About

Leon Tan

PhD · Interdisciplinary Researcher & Practitioner
Associate Professor, Creative Industries, Unitec

Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland · Aotearoa New Zealand

My work sits at the intersection of design research, computational systems, and institutional analysis. It asks how organizations and societies model the world — and what they structurally cannot see.

Contemporary institutions increasingly govern through models: algorithms, metrics, forecasts, classifications, and simulations that shape how people, places, and problems are understood. My research examines the limits of these representations, developing methods to investigate the forms of life, value, and relationship they systematically overlook.

I collaborate with researchers, designers, policymakers, and industry partners on complex problems where the gap between these models and lived reality has significant consequences — from urban governance and financial systems to AI infrastructure and digital communication.