Hanju Seo (서한주)

Hanju Seo is a London-based spatial sensing systems architect designing end-to-end systems that translate the complexity of living landscapes into actionable intelligence. A graduate of the joint MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering programme at Imperial College London and the Royal College of Art, he founded EarthCode Ltd. to develop LiDAR-based sensing hardware, embedded compute systems, and real-time data pipelines for agricultural and forestry environments.

Inspired by managing his family's woodland in Korea, his current research focuses on spatial sensing infrastructure for unstructured outdoor environments, where ambiguous field conditions demand modular, adaptable system design. His work, EarthCode, has been recognised with £43K in prize money and equity-free grants and showcased at the Dubai AI Festival.

His research centres on primal environments, spaces that precede human construction and fixed infrastructure. As climate instability, resource depletion, and ecological change make these spaces increasingly consequential, the absence of adequate sensing systems has become harder to overlook. He investigates how varied forms of mechanical actuation can drive sensing into such environments, and what kinds of understanding become possible when they are observed continuously for the first time.

_{︎︎︎ ︎︎︎ ︎︎︎}

Education

• Imperial College London
Master of Science - Innovation Design Engineering
Grade: Merit (67%)
· Supervisor: Dr. Stephen Green

Sep 2022 - Aug 2024

• Royal College of Art
Master of Arts - Innovation Design Engineering
Double-degree programme
· Supervisor: Prof. Gareth Loudon

Sep 2022 - Aug 2024

• Korea Polytechnic University (now Tech University of Korea)
Bachelor of Engineering - Industrial Design Engineering
Graduated with the highest academic honours in the department
Feb 2020

Experience

• D&AD Future Impact Fund Fellow
D&AD, London
Oct 2025 - Current
-Awarded £25,000 to research scalable sensing architectures for agricultural and ecological environments.


• Research Resident
Makerversity, Somerset House
Aug 2025 - Current
-Competitively selected for Makerversity's annual cohort, one of the UK's foremost creative technology communities.


• Founder & Research Director
EarthCode Ltd., London / Seoul
Jun 2024 – Current

-Sole researcher designing LiDAR-based sensing hardware, embedded compute systems, and real-time tracking pipelines. -Secured over £43,000 in competitive funding; all R&D, operations, and finance managed independently.

• Quest Fellow (Cohort 3)
xCelero Labs & Queen's University
Apr 2025 – Jul 2025
-Researching agritech applications of forest-data intelligence.


• Co-Founder & Embedded Systems Lead
PERA Health, Imperial College London
Sep 2023 – Oct 2024
-Led embedded hardware architecture for a wearable biomarker monitoring device at Imperial College London.
-Won the Helen Hamlyn Award; received broad coverage in design and medtech press.


• Visiting AR Systems Architect
Snap Inc.
Feb 2024 – Jul 2024
-Architected a citizen-science AR platform for distributed environmental monitoring and engagement.
-Supervisors: Prof. Jack Hardiker (Royal College of Art), Dr. Stacey Long-Genovese (Snap Inc.)


• Research Collaborator — Sustainable Wood Futures
Aalto University
Jul 2023 – Aug 2023
-Selected as 1 of 4 RCA awardees; co-designed a carbon-sequestering timber pavilion that enhances human–nature interaction through modular bio-based construction.
-Supervisors: Prof. Pekka Heikkinen, Jaakko Torvinen (Aalto University)


• XR Interaction Architect
CipherX Technologies
Jul 2023 – Aug 2023
-Designed AR interaction pipelines and prototyped bio-interface devices for immersive experiences.


• Robotics Concept Engineer
KAIST / EasyEndo Surgical (now ROEN Surgical)
Apr 2020 – Oct 2020
-Developed mechanical and control architectures for master-slave robotic surgical systems.


• Sergeant
Republic of Korea Air Force, Osan Air Base
Jun 2014 – Jun 2016
-Led anti-terrorism drills, coordinated U.S. Secretary of Defense visit security as Korean liaison, and completed service as Squad Leader with zero safety incidents.


- Artwork Manager (Contract)
National Museum of Modern & Contemporary Art, Seoul
Nov 2013 - Mar 2014
-Managed installation of Do-Ho Suh's Home within Home….

Exhibitions & Presentations

2026

• IEEE VR 2026, Daegu – Being a Giraffe: Embodied Locomotion Interfaces for Understanding Non-Human Morphology in VR

2025

• Seoul Design Week 2025, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul – Bark-Code
• NEST Conference, University of Sussex, Brighton – Bark-Code: A Non-Invasive System for Tree Identification and Monitoring
• Dubai AI Festival, UAE – EarthCode: AI-Based In-situ Tree-Monitoring Solution
• Imperial Futures Poster Exhibition, London – Tree-Based Economies: Rethinking Standing Trees as Natural Capital
• Grantham Institute Climate Research Showcase, London – Analyzing Morphological Bark Patterns for Forest Management

2024

• Innovate UK Immersive Tech Awards Showcase, London – Being a Giraffe 
• RCA × Snap Augmented Un/Realities, London – Tiny Forest
• RCA Graduate Show (Battersea), London – EarthCode
• Imperial College London Degree Show (South Kensington) – EarthCode
• Open House Exhibition, Imperial College London – PERA

2023 

• Across & Over, HSBC HQ, London – Being a Giraffe
• PERA Showcase, Royal College of Art, London – PERA
• Supergreen Exhibition, Royal College of Art, London
• Aalto ARTS Summer School Exhibition, Helsinki – Modular Timber Pavilion for Human–Nature Interaction

2022

• London Design Festival, OPPO Renovators Emerging Artists Project, London – From Bees for Bees

2021

• Design Korea × Sweden Young Design Award, Seoul – From Bees for Bees

Publications

2026

• IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VRW), "Being a Giraffe: Embodied Locomotion Interfaces for Understanding Non-Human Morphology in VR"

Invited Talks & Lectures

• HSBC Headquarters, London, November 2023 – "Developing Embodied VR Systems for Non-Human Morphology"
• Korea Polytechnic University, Online, November 2022 – "Practical Applications of Speculative Design"
• Design Korea Conference, Seoul, October 2021 – Invited Talk, IKEA Korea & Korea Institute of Design Promotion. "Designing Across Species Boundaries"

Press

2025

• Makerversity Blog — "Makers with a Mission Winter / Spring 2026"
• foot 1 — "A conversation between Hong Chanhee and Seo Hanju" (홍찬희와 서한주의 대화)
• Core77 — "The 2025 Core77 Design Awards Emerging Technologies Winners" 

2024

• Bentley Magazine, Issue 83 — "Forest Fingerprints" feature interview, pp. 42–47 (print, FMS)
• Design.Different Magazine, Vol. 5 (Dec 2024) — PERA, a discreet wearable that tracks bowel-health biomarkers
• Dezeen — "Hanju Seo wins Start Something Powerful competition with tree-identification system"
• MSN Technology — Coverage of the Dezeen × Bentley award
• Royal College of Art News — "Royal College of Art announces the winners of the Helen Hamlyn Design Awards for 2024"
• FAD Magazine — Helen Hamlyn Design Awards report on PERA
• Auto Design Magazine — RCA Helen Hamlyn Award winners roundup
• Imperial College London News — "Celebrating Imperial's women-led startups"

2021

• IKEA Newsroom — "2021 Korea + Sweden Young Design Award celebrates final winners"
• HeyPop — "지속가능한 미래를 위한 영 디자인 3" 

2020

• Monthly Design (Korea) 월간 디자인 (503호) — "Youth after 199X" (199X년 이후 Youth)

2019

• Visual Atelier 8 — "Seo Hanju Brings Innovation in the Form of Hormongraphy"
• SBS Online News (Korea) — IDEA & EPDA coverage of Hormongraphy

Awards

2025

• D&AD Future Impact Fund 2025 Recipient - £25,000
• Seoul Design Award 2025 — Best of the Best · ₩5,000,000 (Bark-Code)
• Core77 Design Awards 2025 — Emerging Technologies (Student Winner)
• D&AD Awards 2025 — Future Impact Shortlist
• BeOPEN — Designing Futures 2050 — Finalist 
• ISPDH Awards 2025 — Inclusive Sports Product Design Hack (Bronze Winner)

2024

• WIRED Creative Hack Award — Finalist (WIRED Japan)
• Dezeen × Bentley "Start Something Powerful" — 1st Prize · £15,000
• Helen Hamlyn Award for Creativity & Northumbrian Water Award for Inclusive Innovation — Joint Winner · £3,000 (Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design)
• Innovate UK Immersive Tech Awards — Best Technical Innovation
• Mayor's Entrepreneur Competition — Semi-Finalist
• WE Innovate — 3rd Prize · £5,000 (Imperial Enterprise Lab)

2022

• OPPO Renovators — Shortlist

2021

• Korea + Sweden Young Design Award — Grand Prize · ₩5,000,000 (IKEA Korea · Embassy of Sweden Seoul · Korea Institute of Design Promotion)

2020

• International Busan Design Award — Idea Award
• K-Design Award — Winner
• London International Creative Competition — Shortlist
• Pinup Concept Design Awards — Silver
• SIT Furniture Design Award — Honorable Mention
• Spark Design Awards — Silver

2019

• European Product Design Award — Silver
• International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) — Finalist

Technical Skills

• Mechanical & Embedded Engineering: Custom sensor rig design, rotating mechanism fabrication, embedded compute integration (Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Jetson Orin Nano), LiDAR operation and integration
• Programming & Robotics: Python, C++, ROS (Robot Operating System), SLAM (studying)
• Design & Engineering Tools: Siemens NX UG (CAD), Unreal Engine, physical and digital prototyping
• Research Methods: Human-centred field research, embodied interaction design, speculative systems thinking, citizen-science platform development
• Languages: English (fluent), Korean (native)

Contact

Instagram    @seopadong 
phone    +44) 7774 889 331
email      hanju.seo@network.rca.ac.uk