Ph.D

Post-doctoral Researcher

Brief Introduction

Danwen Ji received her Ph.D. in Design from the D&I, Tongji University, during which she conducted visiting research at the MIT Media Lab. Her research focuses on data-driven and embedded social innovation.She has been deeply engaged in community-based and social innovation practices, employing action research to explore how practitioners drive systemic change within complex socio-technical systems. She adopts a hybrid-intelligence framework to re-examine the co-design process, proposing data-driven strategies for social innovation and building infrastructures for community-based distributed collaboration. Her current work explores how Large Language Models can represent and transfer design experience.She aims—through designerly ways of action research—to investigate how technological infrastructures and social collaboration mechanisms can interplay to construct sustainable actor-networks.

Research

Social Innovation

Community Building

Action Research

Intelligent Design

Sustainable Design

Education Background

2020.09–2025.09  Ph.D. in Design, College of Design & Innovation, Tongji University

2024.01–2024.06  Visiting Student, MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

2017.09–2020.06  M.A. in Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University

2018.09–2019.07  M.A. (Double Degree) in Transformation of Urban Landscapes, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany 

2013.09–2017.06  B.A. in Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture & Urban Planning, Tongji University

Work Experience

2025.10–pesent  Post-doctoral Researcher， College of Design & Innovation, Tongji University

Publications

Papers：

[1] Ji, D., Zhang, M., & Lou, Y. (2025). Exploring an ANT-inspired mapping approach for embedded design practitioners: A case-informed process. CoDesign.https://doi.org/10.1080/15710882.2025.2555334 （First Author）

[2] Ji, D., Zhang, M., & Lou, Y. (2025). Recommender systems as co-design tools: Empowering human-AI hybrid intelligence in complex design networks. Journal of Engineering Design. https://doi.org/10.1080/09544828.2025.2518656 （First Author）

[3] Ji, D., & Li, Z. (2023). Embedded actors in design objects: Reflexivity in design for social innovation. IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design. IASDR 2023: Life-Changing Design. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2023.352 （First Author）

[4] Ji, D., Cao, T., & Yang, H. (2022). How Designers Can Act Inside the Design Objects. In P.-L. P. Rau (Ed.), Cross-Cultural Design. Interaction Design Across Cultures (pp. 199–216). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-06038-0_15 （First Author）

[5] Zhang, M., Ji, D., & Chen, X. (2022). Building Trust in Participatory Design to Promote Relational Network for Social Innovation. Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference 2022 - Volume 2, 94–102. https://doi.org/10.1145/3537797.3537817 （Second Author）

[6] Wu, Z., Ji, D., Yu, K., Zeng, X., Wu, D., & Shidujaman, M. (2021). AI Creativity and the Human-AI Co-creation Model. In M. Kurosu (Ed.), Human-Computer Interaction. Theory, Methods and Tools (pp. 171–190). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-78462-1_13 （Second Author）

Exhibitions:

[1] 2022 World Design Cities Conference – “Human·Human, Human·Nature” Thematic Exhibition (Assistant Curator)

Contact

Email:  danwen_ji@tongji.edu.cn

Web:  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Danwen-Ji