Profile

Linfu Zhang is a PhD candidate in Social Design and a Research Associate at Lancaster University. 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 is grounded in immersive fieldwork and rigorous social research, with a strong 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 social judgment patterns across ethnic groups by completing a Master's in Social Psychology from the University of Surrey, UK. Prior to his PhD, he worked for nearly five years in data-driven innovation across sectors including social impact of rural development, FinTech, and IoT, serving as a solution architect, user researcher, and senior product manager.