Woojin Jung
Researcher of Poverty & Development
Current research projects in the Republic of the Congo and Zambia involve partners from international organizations, government agencies, and the private sector. Dr. Jung leads an interdisciplinary research team that represents social scientists and computer/data scientists from countries around the globe. Her work was recently featured in 'Focus on Faculty' on Rutgers University's Office of Research website and social media outlets: .
Global Poverty & Aid
Dr. Jung’s research focuses on development aid policy as an instrument to alleviate global poverty. She applies data science techniques to examine the relationship between poverty and aid, particularly in fragile states.
Recent Honors
recipient of
Microsoft's Azure Grant
AI for Humanitarian Action Project Initiatives
The grant will support Dr. Jung’s latest project: "Exploring scalable multimodal approaches to identify vulnerable populations in the Congo."
recipient of
Rutgers Research Council
Collaborative Multidisciplinary Award
The grant will support Dr. Jung’s latest project: "Developing AI-informed vulnerability index to target Food Security Pack(FSP) program in Zambia"
recipient of
Rutgers Global Health Institute
Global Health Seed Grants
The grant will support Dr. Jung’s latest project: "Exploring scalable multimodal approaches to identify vulnerable populations in the Congo."
recipient of the 2020
Society for Social Work and Research
Outstanding Social Work Doctoral Dissertation Award
“Combating Poverty through Aid:
A Critical Analysis of Alternative Models.”
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Recent Avtivities
Memorandum of Understanding
the Institut Geographique National
(IGN, National Geographic Institute)
in the Republic of the Congo
Rutgers University (February 2022)
Congo’s government agency will provide geospatial data on the city of Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire, including administrative boundaries, road networks, and waterways.
This is one of few data-sharing agreements between Rutgers University with an African government.
Invited Presenter at the
Korea Association of
International Development & Cooperation (KAIDEC)
& Seoul National University Asia Center
Seoul, Korea (July 2020)
"Combining Satellite Imagery with Deep Learning to Predict Poverty in Data-Sparse Contexts"
Invited Presenter at the
Institute of Governmental Studies
Department of Public Administration
Korea University
Seoul, Korea (January 2020)
"Using Machine Learning to Evaluate Aid Distribution"
Recent Publications
New Journal Article Published in:
Social Indicators Research (2022)
"The Discrepancy Between Two Approaches to Global Poverty: What Does it Reveal?"
New Book Review Published in:
Pacific Affairs (2021)
"Becoming One: Religion, development, and environmentalism in a Japanese NGO in Myanmar. By Chika Watanabe"
New Journal Article Published in:
World Development (2020)
"Two Models of Community-Centered Development in Myanmar"
New Journal Article Published in:
Journal of Governmental Studies (2020)
"Using Data Science to Strengthen the Social Safety Net: Prediction Risk for Medicare and Medicaid Insurers"
Research Areas
