Funding Framework: Australian Government New Colombo Plan (DFAT)

Status: Partnership Established - First Cohort January/February 2026

Program: NCP Mobility Program - student internships in Korean cultural research and digital media production

The New Colombo Plan is the Australian Government's signature initiative supporting undergraduate students to develop Indo-Pacific capability through study and internships across the region. KARSI provides research training placements for Australian students funded through DFAT's NCP program, focusing on visual sociology, ethnographic methods, and the Seoulacious magazine project (podcast and YouTube content development).

Partner: Koulutuskeskus Salpaus Further Education, Lahti, Finland

Funding Framework: European Commission Erasmus+ VET Mobility Program

Status: Proven Success (2025)

Program: International work placement for Finnish vocational students

KARSI successfully hosted a Finnish vocational student (Textiles & Fashion) for work placement in Seoul, contributing to Seoul Shootouts neighborhood documentation project. The student received excellent professional evaluation from home institution, demonstrating KARSI's capacity to meet EU Erasmus+ program standards.

Partner: Caraga State University, Butuan City, Mindanao

Status: Partnership Established - First Expedition January/February 2026

Focus: Comparative cultural transmission research across Southeast Asia

KARSI is developing partnership with Caraga State University for collaborative research on Korean cultural flows in the Philippines. The planned expedition will conduct photo-sartorial elicitation research in Butuan, with CSU providing research assistants, local coordination, and co-authorship on resulting publications. This represents the third site in KARSI's comparative Vietnam-Indonesia-Philippines research framework testing embodied cultural transmission theory across different religious and colonial contexts.

Planned Outcomes:

- Joint academic publications with CSU co-authors
- Methodology transfer workshops for CSU faculty
- Student research assistant training
- Positioning CSU as hub for Philippine cultural flow studies

Partner: Chau & Co. Gallery, Hanoi, Vietnam

Status: Active Partnership

Program: Vietnam Winter Cultural Residency - contemporary art and ethnographic research

The Chau & Co. Gallery in Hanoi, Vietnam, is a contemporary art gallery specializing in emerging artists and international cultural exchange. The KARSI partnership provides students with artist residency opportunities combining cultural research with contemporary art practice. Programs focus on Vietnamese urban culture, Korean cultural flows in Vietnam, and cross-cultural artistic collaboration. Students can choose between tracks: working with Vietnamese artists and then exhibiting at a gallery space, or conducting ethnographic fieldwork on the cultural transmission of Hallyu in Hanoi.

Program Focus:

Contemporary art residency and exhibition

Ethnographic research on Korean-Vietnamese cultural flows

Vietnamese artist mentorship and collaboration

Gallery exhibition and community presentationtion goes here