Melody Hsu is a PhD student under the supervision of Dr. Angela Vanhaelen. Her research interests include early modern global mobility, transcultural materials and itineraries, European print culture, and the (re)making of East Asian material and visual culture in Europe.
Melody completed her undergraduate studies at McGill University (2019-2022), earning a First-Class Joint-Honours Bachelor of Arts with distinction in Art History and International Development, along with a minor in Communication Studies. She received dual research master's degrees, a Master of Arts and a Master in Heritage Studies, from the University of Amsterdam (2022-2024), specializing in the Arts of the Netherlands. Her master’s thesis, supervised by Dr. Elmer Kolfin, is titled "Transcultural Replicas and Transregional Mobility: Printing Chinese Buddhist Frontispieces in Amsterdam 1670-1730."
As part of her master’s curriculum, Melody participated in a one-month research program in Florence, Italy, at the Istituto Universitario Olandese Di Storia Dell'Arte, as a Research Master Student at The Dutch Postgraduate School for Art History. Additionally, she completed a seven-month full-time research internship at the Rijksmuseum's Asian Department under the supervision of Dr. Jan van Campen and Dr. Ching-Ling Wang. During this internship, she curated a small exhibition titled "Chinese Religion through Dutch Eyes," which was on display at the Rijksmuseum's Asian Pavilion from April to October 2024.