Dr Shim Hyeseung, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology (Arts, Culture and Technology Programme) at Hong Kong Shue Yan University (HKSYU), brings a distinctive interdisciplinary expertise that integrates cultural heritage, digital technologies, and international cultural policy. Since joining HKSYU in late 2024, she has contributed to both the ACT Programme and Sociology courses, while actively participating in global initiatives for digital heritage conservation.
UNESCO Digital Twin Chair and International Expertise
With professional experience at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre and current service as Technical Advisor to the National Cultural Heritage Committee (sub-committee: World Heritage) under the Korea Heritage Service, Dr Shim brings international policy and advisory expertise to her work. She contributes to the UNESCO Chair in Digital Twins for World Heritage Conservation, jointly led by Carleton University (Canada) and Universidad del Azuay (Ecuador). This initiative advances research, education, and policy on digital twin technologies for heritage conservation, aligned with climate action and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Dr Shim positions herself as a bridge between heritage practice and digital innovation,“ My focus is on how digital twins can support inclusive conservation and management, where local communities, heritage professionals, and visitors are actively engaged.”
Her approach goes beyond high-fidelity replicas, exploring how digital twins can mediate relationships between people, heritage, and technology—supporting interpretation, decision-making, and sustainability. HKSYU has joined a global network of partner institutions in this Chair, which currently includes institutions from Canada, Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Germany, Italy, New Zealand, Peru, South Korea, United Kingdom and United States.
A Natural Fit for the ACT Programme
Dr Shim’s academic journey in Hong Kong reflects her interdisciplinary roots. Trained at KAIST’s Graduate School of Culture Technology—South Korea’s first interdisciplinary graduate school integrating engineering, culture, and the humanities—prepared her well for HKSYU’s unique ACT Programme. She was drawn to the position through academic connections and the university’s plans to develop Digital Humanities.
“When I learned that HKSYU offers an undergraduate programme integrating arts, culture, and technology, it felt like a natural fit,” she notes.
What distinguishes the ACT Programme is its placement within the Department of Sociology. It begins with a strong foundation in the humanities and social sciences, treating technology as a tool for academic inquiry and cultural value creation. This positioning equips students with a solid grounding in art, culture, and heritage, while treating technology as something to be critically interpreted and meaningfully applied, enabling interventions that extend beyond technical use to drive social and cultural change.
Teaching Philosophy: Close Engagement and Critical Integration
Dr Shim highlights the close student-faculty relationships at HKSYU, where smaller class sizes (typically 20–30 students) enable hands-on guidance and visible personal growth. Despite a relatively heavy teaching load, she finds deep satisfaction in witnessing students’ rapid growth.
Her teaching strategies emphasise starting from heritage values and social contexts rather than technology alone. Students engage in hands-on projects paired with critical reflection, learning to both apply and question emerging tools.
To create dynamic and interactive classes, Dr Shim incorporates familiar student devices into her teaching through QR-code-based quizzes, submissions, quick polls, AI-generated scenarios, and real-time Q&A activities. She also integrates AI-assisted learning activities while encouraging students to critically reflect on their thinking process“. Students often recognise that AI-generated
answers can remain superficial unless they actively interrogate and refine them,” she observes.“ There is no wrong and right answer. The only important thing is how you can articulate your critical thinking process.”
Research Streams: Virtual Heritage and Policy Impact
Dr Shim’s research at HKSYU develops along two interconnected streams focused on digital heritage, virtual museums, and human-AI interaction. The first focuses on virtual museum and heritage experience design as part of a multimodal approach, incorporating elements such as soundscapes and other sound-related experiences. She collaborates with KAIST on frameworks for evaluating human-centric audio-visual experiences in virtual reconstructions of Korean World Heritage sites.
The second stream is policy- and discourse-oriented, contributing to digital transformation strategies in heritage and museums. This includes collaborations with the National Museum of Korea on AI-related data strategies, as well as engagement with international networks, including ICOMOS and ICOM.
In March 2026, she co-led a workshop titled“ Archaeology and Cultural Heritage through XR” at IEEE VR 2026 in South Korea. The workshop aims to shift XR applications in heritage beyond visual realism toward multimodal, multisensory, and more meaningful representations, building new research communities at the intersection of XR, archaeology, and cultural heritage.
She is also conducting case study research in South Korea on World Heritage, defined by outstanding universal value. Insights from Korean sites can inform other contexts, including Hong Kong. Her long-term goal is to build a collaborative initiative translating these insights into the Hong Kong setting.
Looking Ahead
With attentive student guidance, facilities such as the Digital Imaging Lab, and a humanistic approach to technology, HKSYU provides an ideal environment for Dr Shim’s work. As both educator and international expert, she is helping position the university as a pioneer in interdisciplinary arts, culture, and technology education in Hong Kong, while contributing to global conversations on inclusive, community-centred digital heritage conservation, management, and dissemination.
Source: June 2026 Issue