Yanki Lee
Dr Yanki Lee is a designer with international design experience and graduated with an MA in Architecture from the Royal College of Art. In 2003, she was awarded a research studentship for her doctoral research in which she built up her expertise in design participation and was awarded a PhD in design from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Her thesis, entitled, 'Design Participation Tactics; involving people in the design of their built environment' explored a range of methodologies to design participation.
Following her doctoral research in researching social implications of design and social roles for designers, Yanki has continued her interest on developing action research projects to investigate community and cultural aspects to social issues such as ageing and disability. She has worked in China on elderly housing and in Hong Kong on participatory design research in social housing. In Summer 2009, Yanki was invited by the Hong Kong Design Centre to be programme director for the 'Discover Design' workshop for 120 teenagers to explore social inclusion and creativity through design.
Yanki curated Constant Stream, a travelling exhibition in response to an invitation to the RCA to participate in the China Now festival (Feb - Aug 2008) of cultural events in the UK marking the run-up to Beijing Olympics in Summer 2008. Yanki used the opportunity to stimulate a dialogue not just between China and other cultures but also between creative disciplines. After its success in London in May 2008, with funding from the RCA and external sponsors including the British Council, the exhibition travelled to cities including Hasselt (Belgium) and Hong Kong. The final destination of the discussion provoked from the exhibition concluded at the Today Art Museum in Beijing in August 2009.
Yanki was the co-investigator of the i~design 3 project which was funded by the EPSRC. This four-year research project (2006-2010) sought to deliver tools that enable designers to design products, systems, services and environment that can be used effectively by the whole population, including those who are older or disabled. Lee's primary role is to develop and extend active learning through more effective inclusive design. She initiated a new web tool: www.designingwithpeople.org that aims to help designers in all disciplines to design more successfully with people.
Yanki led the centre's education programme which involved organising the annual Helen Hamlyn Design Awards and conducting the Methods Labs at the RCA which is a creative design workshop for the RCA design community and external educational partners to explore new methods to design inclusively and collectively. She was also a judge for the RSA Inclusive Worlds student awards and the D&AD environmental design award. She recently became a member of the Higher EducationAcademy where she investigates pedagogy theories for inclusive design practice.
Yanki also focuses on exploring tactics for public engagement in design and creative practice. For example, in 2007, Yanki worked with Paula Dib, Brazilian winner of British Council's International Young Design Entrepreneur of the Year (IYDEY) award 2006, working with teenagers at Villiers High School in Southall, London to redesign their school. This experience led the success of a new research project, 'Designing Our Tomorrow (DOT)', collaboration with Engineering Design Centre, Cambridge and Design School, Loughborough University to extend the inclusive design methodology to Design & Technology teaching in secondary school in the UK. It was a public engagement project funded by EPSRC.
