Wuyan Yao is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Hong Kong, under the supervision of Dr. Peter Cobb. Her research interests lie at the intersection of digital humanities, cultural heritage, and community development. For her PhD study, she investigates how extended reality (XR) technologies can be applied to create community-empowering archaeological tourism experiences.

Wuyan's current work with the Ararat Plain Southeast Archaeological Project in Armenia focuses on the rural Vedi River Valley, where she explores how archaeological and intangible cultural heritage can be transformed into assets for commuity-based tourism through digital tools. She has also assisted in organizing educational workshops for Armenian schoolchildren, engaging them in archaeological excavation and conservation.

Before her PhD, Wuyan received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in library science. Her undergraduate research focused on public libraries, while her master's work specifically investigated how research libraries support digital humanities education and practices. From Fall 2019 to Summer 2020, she worked as a student cataloger at the UNC-Chapel Hill Libraries.

• Master of Science in Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Bachelor of Management in Library Science, Sun Yat-sen University