Sungyong Ahn

Dr. Sungyong Ahn is a Lecturer in Digital Media and Cultures at the School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland, and an affiliate of the Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies. His research focuses on digital ontology, new materialism, and speculative (capitalist) realism, examining how smart technologies reshape human perception and governance. He holds a PhD in Media Studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Education: Bachelor of Philosophy (Yonsei University), Master of Film and Television (Chung-Ang University), PhD in Media Studies (UIUC).

His research investigates the interplay between technology, capitalism, and cultural production, particularly through the lens of the Internet of Things (IoT), quantum physics as cultural imagination, and French philosophy (Foucault, Deleuze, Badiou). Recent work includes analyzing IoT’s role in self-governance and the ontological anxieties of digital existence.

Publications span journals like Media Theory, Journal of Cultural Economy, and Postmodern Culture. He is the author of Internet-ontologies-Things: Smart Objects, Hidden Problems, and Their Symmetries (2023).

Available for supervision in media studies, digital cultures, and science/technology studies. Active in interdisciplinary collaborations, including the Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies.