Dr Seo has worked as an architect in South Korea, Malaysia and the USA, designing many residential and commercial buildings. He was a Principal Researcher for the ‘Development of Structure-Infill Housing for the Low-income Population in Malaysia’ funded by British Council in 2015-16. He was a co-researcher for 'Social Housing Design Strategies for the 3rd Generation New Town Development in South Korea' funded by Land & Housing Corporation in South Korea in 2019-20. 

Dr Seo has published numerous papers on Housing Form and Culture, Urban Transformation, and Environmental Behaviour. His recent publications include 'Propositions for a Resilient, Post-COVID-19 Future for the AEC Industry' (2021, Frontiers in Built Environment) and 'Relocating home activities: spatial experiments in Malaysian apartment houses to accommodate the vernacular lifestyle' (2021, Journal of Asian Architecture & Building Engineering). He is also an editor of the popular book, Architectural Imagination and Storytelling: Bartlett Scenarios (2014 by Mimesis, Seoul) that pioneered a new way of combining imaginary projects with creative narratives.

Before joining Northumbria, Dr Seo was Head of Department at Kyonggi University in South Korea. He also worked at Daewoo Construction Company in Korea, Wendel-Duchscherer Architects & Engineers in the USA, and Archiplaza Architects & Engineers in Korea. He got the Bachelor of Engineering degree from Korea University, Master of Architecture from Georgia Tech in the USA, and PhD in Architectural Theory from Bartlett, University College London under the supervision of Professor Julienne Hanson and Bill Hillier.