After majoring in History at Korea University, Lee Namhee (F) received her PhD for Research on the History of Social Status in the Joseon Dynasty from the Graduate School of Korean Studies at the Academy of Korean Studies. She participated in the development of the CD-ROM Annals of the Joseon Dynasty. From early on, she was interested in the digitalization of classical Korean studies. She has been a director at the Korean Studies Database Research Institute and a research professor at the Research Institute of Korean Studies, Korea University, and she wrote a series of history columns in the Monthly Joongang that encompass the Annals of the Joseon Dynasty and the present day.

Other books she has written include Research on Japgwa for the Middle Class in the Late Joseon Dynasty (Japgwa: an examination system for selecting government officials) and the CD-ROM Roster of Successful Examination Candidates. She has also translated Understanding of Eastern Philosophy: Centering around the Nine Chinese Classics and Academic Imperialism: History of China and Orientalism into Korean.