Architecture first. Then a university online, a classroom in a box, and camera experiences.
I grew up in Yangon and trained as an architect. Then a coup closed Myanmar's universities, and I spent the next five years helping build one they couldn't close.
Htut (James) Wai Yan · London, UK
Spring University Myanmar
A university with no campus
The coup closed Myanmar's universities, so Spring University Myanmar opened one with no campus to close. I ran its academic side for four years. In 2026 I led SUM Learn, a new digital infrastructure for SUM built from scratch, which goes live this November and will grow into the university's whole digital system.
Laukkai University of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
A medical school that grades competence
For Laukkai University of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, I designed and delivered the learning platform and the whole digital infrastructure side around it: website, applications and admissions. It went live in August 2026.
eduLamp
Learning where there is no internet
Some learners had no internet, power or phone signal. So we built a box that serves a whole classroom over its own Wi-Fi. It's small enough to carry in on foot, learners need no app, and 42 boxes now reach 2,600 learners across six regions of Myanmar. Started in 2022.
Vincentt
Bring an idea to life through the camera
Vincentt turns an idea into a camera experience through the AI assistant you already use, shared as a link that opens in any browser. I founded it with three colleagues, out of the team that built AR at rangoon.tech. It launched in October 2026. I led the launch and run the business side.
2015 to 2026, measured in years
2015
Four and a half years at Yangon Technological University. I learned to draw buildings, and that planning is mostly about whether a space works for whoever has to live in it.
2016 to 2018
Academic Officer in the Students' Union. Won the Yetagun Youth Innovation Program in 2017 with a playground design for primary schools. Represented Myanmar at the AIT-Tiger Leong camp in Thailand, and won the People's Choice Award at the 2nd Inter-Universities Impromptu Talk Show. Model UN delegate. Ran the MYEO chapter at YTU. Joined U-Report Myanmar. Interned at DeArch, and with Women for the World on low-cost housing for North Oakkalapa.
2019
Co-led the media team of U-Report, UNICEF's youth-voice platform, carrying young people's views to Members of Parliament. Documented the heritage site at Thar Mine Kham in Southern Shan State and surveyed Theingyi Market for preservation. Elected President of the Association of Architecture Students in December.
2020
Kept the architecture students learning through Covid with a website, weekly articles and online seminars. Represented Myanmar at an international development field camp with Japan, then led its Myanmar committee when it moved online. Joined Phandeeyar as Programme Officer for eLearning: 20+ self-paced courses, a chatbot for learner support, and training delivered to Fiji, Samoa and Papua New Guinea. Second Runner-up in the Futuristic Home Design Competition. Researched green buildings at AGC Asia Pacific.
2021
The military took power in February. I joined the Civil Disobedience Movement and left the architecture programme four and a half years in, without the degree. In May, with the founding team, I started Spring University Myanmar, a university with no campus to raid.
11 schools136+ faculty
2022
If the internet can't reach a village, the classroom can travel. With my one other co-founder, I built eduLamp, a box that serves lessons over its own Wi-Fi with no internet, power or phone signal, and no app on the learner's phone. Implemented operations in Karen, Karenni, Chin, Kachin, Sagaing and Rakhine. Started an NCC Level 5 Diploma in Computing and Business Management.
42 boxes2,600 learners
2023
Took on the voluntary headship of SUM's STEM School and launched its Diploma and Higher Diploma in Computer Science. Joined Phandeeyar as Business Development Specialist. Finished the NCC diploma.
2024
Selected for the U.S. Department of State's International Visitor Leadership Program, visiting five US cities. Set up SUM's first Virtual Student Exchange with University of Arizona. Went back to school myself, for a Master of Public Policy at Chiang Mai University on digital inequality.
2025
Spoke at RightsCon in Taipei on the digital divide in post-coup Myanmar. Finished the master's with a CGPA of 3.85 and migrated to London in August. By November, when my full-time years at SUM ended, it had reached 25,000+ students through 850+ course deliveries. In December, four of us who had built AR together at rangoon.tech co-founded Vincentt.
2026
Joined St Christopher's Hospice in Sydenham as Volunteer Development Coordinator in March. The same month I started consulting on digital learning and infrastructure, leading the build for Laukkai University of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, whose learning platform and admissions went live in August. Vincentt launched in October, and the new SUM Learn goes live in November.
I live in London. I consult on digital learning and infrastructure for Spring University Myanmar and Laukkai University of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, co-founded Vincentt and eduLamp, and coordinate volunteer development at St Christopher's Hospice. I'm open to roles in education technology and product, and to study from September 2027.