Dr Junnan Yu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where he directs the Little Design Group. He is a design and child-computer interaction scholar working across Design, Human-Computer Interaction, and the Learning Sciences. His research investigates how social, cultural, embodied, and family contexts shape children’s relationships with technologies, particularly computing and AI. Through this research, he develops inclusive design methods, learning technologies, and interactive experiences that broaden young people’s participation in computational learning while supporting their creativity, agency, and meaningful engagement with technology. He also addresses broader questions in HCI and design research, such as how design generates knowledge, how participatory and designerly methods shape research, and how emerging technologies enable new interactions and experiences. His research has been published and recognized at leading HCI venues, such as the ACM CHI, CSCW, and IDC conferences.

Before joining PolyU Design in 2022, Dr Yu was Temporary Research Faculty in the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder and a research intern at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Dr Yu earned his PhD in Information Science from the University of Colorado Boulder (2022), a master’s degree in Design from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (2017), and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Zhejiang University (2014).

Dr Yu welcomes inquiries from prospective PhD students interested in interactive learning technologies, computing education for children, child-centered AI design, and other areas of child-computer interaction. Prospective students may also consider applying for the PolyU postgraduate fellowships, which are highly competitive. Dr Yu also welcomes prospective postdoctoral researchers interested in applying through the RGC Junior Research Fellow Scheme. 

Disclaimer: Our research group does not collaborate with any admissions agencies and has not authorized any organization or individual to publish recruitment information on behalf of the group or its PI, Junnan Yu. Any claims to the contrary on social media like RedNote are false. Please do not make payments to agencies, as doing so may put you at risk of fraud.
声明：本研究组未与任何招生中介合作，亦未授权任何机构或个人以研究组或 PI（Junnan Yu）的名义发布招生信息。请勿轻信社交媒体如小红书上的虚假宣传或向中介付费，以免受骗。

• Ph.D. in Information Science, University of Colorado Boulder
• Master in Design, Shanghai Jiao Tong University
• Bachelor in Industrial Design, Zhejiang University

• Interaction Design
• Interactive Media