvements in Korea”. Completing the lecture series in November, “An Introduction to Data Platform and Data-based Administrative Cases in Seoul” will be given by Officer Yoon Chong-sik.

The 2023 KDIS Data Science Policy Special Lecture Series offers 6 lectures from June to November. The lectures are held on the first Wednesday of every month at Lincoln Hall, 4th floor, KDI School. Lectures start at 15:00 and last around 90 minutes. 

The Data Science Contest is another program from KDI School prepared for students who are into data science. Any students who are interested in DS can participate in the contest. The overarching theme is Data Science for Public Good, but this is divided into three different themes: Data Visualization, Data Journalism and Creative Use of Data. The Data Visualization theme encompasses how we can effectively visualize the data from political, economic, social and cultural areas. The Data Journalism theme requires in-depth analysis of policy journals using data. Creative Use of Data refers to the creative use of unstructured data, or the use of unstructured and structured data, etc. 

The application with a proposal is due by September; first nomination and selection work will take place in October. After the feedback process, the final winner will be announced in December. Three teams will be the final winners, but souvenirs will be provided to entire teams on the nomination list.

KDI School looks forward to lots of attention and participation from students. Listening to stories from experts in the field is an unusual and valuable opportunity. For further details, please refer to the Events & Seminars page on KDI School’s website.