Ilcheong YI is Senior Research Coordinator at UNRISD (United Nations Research Institute for Social Development) in Geneva, Switzerland. Born in the Republic of Korea, he was trained as both political scientist (B.A. and M.A. from the Dept. of Political Science, Seoul National University, the Republic of Korea) and social policy analyst (D.Phil from Oxford University, the UK).
 
He has been researching various issues of alternative economies, social policy, and international development cooperation, in particular, the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE), measurement of sustainable development performance, and transformative social policy.
 
Prior to joining UNRISD in 2008, he was Associate Professor of Kyushu University, Japan (2004-2008), Korean Foundation Visiting Professor, Dept. of East Asian Studies of Malaya University, Malaysia (2003-2004) and Visiting Research Fellow of the Stein Rokkan Centre, Bergen University, Norway (2002-2003).​