Linfu Zhang is a PhD candidate in Social Design and a Research Associate at Lancaster University, UK. With a background spanning social science and transdisciplinary design, his doctoral research focuses on socially situated design to support the eudaimonic well-being of young migrants living in informal settlements in Shenzhen, China. His design approach integrates social science theory, rigorous empirical evidence, and situated experiential insights, with a particular emphasis on how social designers gradually gain public legitimacy to enable processes of institutioning.
Linfu holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Transdisciplinary Design from Hefei University of Technology, where he specialised in mobile architecture. He further explored patterns of social judgment across ethnic groups by completing a Master’s degree in Social Psychology at the University of Surrey, UK. Alongside his academic work, he is an active science communication writer in China, having contributed over 30 public-facing blogs aimed at advancing broader understanding of social design practices and debates.
