Editor for Southeast Asian Studies
Hedren Sum is a Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at the National University of Singapore. His interdisciplinary research bridges art history, information science, and cultural studies, with a particular focus on digital methodologies, ontology-based frameworks, and immersive technologies for interpreting cultural heritage and historical experience. His work explores how AI and XR reshape the analysis, organisation, and engagement with cultural-historical data.
He currently investigates performing histories, print culture, cultural landscapes and the sensorium of images across the Asian archipelagic region (1835–1975). His research has been presented recently at international conferences, including those of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organisations (ADHO), the Inter-Asia Cultural Studies Society, and the International Federation for Theatre Research (IFTR), and he has delivered invited lectures at King’s College London and the Royal Asiatic Society of China. His creative scholarship has also been featured at the National Museum of Singapore, Singapore Art Week, Singapore Nights Festival and the United Nations in Geneva.
Previously, he led interdisciplinary initiatives at the NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity (NISTH) and held roles such as Principal Librarian for Digital Scholarship and Head of Content and Technology at a leading UX consultancy agency based in Singapore. He currently serves on the Executive Council of the Singapore Computer Society’s AI & Robotics Chapter, where he leads a dialogue series on AI and creativity.
He holds a PhD in Art, Design, and Media from Nanyang Technological University. His research interests include digital humanities, information studies, and media technologies, particularly in relation to semantic, spatial, immersive, and interactive representations of Asian and Southeast Asian histories.
The Digital Orientalist 