A postgraduate who specialises in combining theatre with digital technologies has been awarded a Fellowship to teach in innovative new ways.
Jing Wang Thomas is a third-year PhD student in Theatre, Performance and Digital Technologies at St John’s. She is also the founder of Diffraction Theatre, which aims to foster dialogue and knowledge creation through theatrical practice.
“Theatre is not only a medium of public engagement but also a tool for social intervention,” said Jing. “My research focuses on a new format for theatrical practice, taking people on a journey to think critically about the societal changes we are living through, about AI, and how we think about sustainability.”
Cambridge Digital Humanities (CDH) Methods Fellows are offered £1,200 for novel content design, development and delivery of teaching sessions. Jing has been elected as a Fellow for 2025-2026.
“My research method combines dramaturgy, digital scenography with practice-based investigation into materiality, surveillance, and digital technologies, exploring new forms of theatre-making that promote sustainability,” said Jing.
Methods Fellows receive mentoring and support from CDH learning staff and personally contribute to an interdisciplinary workshops programme which attracts hundreds of participants every year.
Jing, who is an artist, creative director and practice-led researcher in the University’s Arts and Creativities Research Group, studied for an MPhil in Arts, Creativity and Education at St John’s before embarking on her PhD, and is a recipient of an international scholarship from the Cambridge Trust.
“I look forward to sharing my methods research workshops with the University community, and with members of St John's College following my fellow year,” said Jing.
Over the past 20 years, she has worked on many prominent productions in China, the UK and Europe as scenographer and assistant director, including The Diaries of John Rabe (2019) at the Berlin State Opera and Vienna’s Ronacher Theatre, and Lao Can Impression (2019) at London’s Southbank Centre. Her 2025 project ‘Agent! Agent?’ explores surveillance capitalism.
· Jing will lead a ‘Practice as Research Workshop of Diffraction Theatre – Surveillance Capitalism’ in the Faculty of English on 9 March 2026 which will explore how theatrical practice can serve as a mode of critique and inquiry, and address urgent questions raised by digital technologies in everyday life.
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