Dr Youngha Cho

Since I joined the School of Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University I have been heavily involved in teaching for both UG and PG programme. For the last three years, in addition to my responsibility for three modules (2 BSc and 1 MSc) and dissertation supervision, I have helped three other UG modules: Professional Practice Test (field trip, viva and report marking) for the final year students, along with 1st and 2nd year integrative project modules. For the three my own modules I have continuously reviewed and tried a variety of learning activities (team project, invitation of visiting speakers, coursework development with case studies) and assessment methods (a number of small online quizzes, individual essay writing, critical and reflective learning, team projects and presentation).

Module Leadership

• Introduction to Property, Management and Professional Practice for BSc 1st year
• Management of Corporate Real Estate  for BSc 3rd year
• Corporate Real Estate for MSc course
• Dissertation

MSc Real Estate Investment and Finance

• Applied Research Mehtods
• Dissertation

• Brookes 150 PhD studentship in 2015: Charlie Fisher, The Role of Citizen Leadership and Marketization in the Delivery of Urban Affordable Housing in England. 
• Brookes Interdisciplinary PhD studentship 2020: Alice Walker, A critical analysis of older people’s housing choice in policy and practice.

During the early stage of Youngha's academic career (2004-2010) the majority of the research focused on social, affordable housing and housing policy evaluation. From early 2010s, her research interest expanded to private sector housing, housing finance and mortgage markets analysis and I have been collaborating further with international academics from Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and US.

Since 2018 she has further expanded collaboration with leading academics and institutions in Sub-Saharan African countries and has been developing research ideas in the interlinked thematic areas between the housing and labour market. 

In 2020 she was appointed as joint lead of the Healthy Ageing and Care Research, Innovation and Knowledge Exchange (RIKE) Network at Oxford Brookes. She has developed the next stage of her research themes on ageing, and the integration between health and social care and housing.

She has actively engaged in knowledge exchange, supporting social and affordable housing providers in the UK, South Korea and Japan. Recently she has been building new networks locally and nationally such as Oxfordshire Seniors group, Healthwatch, Oxford Community Voluntary Action, AGE UK, Centre for Ageing Better, International Longevity Centre and many other charities and voluntary organisations. She has ambitions to network internationally further.

Research group membership

• Visiting Rresearch Fellow in the Institute of Gerontology, University of Tokyo
• Brookes Healthy Ageing and Care Research Innovation and Knowledge Exchange Network
• School of the Built Environment - Land, Design and Development research group
• School of the Built Environment - Planning Policy and Governance research group

Research grants and awards

• 2022-2023: ESRC AHRC UK South Korea SSH Connections Grant, UK-South Korea Ageing in Place Research, PI. £50,000
• 2021: Brookes Research Excellence Award, Integration of fast track home adaptation services in health and social care services, Principle Investigator. £7,000
• 2021: Brookes Research Excellence Award, Exploring lessons from COVID for the role of the voluntary sector in Integrated Care Systems, Co-I £7,000
• 2020-21: Brookes Research Excellence Award ‘The impact of the ‘home office’ environment on productivity and work well-being in an ageing force.’ PI. £18,000
• 2019-20: Economic and Social Research Council ‘Enhancing housing affordability and social care in Japan and UK - a comparative evaluation of policy and practice’ PI. £50,000
• 2017-2018: Brookes Global Challenges Collaborative Research Fund - Housing Labour Network (Southern African Region). PI. £12,000
• 2016-2017: Central Research Fund, Research Collaboration Travel Award, PI, £3,000
• 2015-2017: Central Research Fund, Update on Planning Obligations and Affordable Housing, Co-I , Total grant value £4,500
• 2005-2006: Oxford Brookes University, Promising Research Fellowship.
• Title: The benefits and risks of Low Cost Home Ownership in different housing markets. PI, Total grant value £7,500

Research projects

• 2022: ESRC AHRC, UK-South Korea Ageing in Place Research, PI.
• 2021: Brookes Research Excellence Award, Integration of fast track home adaptation services in health and social care services, Principle Investigator.
• 2021: Brookes Research Excellence Award, Exploring lessons from COVID for the role of the voluntary sector in Integrated Care Systems, Co-I. 
• 2020-21: Brookes Research Excellence Award ‘The impact of the ‘home office’ environment on productivity and work well-being in an ageing force.’ PI. 
• 2019 -2020: Economic and Social Research Council ‘Enhancing housing affordability and social care in Japan and UK - comparative evaluation of policy and practice’ PI. £50,000
• 2017-2018: Brookes Global Challenges Collaborative Research Fund - Housing Labour Network (Southern African Region). PI. 
• 2017-2018: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Rethinking Planning Obligations; the Update, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. PI , 
• 2016-2017: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Rethinking Planning Obligations; the Update, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. PI .
• 2015-2016: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Rethinking Planning Obligations; the Update, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. PI. 
• 2013- 2015: Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Rethinking Planning Obligations; Achieving a balance between housing numbers and affordability, York, Joseph Rowntree Foundation. Co-PI .
• 2008-2009: Korea National Housing Corporation/So-Gang University, Government intervention in housing supply: an international comparative study, PI.
• 2007-2008: Quality Research project, Oxford Brookes University, UK
• The UK Housebuilding Industry: An Analysis of post-Barker Structural Responses, PI.
• 2006- 2007: Department of Community and Local Government Title: Modelling the future take-up of low-cost homeownership products, Co-I

Further information

Healthy Ageing & Care Network 

Rethinking Planning Obligations; Achieving a Balance Between Housing Numbers and Affordability' is available at the JRF website https://www.jrf.org.uk/report/rethinking-planning-obligations-balancing-housing-numbers-and-affordability

Associate and Visiting Fellowship

• The Associate, University of Cambridge, Department of Land Economy since Oct. 2005
• Visiting fellow in KRIHS (Korea Research Institute for Human Settlement) 2005-7

External examiner 

MSc Real Estate Development programme. Westminster University in London from Sep.2020.

Membership of Research Network

• Member of the Asian Pacific Network for Housing Research (APNHR)
• Member of Society of Property Research, UK
• Member of the Housing Studies Association (HSA)
• Member of the European Real Estate Society (ERES)
• Member of the European Network for Housing Research (ENHR)
• Member of the Asian Real Estate Society (AsRES)
• Member of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA)

Membership of Committees

• Korea Committee Board Member of Asian Pacific Network for Housing Research (APNHR) since 2008

• Research Fund Review Panel Committee
  • Invited to review panel for Research Development Fund project: Jiaotong-Liverpool University 2013
• External examiner of the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong
• APNHR 2015 Abstract/Paper Review Committee

Invited Talk

• AsRES & AREUEA conference 2011, Plenary Speaker Plenary session : private rented sector in the UK
• APNHR 2015 : Plenary Speaker Plenary Session 1: Housing Economy and Policy

Editorial Board member

• Editorial Board, Housing Studies Review, Korean Association for Housing Policy Studies since 2008.
• Guest Editor of Journal of The Korean Housing Association, 2015 
• Editorial Board, Journal of the Korea Real Estate Analysts Association. The Korea Real Estate Analysts Association since 2010.

Academic Referee

• Construction Management and Economics, since 2007
• Building Research and Information, since 2010
• International Journal of Housing Markets and Analysis since 2010
• Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management 2011
• Journal of Housing and the Built Environment since 2011
• Housing Studies 2013
• Housing Theory and Society since 2014

• Cho and Brett, Integration of fast-track home adaptation services with health and social care services, APNHR Conference in Shanghai, China, July 2-3, 2022. 
• Cho and Whitehead C. Moving to more deprived areas: What is happening? Why?, The American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) annual international conference, Alicante, Spain on July 7-8, 2016,
• Hwang S, Cho Y, Shin J (2016), ‘Overconfidence by households in the UK Housing Market’. The American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA) annual international conference, Alicante, Spain on July 7-8, 2016,
• Cho and Whitehead C. Moving to deprived areas: Why is this happening? Does it matter? ENHR conference, 19th- 22nd June 2013, Tarragona Spain,
• Cho Y., S. Hwang, Y Lee What Makes Appraisers Smooth Property Values? July 2012 ASSA-AREUREA conference.
• Cho, Y., Cho, M, Pang, S. Kim, K ‘Government Intervention in Housing Supply and the Housing Output: A comparison of five global cities.’ July 2011 AsRES & AREUEA conference
• Cho.Y and Turner, P, High-density living in England: recent trends and directions for future growth July 2011 AsRES & AREUEA conference
• Cho, Y. An analysis of UK housebuilding sector’s responses to the policy changes: strategic or opportunistic? ENHR conference, 2010, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Modeling the Take Up of Low Cost Home Ownership Products in the UK, ENHR, July 2008, Dublin.
• Cho, Y. , S. Monk, C. Whitehead, ‘Modelling tenure choice: low cost home ownership in the UK’, ENHR, June 2007, Rotterdam.
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Housing Tenure and Residential Mobility in England APNHR, August 2007, Seoul, Korea.
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Affordable Low Cost Home Ownership: UK Case Study, ENHR, Ljubljana, July 2006
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Sustainable Low Cost Home Ownership indifferent housing market: An empirical assessment of UK government schemes, ERES Conference, Dublin, June 2005
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Benefits and Risks of Low Cost Home Ownership, ENHR Reykjavik, July 2005
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Mobility Aspirations among London Households, ENHR, Cambridge, July 2004
• Cho, Y. and C. Whitehead, Residential Mobility of Social Tenants in England: the Pattern and Causes, APNHR, Hong Kong, Feb. 2004

Areas of expertise

Youngha’s research specialty covers various fields from social and affordable housing, low cost home ownership, residential mobility, housing supply and policy. Subsequently, Youngha has been successful in knowledge exchange in the field and provided support particularly the social and affordable housing deliverers including the England Housing Corporation (former Homes and Communities Agency), Private Registered Providers of affordable housing, and South Korea Housing corporation. As her research interest expanded to private sector housing, her publications cover wider issues i.e. mortgage finance and the impacts on house price, the relationship between household confidence and house price, and further to public finance area.

Her ESRC UK and Japan Network project (2019-2022) and newly granted ESRC UK and South Korea project (2022) enabled her to develop exppertises in Housing, Ageing and Health.