Dr. Owen Noel Newton Fernando
College of Computing & Data Science · Nanyang Technological University · Singapore

Professional Service

University and college service, editorial roles, conference organisation, programme committees, and external academic community service.

University & College Service
College of Computing & Data Science CCDS / SCSE
2025 – 2027
B.Tech Coordinator — CCDS B.Tech Programme. Together with the B.Tech Director, jointly manage the programme on an ongoing basis: conduct annual admissions interviews of approximately 150 applicants to identify the most suitable candidates, select and enrol around 50 students per intake, and oversee enrolled candidate records and day-to-day programme operations. Supports NTU’s Continuing Education and Training (CET) initiative.
2025 – 2027
B.Tech FYP Coordinator — CCDS B.Tech Programme. Prepared OBTL-aligned FYP structures and worked closely with CITS to establish system infrastructure for the foundational B.Tech FYP cohort, spanning AI, Data Science, and Software Engineering tracks. Ongoing responsibilities include collecting project proposals from faculty members, allocating projects to eligible students, and serving as the primary liaison between students and supervisors to resolve issues that arise over the course of the project.
2025 – 2027
Outreach Committee Member — CCDS
2018 – 2027
FYP Coordinator (Part-Time) — CCDS
2020 – Present
Thesis Advisory Committee (TAC) Member for 3 PhD students
2017 – Present
Workshop Instructor — CCDS Outreach Workshop programme
2026
SCSE Representative — NTU Open House
2026
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 2 final year projects at NTU Open House
2025
Co-Organizer — GenAI Augmentation Hackathon, in partnership with A*STAR Centre for Frontier AI Research (CFAR) and Innovation Lab @ NTU CCDS. Led design, planning, and execution of the flagship multi-institutional hackathon. genai.ilabccds.com →
2025
CCDS Representative — Service-Learning Taskforce
2023
Assessor — NTU–A*STAR–HCI H3 Science Research, Oral Assessment
2023
Assessor — NTU–A*STAR–HCI H3 Science Research, Research Paper Assessment
2023
Judge — SCSE Computing Challenge, College of Engineering, NTU
2019, 2021
SCSE Representative — NTU Open House
2020
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 1 final year project at NTU Virtual Open House
2019
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 4 final year projects at NTU Open House
2018
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 8 final year projects at SCSE Techno Innovation
2018
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 4 final year projects at NTU Open House
2017 – 2019
NRP Committee Member — Nanyang Research Programme
2017
FYP Demonstrator — demonstrated 4 final year projects at NTU Open House
University-Level NTU
2020 – Present
Faculty-in-Residence / Hall Fellow — NTU Hall of Residence
2026
CCDS Representative — Education Transformation Project, NTU. Selected as part of a pioneer faculty cohort reimagining teaching in an AI-pervasive world. Engages in Learning Design Studio sessions to redesign courses around AI-enabled collaborative inquiry, project-based learning, and knowledge building — with implementation in AY2026 Semester 1 and sharing of insights, reflections, and best practices with the NTU teaching and learning community.
2023
Judge — James Dyson Foundation, The Curious Engineer Design-athon 2023
2016
Judge — NTU Hackathon 2016, College of Engineering
Editorial & Review Roles
  • Associate Editor — Entertainment Computing, Elsevier (2013–Present)
  • Associate Editor — ACM Computers in Entertainment (2010–2012)
  • Guest Editor — Advances in Human-Computer Interaction (AHCI), Issue on Computer Games in Education (2012)
  • Guest Editor — AHCI, Issue on Interactive Play and Learning for Children (2007)
  • Reviewer: ACM CHI, Entertainment Computing (Elsevier), ACM Transactions on Multimedia, ACM CiE, AHCI, Springer ICEC, ACM ACE, IEEE VR, MobileHCI, Augmented Human International Conference
Conference Organisation
  • Organizing Committee Member — ICAIE 2025 (International Conference on AI and Education) (2025–Present)
  • Organizing Committee Member — IAR 2025 (Industrial Automation and Robotics) (2025–Present)
  • Special Session Chair — ICSSE 2018, National Taipei University, Taiwan
  • Session Chair — International Conference on Cyberworlds 2019, Kyoto, Japan
  • Publicity Co-Chair — Advances in Computer Entertainment, IEEE VR, International Symposium on VR Innovation (all 2011)
  • Track Co-Chair — Interactive Digital Media track, International Simulation and Gaming Association 40th Annual Conference (2008)
  • Organizing Co-Chair — Designing Cute Interactive Media Workshop, DIS 2008, Cape Town
  • Organizing Chair — Mixed Reality Entertainment and Art Workshop, IEEE/ACM ISMAR 2007
  • Organizing Chair — Spatial Audio for Mobile Devices Workshop, MobileHCI 2007, NUS Singapore
  • Publicity Chair — MobileHCI’07, National University of Singapore
  • Program Committee: IEEE VR (2010–2012), Springer ICEC (2010–2018), ACM ACE (2007–2012), ACM SIGCHI Workshop on Assistive Augmentation (2014), International Symposium on VR Innovation (2011)
External Supervision & Examination
  • External Supervisor — Faculty of IT, University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka (2025–Present)
  • External Supervisor — School of Physics, Engineering & Computer Science, University of Hertfordshire (2022–Present)
  • External Supervisor — Dept. of Electrical Engineering, National Taipei University (2015–2019)
  • External Examiner — Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland (2019–2022)
  • Panel Member — BSEWWT Mid-Term Review, Singapore (2019–2020)
  • Judge — Singapore Science and Engineering Fair (2017)