[1] Hong studied computer science and engineering at Ewha Womans University, earning bachelor's, master's, and Ph.D. degrees there.
She came to Australia in 1999–2000 as a Korea Science and Engineering Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Newcastle, followed by another postdoctoral position at the University of Sydney, where she became a lecturer in 2001.
She became a senior lecturer in 2006, Australian Research Fellow in 2008, associate professor in 2009, and ARC Future Fellow and full professor in 2013.
She has also been a visiting researcher at many institutions in Canada, Japan, Taiwan, Italy, and (as a Humboldt Fellow) in Germany.
[2] She was named to the Australian Research Council College of Experts in 2016.