The Foundation for Renewable Energy & Environment (FREE) is delighted to announce that Dr. Gayoung Song has successfully completed her doctoral studies in Energy & Environmental Policy at the Korea University Graduate School of Energy & Environment (GREEN School). As a recipient of the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 FREE Doctoral Fellowship, we are proud to see Dr. Gayoung Song’s success as she pursues a post-doctoral research position focused on sustainability transitions and evidence-based energy policy. Dr. Gayoung Song is administered under a Memorandum of Understanding between FREE and Korea University.
Dr. Gayoung Song completed her dissertation titled “Sustainability Transition and the Discourse of the Korean Hydrogen Economy: A Longitudinal Time-Series Analysis Using LLM, Dynamic Topic Modeling, and Actor-Claim Mapping (1990–2024)”. The dissertation traces 35 years of hydrogen-economy discourse in South Korea, combining large language models, dynamic topic modeling, and discourse network analysis to map how government, industry, civil society, and academia shape the transition. Two papers have been published that draw upon her dissertation: Green-hydrogen export potential in Southeast Asia (Applied Energy, 2025) and Comprehensive evaluation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for green mobility in Southeast Asia (Asian Studies, 2025).
“Dr. Song’s work on hydrogen-economy discourse exemplifies the rigorous, policy-relevant research FREE seeks to foster,” said John Byrne, President at FREE. “We congratulate her on this milestone and look forward to following her contributions to global sustainability transitions.”
“It has been a great honor and source of support throughout my Ph.D. journey. I’m sincerely grateful for the generous support I received from FREE during my studies. I will be proud to continue acknowledging the Foundation’s contribution to my work in future publications and professional endeavors.” said Dr. Gayoung Song.
We again congratulate Dr. Gayoung Song on her accomplishments and wish her well in her future endeavors!