Profile: Minju Jung - Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

Minju Jung - Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

Minju is a Doctoral Researcher in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.

Currently, Minju has been working on policymaking in the global vaccine alliance (GAVI) for her PhD thesis. She is studying how policy actors with different backgrounds and interests are involved in decision-making process in the GAVI Board. 

 

Minju Jung's COVID-19 Diary

07 Nov 2020 : The UK's second national Covid lockdown that was not inevitable

It has been a month since I flew to Korea, and England has entered into a second lockdown since this Thursday. People here do not talk about the pandemic much, neither do the media. COVID-19 news, except the daily number of cases and deaths, seemingly has been no longer in the front pages of the media. Instead, stupid quarrels in Korean politics and fine ...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

12 Oct 2020 : Trip to Korea and the 14-day quarantine

Last Friday, I flew to Korea. Since then, my quarantine life has begun. This quarantine will be remembered as a unique experience, so I would like to record it in this entry.  The journey to Korea this time was very different from the usual. The airports as well as the flights were exceptionally uncrowded, but it was challenging to wear a mask and a...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

22 Sep 2020 : Me - getting grumpy and pessimistic

* I’ve realized that the pandemic makes me impatient, impulsive and a bit negative. Decision that I made recently proves it. I’ve been busy recently with dealing with multiple things. I am packing for a four-month-stay in Korea, packing to move from the current flat and searching for a new flat that I hope I sign contract before leaving the ...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

30 Aug 2020 : Another set of challenges: Dealing with corruption during the distribution of vaccines and vaccine scepticism

The world’s attention has been focused on the development and fair distribution of COVID-19 vaccines. However, financial contributions to the COVAX initiative, a global coordinated effort to promote the development of COVID-19 vaccines and ensure fair allocation of the vaccines, has been unsuccessful to reach its target amount. Last week, the WHO m...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

14 Aug 2020 : A few thoughts on my life now in the pandemic, the normalisation of the COVID-19 situation and Russia's ‘Sputnik V’

1.       It has been a month since I posted a diary piece on this blog. I am getting slow in posting. I started posting a diary piece from the beginning of the pandemic, to express my confusions and concerns associated with this pandemic. Therefore, my slow postings may indicate that I have found some rhythm and stability in the virus ...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

14 Jul 2020 : The pandemic and mental health: Are we wasting time again?

It was about a dacade later after the financial crisis hit South Korea in 1997 that I read Durkheim's Suicide (1897). At that time, my country had been still suffering from economic recession, and many people committed suicide due to financial difficulties and depression. I merely remember the details of the book. But I remember that I agreed with him tha...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

20 Jun 2020 : Where we are now.

Since the pandemic began, we have told and thought that our lives will never be the same as it was before the pandemic. However, perhaps nobody knew how different it would be and what it would look like. I may have underrated COVID 19’s impact on my life as I had underestimated its impacts on public health at the beginning of this year. This had con...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

06 Jun 2020 : The Disappearance of the old

I travelled to Cambodia with my mom to see Angkor Wat and its cities a few years ago. The public transportation system of the country was not well-developed at the time when we travelled. We used a Tuk tuk, which is a two-wheeled carriage connected to a motorbike, to travel around the cities. It was an open carriage, and so we were able to enjoy the breez...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

30 May 2020 : Immoral Behaviour in the Pandemic and the Incompetence of the NHS Test and Trace Service

I work as an invigilator during exam periods at my University. I help students take an exam smoothly without disturbances. I provide them with information and guidance, extra papers and stationeries while they’re taking the exam. One of my duties is to prevent students from committing immoral behaviour at an exam site, i.e. cheating. We provide stud...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

21 May 2020 : My take on online teaching

I came to the UK almost two years ago, and found it interesting that UK media outlets had talked about nothing other than Brexit. It seemed that they were less concerned about other issues such as welfare, education, immigration, unemployment, and crimes. These issues were otherwise discussed in terms of the influence Brexit had on them. These issues see...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

15 May 2020 : Every country should take part in the global efforts to overcome the pandemic

The one thing this pandemic has taught us is the value and the importance of international cooperation. Since COVID-19 has hit the world, states have seemed to have their own way in containing the virus and protecting their citizens. Amid states’ infdependent movements, there are two global efforts for the development of vaccines and treatments for ...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

02 May 2020 : A Therapeutic Diary Piece

When the lockdown started, one of my friends emailed me to ask if I am OK. I wasn't sure if I was OK or not. Everything had changed rapidly, and there were not many things that I was sure of. I was busy figuring out what was happening; however, it was not easy because situations changed very often. I was experiencing many ups and downs in a day, however, ...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

27 Apr 2020 : The opportunity that the Pandemic Brings to Us: Universal Basic Income

I am quietly excited with the unexpected chance the pandemic brought us: the experimentation of a universal basic income (UBI).  UBI is a social policy that provides every individual of a society with a certain amount of cash on a regular basis, and that payment is delivered unconditionally regardless of income and labour status. It has five charact...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

20 Apr 2020 : Government’s Strange Framing of the NHS and itself

Whenever listening to the government’s daily coronavirus briefing, I have strange feelings. For me, there seems to be something not right in the government’s attitude in coping with the pandemic. I also feel that the briefings have not touched fundamental issues. Recently, I noticed what caused this uneasiness: the government’s framing t...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

15 Apr 2020 : Staying Healthy while Staying Home

My eye vision is poor, and the world that I see is always a bit blurry. However, I do not like to wear glasses. When wearing them, I feel that the lenses distort the images of the world that I see through the glasses, and that an invisible barrier makes me feel distant from the person whom I talk with. I have always been comfortable in my blurry world. Fo...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

13 Apr 2020 : Faces of Death in the Pandemic

On Easter Sunday, I thought about death. The beginning of the day was nothing special. I woke up, arranged my room, watched my favourite morning TV show, went to the supermarket to get milk and cereal, and cleaned the washing machine. I lived my ‘life', and there was no place for ‘death’. After I had finished my to-do list, there was n...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

10 Apr 2020 : The Right to Freedom of Movement versus the Right to Privacy

A question: How much of human freedom and human rights can people sacrifice to cope with a pandemic? As COVID-19 spreads all over the world, every country has been responding to the virus by using a different set of measures that, they believe, works best for their nation. Nobody knows which approach is the best and, particularly, for what criteria. The...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

08 Apr 2020 : The PM on Sick Leave

Even ten days ago, I would not have expected to feel sympathy for politicians and high-ranking government officers because they are, generally, affluent and well-educated, and so, they are usually at the top of the social ladder. Boris Johnson was no exception - he is well-educated, holds a job as a politician of high profile, enjoys his status as a globa...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

06 Apr 2020 : Names that We should Remember

It is Monday and the first day of the third consecutive week of the lockdown. Last Saturday and Sunday, we were blessed with sunshine and a gentle breeze, but I had been depressed over the weekend. It was not because I was running low on sweets in my cupboard (though they are important for me to maintain my mood). I felt bad because of the news of the de...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

04 Apr 2020 : Face Mask Culture in Pandemic

My family and friends in South Korea ask me several questions about the UK’s response to COVID-19 with genuine curiosity. Two of the frequently asked questions are: ‘Why are people buying a lot of groceries, especially toilet rolls?’ and ‘Why don’t people wear masks outside?’. I don't have the right answers and spent so...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

02 Apr 2020 : It is my shame, but should I feel ashamed?

There were days, in the not too distant past, when we could have the freedom to go and explore anywhere (within socially acceptable boundaries though), and nobody could deter our desire to go out. It was one of those beautiful days when it happened.  One sunny Sunday, Mar. 22, a day before the nationwide lockdown in the UK, I knew that a few of my f...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

31 Mar 2020 : Death: The New Normal?

One of the many things this devastating pandemic has proved is what Aristotle said in the Nicomachean Ethics, i.e. ‘Human beings are social animals”. When governments, overwhelmed by skyrocketing confirmed cases of the virus, decided to lock down their cities, one of the many things people worried about was their isolation from the social int...  Read this >>

Minju Jung, Doctoral Researcher in Politics and International Relations

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