Mi Young is interested in sense of belonging, intersectional inequality, social capital, and mixed methods research.
With a background in sociology and social policy, Dr Mi Young Ahn is interested in intersectional inequality, social class and mobility and social capital, disadvantage in education, sense of belonging and student engagement in Higher Education, quantitative and mixed methods research. She is the Academic Lead of the Advanced Methods for the Social and Economic Research Thematic Pathway for South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS), and a convenor for the MSc Social Research.
Prior to joining Goldsmiths in August 2022, she was working as a lecturer and research fellow at University College London, University of Kent, Bangor University, and Liverpool Hope University, working on various research projects.
PhD in Sociology & Social Policy in Bangor University
MA in Social Research & Social Policy in Bangor University
BA in Sociology (with Politics as a minor) in Korea University, South Korea
A programme convenor of MSc Social Research.
A module convenor of core quantitative research modules including Quantitative Research Methods & Advanced Quantitative Research Methods (inc. 10-week computer workshops), catering to Postgraduates and PhDs across the College via the Doctoral School.
A module convenor of core research methods modules for undergraduate students including Methods for Worldmaking 1 & 2, and Researching Society &Culture 1B.
A Higher Education Academy Fellow since 2021.
Mi Young’s research interests include
• intersectional inequalities, disadvantage, and diversity
• students’ sense of belonging, engagement, success and retention in higher education
• educational inequalities, social mobility, and social class
• cultural and social capital
• social network analysis, administrative data, and data linkage methods
She is the author of the academic article, ‘Four domains of students' sense of belonging to university’ (DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2018.1564902), published in Studies in Higher Education in 2020, where a new survey instrument, the 10 Words Question, was invented, now widely used at various universities across the UK, USA, and Canada, including Imperial College London’s Sense of Belonging Toolkit.
Prior to joining Goldsmiths, she worked on several research projects including 'The Research Schools Programme in Opportunity Areas', commissioned by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) at University College London (UCL) in 2019-20, 'the Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes (TASO) in Higher Education project' at the University of Kent in 2020-2022, and the Religious Studies project at Liverpool Hope University in 2019, and was awarded the Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE) Scoping Award in 2018. Her previous research involves statistical analysis of secondary data analysis, applying data linkage methods of administrative data, conducting large-scale online surveys and synthesising quantitative and qualitative research.
She is the Academic Lead of the Advanced Methods for the Social and Economic Research Thematic Pathway for South East Network for Social Sciences (SeNSS), the ESRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership in the UK, and a reviewer of several academic journals in higher education, education, social policy, and sociology, educational conferences, and textbooks.
Ahn, Mi Young; Quinlan, Kathleen M. and Adewumi, Barbara. 2023. Diversifying curricula: how are people of colour represented in lecture slide images? Teaching in Higher Education, ISSN 1356-2517
Ahn, Mi Young and Davis, Howard H.. 2023. Are local students disadvantaged? Understanding institutional, local and national sense of belonging in higher education. British Educational Research Journal, 49(1), pp. 19-34. ISSN 0141-1926
Ahn, Mi Young and Davis, Howard H.. 2023. Students’ sense of belonging and their socio-economic status in higher education: a quantitative approach. Teaching in Higher Education, 28(1), pp. 136-149. ISSN 1356-2517
