Aaron Pengyu Zhu
💡🌲🌀🔧🖌️
[Mar 2026] I was invited as a guest speaker to share in NUS ID 5357 Interdisciplinary Ways of Knowing about More-than-Human research in HCI and our latest research on Daoism & Reflection! Slides are Here:)
[Jan 2026] My first first-authored full paper is accepted by CHI’26, see you in Barcelona🇪🇸!
[Nov 2025] Our research received the Excellent Poster Award at the Tech for Good: Driving Social Impact conference hosted by NUS and Tencent!
[Sep 2025] I was invited by Tencent’s Tech for Good Programme to visit its headquarters in Shenzhen for three days of tours and exchanges (it was also my first time experiencing a typhoon).
[Jul 2025] I showed a poster and volunteered at DIS'25 in Madeira! Also, I made a zine!
[Apr 2025] I attended CHI'25 in Yokohama (attended a workshop)!
[Jan 2025] I joined the JEDI Lab at the Division of Industrial Design, National University of Singapore
About Me
Hi, I am Aaron, a design researcher at the National University of Singapore who applies empirical, ethnographical, PD, critical methods, and STS theories to interrogate how dominant HCI design paradigms are shaped by implicit epistemological commitments rooted in Western notions of progress and optimization. Drawing on non-Western epistemologies, I investigate how these paradigms can be disrupted to reveal hidden violences embedded in Good technologies, and to prototype alternative technological relations oriented toward rest, care, and resistance.
I received my Master's degree in Design at the National University of Singapore, advised by Prof. Janghee Cho, and I earned my B.E. in Interaction Design from Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) in Beijing, China, advised by Prof. Xiaochao Xi.
🔈 I am actively seeking a PhD position, please don’t hesitate to contact me if you think I might be a good fit!
Publications
Peer-Reviewed Conference Papers
Toward Pluralizing Reflection in HCI through Daoism. (CHI’ 26) [PDF] [Website]
Aaron Pengyu Zhu, Kristina Mah, and Janghee Cho
Text Readability of Smartphone in Dark Mode: Effects of Font Type, Font Weight, and Color. (HCII 2023) [PDF]
Junxiang Chen, Aaron Pengyu Zhu, Jing Yun, Baixuan Tian, Yalan Yang, and Na Liu.
Extended Abstract
Designing for Youth Digital Wellbeing Through an Ethics of Care Lens (ACM Interactive Health 2026)
Janghee Cho, Aaron Pengyu Zhu, and Mengyuan Zhu
Unveiling the Invisible Work of Migrant Care Workers in Aged Care Homes: Implications for Future Care Technologies. (DIS’ 25 Companion) [PDF]
Aaron Pengyu Zhu, Yiming Yao, Haiyue Lu, Tse Pei Ng, Celeste Seah, Janghee Cho, Yiying Wu, and Jung-Joo Lee.
Workshop Position Papers
Hacking the Forest: Displacement, Care and More-than-human Infrastructure (CHI’ 26 Workshop on Designing with Forest Stories) [PDF]
Aaron Pengyu Zhu, Yuanning Han, and Janghee Cho
Tao-Technology for Teen Mobile Use: Harmonizing Adaptation, Autonomy, and Reflection (CHI’ 25 Workshop on Mobile Technology and Teens) [PDF]
Aaron Pengyu Zhu and Janghee Cho.
Service
Program Committee: ICHEC (2025)
Reviewer: ACM DIS (2026), ACM CHI LBW (2026), ACM DIS PWiP (2026)
Volunteer: ACM DIS (2025, 2026)