HwaJung Kim serves as Research Professor, having been selected in track-A by the National Research Foundation of the Ministry of Education, Republic of Korea, in mid-2021, at the Institute for International Area Studies, Graduate School of International Studies, Ewha Womans University, where she had joined as Invited Professor (2020–2021) after completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Seoul National University awarded by the National Research Foundation (2017–2019).

Her research interests focus on culture in world politics, international cultural relations, diplomacy and public-private partnerships. She has published academic articles on the topics in The Journal of Cultural Policy (in Korean, 2021), Korea Observer (2020), Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia (2018, forthcoming in 2022) and Korean Journal of International Studies (2017) and also has contributed book chapters, such as Hallyu, Daum [Next Step] (in Korean, 2022), Exploring Cities and Countries of the World (Volume 4, forthcoming in 2022), The Palgrave Handbook of Diplomatic Reform and Innovation (book series of Studies in Diplomacy and International Relations, forthcoming in 2022) and The Routledge Handbook of Soft Power (2nd edition, forthcoming in 2023).