Jongwon Lee is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Korean History at the Department of History, Sungkyunkwan University. He has been participating as a graduate student in the BK21 Four Program of the Department of History at Sungkyunkwan University, funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea, since 2020. He was selected for the program’s long-term overseas research fellowship and will be a visiting student in the Department of Korean Studies at Ruhr University Bochum from September 2025 to August 2026.

He received both his B.A. and M.A. in History from Sungkyunkwan University. His major field of study is the intellectual history of the Joseon Dynasty, with a particular focus on Confucian thought. His master’s thesis, titled “The Political Activities of the Soron scholar Yoon Gwang-so during the 18^th century and the Influence of Family Learning” examined how familial scholarly traditions influenced Confucian scholars’ political engagements.

As a Ph.D. student, he has broadened his research interests to include discourses on filial ethics. Funded by the Korean History Research Grant, National Institute of Korean History, he conducted a study titled “A Re-examination of the Theory of Filial Governance in the Joseon Dynasty.” in 2024. Recently, his research has expanded to explore Confucian scholars’ responses to the spread of Western Learning in late 18th century. He also completed the three-year training program at the Institute for the Translation of Korean Classics in 2025.

• Intellectual history of Late Joseon dynasty
• Factional Differences in Confucian Philosophy
• Confucian response to the Spread of Western Learning

• “Reexamination of the Theory of Governance through Filial Piety in the Joseon Dynasty,” presented at the 3rd Intellectual History Workshop in Global Intellectual History Unit, [November, 2024].
• Department of History, Sungkyunkwan University — The 1st International Conference on Korean Studies: “The Study of Hyo-gyeong and the Perception of Heaven among the Soron Faction in the 19th Century” [October, 2025]

• Lee, Jongwon. “The Family Learning(家學) and Political Activities of Soron(少論) Yoon Kwang-so(尹光紹) during the 18th Century” Sarim, Vol. 83, 2023.(이종원, 「18세기 少論 尹光紹의 家學 계승과 정치활동」, 『사림』 83, 2023)
• Lee, Jongwon. “Soron Scholar Kang Pil-hyo's Understanding on a King's Birth Parents in the late 18th Century to the early 19th Century- Focusing on his Critique of Cheong YI's "Theory of Di"” Korean Intellectual History, Vol. 75, 2023.(이종원, 「18세기 후반~19세기 전반 소론 강필효의 군주 사친(私親) 이해 -정이 「체설」(禘說)에 대한 비판을 중심으로-」, 『한국사상사학』 75, 2023)
• Lee, Jongwon. “Reexamination of the Theory of Ruling with Filial Piety in the Joseon Dynasty : Focusing on the Donhyorok of Park Sungwon” Korean Culture, Vol. 108, 2024.(이종원, 「조선시대 효치론에 대한 재검토: 겸재 박성원의 『돈효록』을 중심으로」, 『한국문화』 108, 2024)