Yifan Feng

Biography

Yifan Butsik Feng (he/they) is a design researcher and a teaching fellow in Human-Computer Interaction. He is currently completing a PhD project in social & behavioral computing through smart textiles and wearable robotics, funded by the Dyson School of Design Engineering at Imperial College London. His research is largely influenced by Humanistic HCI and moves in two main directions. The first applies a critical lens (e.g.,social model of disability) and often uses participatory, community-based approaches to study socio-technical systems, with a particular focus on young people and underrepresented groups in everyday digital and physical environments for socializing, learning, and working. The second draws on creative methods to explore felt and lived experience, investigating how the body, mind, and environment can be engaged through playful, tangible media to support psychological and emotional well-being. Alongside the research, Yifan is also interested in open-source software (OSS) and engages in non-profit community projects that advance social software engineering practice.