Editor for Southeast Asian Studies
Hedren Sum is an information scientist and art historian who heads Digital Learning and Literacies at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he also teaches digital methodologies for the MA in Digital Humanities programme. His interdisciplinary work bridges art history, information science, digital humanities, 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.
His research investigates performing histories, print culture, cultural landscapes, and the sensorium of images across Asian and Southeast Asian contexts. His research has recently been presented at international conferences, including those of the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations (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 Night Festival, and the United Nations in Geneva.
Previously, he was a Research Fellow in Digital Humanities at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where his research focused on archipelagic performance histories and digital methods. He also led interdisciplinary initiatives at the NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity (NISTH) and has held roles including Principal Librarian for Digital Scholarship and Head of Content and Technology at a Singapore-based UX consultancy. 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.