Yoonki Lee is an MPhil student in International Relations at St Antony’s College, University of Oxford. He is conducting research on Domestic Drivers of Hedging: South Korea’s Middle Power Diplomacy Amidst U.S.-China Rivalry. Yoonki is a member of the Oxford University Korea Society, Oxford Union, and Oxford University International Relations Society. Yoonki is also a winner and co-recipient of the King Edward VII Prize (1st place) at the 2025 Entente Cordiale University Challenge which was held under the joint patronage of His Majesty King Charles III and President Emmanuel Macron.
Yoonki graduated summa cum laude from Yonsei University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies, where he ranked first in his class. Throughout his undergraduate studies, he received multiple scholarships for academic excellence, including several Yonsei merit-based scholarships (highest honor roll) and the highly prestigious “Next Century Humanities Scholarship” from the South Korean Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education. Yoonki was also a recipient of the Seoul National University Brain Korea 21 (BK21) Scholarship, where he conducted research as a Fellow. He was recently awarded the Jeongam Foundation-Human Asia Global Vision Scholarship.
Yoonki was a Young Fellow and later an intern at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Education and Research Center (NEREC) at KAIST. He also participated in academic programs organized by the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, the Korea National Diplomatic Academy, the Korea-America Association, the Sejong Institute, and the East Asia Institute. In addition, he took part in the Korean Council on Foreign Relations' Global Leadership Program, Sejong Academy for Young Leaders, ROK-Mekong Youth Group Workshop, Model European Union (MEU2020), and the Seoul Academy of International Law (SAIL).
Yoonki previously won awards for both the Korea Times-Asia Pacific Leadership Network Essay Contest and the Korea Times-Woori Bank 17th English Economic Essay Contest, with his two award-winning essays published in The Korea Times.
