Two SCC scholars rated world's top scientists in Information & Communication Technologies filed

On 19 September, Stanford University and the internationally authoritative academic publisher Elsevier jointly released the Stanford 2025 Global Top 2% Scientists List. Two scholars from the School of Culture and Creativity were included in the “Career-long Scientific Impact” category.

Prof Eugene CH'NG

Information & Communication Technologies

Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing / Human Factors

Prof Eugene CH'NG

Professor Eugene Ch'ng (FSA), a distinguished scholar in the interdisciplinary domain of digital culture and heritage, and a recognised expert in XR technologies, has been appointed as the Dean of the School of Culture and Creativity. This appointment comes after an extensive global search and selection process, seeking a candidate with a comprehensive background spanning digital technology, art, and culture. Professor Ch'ng's leadership is particularly valued in light of the recent technological advancements in the Metaverse and Generative AI, positioning the School to advance and adapt to these emerging trends. He is also a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London (FSA) and an Expert Member of CIPA Heritage Documentation.

Professor Ch'ng holds a BA (Hons) in 3D Design for the Built Environment from De Montfort University, UK, MSc in IT from Multimedia University, Malaysia, and PhD in Electronic, Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Birmingham, UK. Notably, he earned the prestigious Best PhD Award in 2007 from the University of Birmingham’s School of Engineering, and at the time, an accolade bestowed only twice in a 20-year span. Professor Ch'ng has led interdisciplinary centers at the forefront of cutting-edge digital technologies for cultural heritage. His leadership extends across pioneering initiatives in digital humanities and digital heritage in Europe, the UK, and China, including the IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre (Birmingham, UK) and the Digital Humanities Hub (Birmingham, UK). Furthermore, he served as the founding director of the NVIDIA Joint-Lab on Mixed Reality at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China from 2016 to 2023, distinguishing itself as one of the few high-performance laboratories in the region granted the status of NVIDIA Technology Centre.

Professor Ch'ng has been at the forefront of innovation in digital technologies within the spheres of art, culture, and cultural heritage over the past two decades. His groundbreaking research and collaborations with art galleries and museums have significantly contributed to the global dialogue on the application of scientific and digital methodologies in the reproduction of art and cultural heritage. Currently serving as the Editor-in-Chief for Presence: Virtual and Augmented Reality at MIT Press, the longest-standing journal for virtual reality, Professor Ch'ng maintains a leading role in the interdisciplinary field of Digital Cultural Heritage. He has a publication record of over 145 articles, including two significant volumes in the Nature Springer Cultural Computing Series. The first volume, 'Visual Heritage in the Digital Age,' has garnered 48,000 accesses and downloads, while the second, 'Visual Heritage: Digital Approaches in Heritage Science,' published in 2023, has been accessed 35,000 times. These volumes served as educational materials in universities and references for archaeologists and heritage professionals, and have contributed to the global discourse on the application of scientific and digital methodologies in cultural heritage. Professor Ch’ng has received a total grant award of £4 million from the UK, Europe, and China, where he has served as both principal investigator and co-investigator in computational archaeology and digital heritage. His efforts have focused on developing cutting-edge AI, VR, AR, and MR technologies for culture and heritage in the real world, resulting in publications in top-tier journals. Professor Eugene Ch’ng was named among the top 2% most-cited scientists in the world by Stanford University.

Prof Frank Armand BIOCCA

Information & Communication Technologies

Artificial Intelligence & Image Processing / Human Factors

Prof Frank Armand BIOCCA

Dr Biocca’s research explores human-computer interaction in natural, immersive interfaces and how these interfaces can support user recognition and augment human performance. Dr. Biocca is listed among the top 1% of the most-cited scientists in the world (Stanford Elsevier, 2025). Dr. Biocca’s work has been cited more than 35,000 times (Google Scholar, h-Index = 73; I-10 index = 140). Among his more than 250 publications are ten books, including award-winning books on virtual environments and patents in the areas of human-computer interaction and information technology.

Dr. Biocca has been awarded three Endowed Chaired Professorships: AT&T Endowed Chaired Professor (MSU), Newhouse Chaired Professor (Syracuse), and World Class University Professor (SKKU). Dr. Biocca has been a professor or researcher at ten US, European, and Asian universities, including the University of California-Berkeley, Stanford, Sungkyunkwan University, NJ Institute of Technology, Helsinki School of Economics, among others.

Dr. Biocca was the director of the M.I.N.D. Labs. The M.I.N.D. Lab is an international, multi-university human-computer interaction lab. Dr. Biocca’s research teams have worked on more than 45 funded projects totaling over $20,000,000 in support from the National Science Foundation, the European Union, the National Institutes of Health, and several other research agencies and foundations. Dr. Biocca’s research projects or consulting involved partnerships with major technology companies, including Amazon, Oculus, Nokia, Siemens, CBS, ABC, BMW, 3M, and several others.

Dr. Biocca’s research and commentary on media, cognition, and communication have been featured in over 60 news and media outlets spanning more than 15 countries, including CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and BBC Worldwide, among others. Dr. Biocca is or has been on the editorial boards of several journals, including MIT Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, Journal of Communication, Media Psychology, the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and other international journals. Prior to obtaining his Ph.D., Dr. Biocca was a Silicon Valley executive who participated in the introduction of mobile computing, including the first portable computer. Dr. Biocca was promoted to full professor only seven years after receiving his Ph.D.