Dr. ir. Hao, C.

Chen Hao is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. For her PhD, she has developed Cultura, a contextual user research method that helps designers gain intercultural empathy with people.

Academic Background

Chen moved from China to the Netherlands to study master of Design for Interaction at Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering (IDE), Delft University of Technology. Chen received her master’s degree with honors (Cum Laude) in 2013. Following her interests in design research, Chen self-initiated her PhD thesis and has being work at ID-StudioLab in IDE since 2014. For her research, Chen partners closely with companies in Europe and China, which allows her to combine theory with pragmatism and utilize her method Cultura in design practice. Chen is also passionate about design education and has co-organized multiple design workshops for design students and practitioners in several international design schools. Since 2018, Chen has spent part of her time working at IDE, conducting research and eduction, and part of her time on her own design research consultancy company, HAO design lab.

Education

2014 – 2019
PhD candidate
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology
2011 – 2013
Master of Science in Design for Interaction (Cum Laude)
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology
2007 – 2011
Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Design
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, China

Experience

2019 – present
Post-doc researcher. I support the ENERGE project, giving advice on co-design research and training junior researchers to conduct related activities. This 4-year project aims to design a new platform that helps the schools located in historical buildings to achieve energy mitigation. The solutions will be co-designed by secondary school students and teachers from 6 regions in north-west Europe.
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
2018 – present
Part-time lecturer, coaching bachelor's and master's students in several courses and graduation projects.
Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands
2018 – present
I run my own design research company HAO Design Lab
2013 – 2014
People research intern
Philips Design, Amsterdam Amstel, the Netherlands