MSc Heritage Visualisation School of Innovation & Technology
Yilin Qian

Hello, I’m Yilin. I am a postgraduate student in Heritage Visualisation with a strong passion for cultural heritage, art, and digital expression. I am always eager to connect the past with the present through research and creativity. My background spans academia, creative practice, and project work, which allows me to move fluidly across different fields and transform ideas into tangible outcomes.
Throughout my studies and professional experiences, I have developed skills in teamwork, project organization, and content creation, while gradually shaping my research interests in the digital translation and sustainable use of cultural heritage. I believe that meaningful research and creativity should not remain only in books or galleries, but should come alive through public engagement and interaction.At present, I am exploring how writing, research, and creative projects can offer new ways for people to encounter and understand culture and art.

The Transcendent Roundtable: Queens in Digital Dialogue
My project was inspired by a question: why do historical narratives so often marginalize powerful women? Take these two figures as examples. Empress Nara, whose image has been rewritten in many ways, is remembered as a deposed empress. And Caroline of Ansbach, praised and celebrated as the beloved wife of George II. Both lived in the eighteenth century and played important political and cultural roles. Yet in many traditional accounts and visual representations, their influence has been either diminished or oversimplified.
I noticed that there is a lack of cross-cultural, critical digital reconstructions that could reflect the true positions and significance of these women. That is the starting point of my project, and through it, I hope to challenge the gender bias that has long existed in both historical and digital media.
To achieve this, I used tools such as artificial intelligence, 3D modeling, and virtual reality. My process began with collecting archival materials and portraits, and then experimenting with AI to repair and reconstruct the images of these historical figures. Finally, I built an interactive database on the Framer platform, combining traditional historical narratives with digital visualizations. This approach not only allows viewers to explore the lives of these two queens in greater depth and from different perspectives, but also encourages us to think critically about how digital technologies can challenge and even reshape gender roles.