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Wolfson Institute of Population Health
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Zheyuan Zhang, PhD

Zheyuan

Postdoctoral Research Associate in Design

Profile

I am a designer and researcher working across Design, Human–Computer Interaction and wellbeing. I am completing my PhD at the Dyson School of Design Engineering, Imperial College London. My research asks how technology can be designed to support human motivation and wellbeing, and how co-design can open space for experiences that are difficult to voice within health and clinical contexts.

At Queen Mary University of London, I am working on two projects: Situating Co-Design, an National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funded project developing co-design tools for engaging ethnic minority communities in healthcare intervention design; and Digesting Science, co-designing a schools programme with drama practitioners, teachers, children, and families affected by MS. The aim across both is to develop co-design methods that work with communities whose experiences and expectations differ, and to turn what emerges into resources others can pick up and use.

In my PhD project, I studied how to leverage design and technology interventions to support the wellbeing of healthcare professionals in public hospitals in the UK and China, with Self-Determination Theory, participatory design and culturally sensitive design providing guidelines and theoretical basis. I have engaged with research on wellbeing technology design for healthcare professionals, a behavioural activation application adapted for Chinese employees, and co-designed conversational agents with people living with early-stage dementia and their caregivers.

Alongside academic research I am also creating interactive digital artwork with immersive and healing experiences. My recent works have been permanently featured in West Middlesex University Hospital in west London, and previously exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, the Westbund Art Centre in Shanghai, and Dutch Design Week in 2022 and 2024. I have worked as an industrial designer and product design consultant for medical companies and design agencies before starting of my PhD.

Research

Publications

Please click through for a complete list of Zheyuan Zhang's publications

Journal Publications

Peer-reviewed conference publications

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