Chen’s research explores how design can respond to wicked problems emerging from climate change in specific local contexts. Rather than treating climate change as an abstract global issue, her research asks how its impacts are experienced, interpreted, and responded to within particular social–ecological systems.
The study focuses on two climate-affected contexts: Ganda Village in the Sanjiangyuan region of China and the systems associated with Ruinerwold in the Netherlands. Using cattle manure as a material entry point, the research traces how the same material can take on very different meanings and roles. In Ruinerwold, manure is often connected to nitrogen pollution, environmental regulation, and farmers’ livelihood conflicts. In Ganda Village, it is embedded in daily life as fuel, fertilizer, building material, and part of a wider pastoral knowledge system. This contrast shows that the problem is not manure itself, but the specific relations, behavior, and feedback mechanisms through which a system defines and responds to it.
Methodologically, the research adopts a reflexive approach. It combines participatory observation with design as a research tool. Through fieldwork, video documentation, photographic records, interviews, questionnaires, and design practice, the researcher enters the system not only to observe it, but also to learn from existing response practices and to test how design can participate in them.
Junyuan Chen is a designer and researcher specializing in sustainability and systemic design. Chen began her PhD at the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China (CAFA) in 2022. During her doctoral research at CAFA, she was a visiting research fellow at PhDArts from January 2024 until January 2025. Since 2026, she has continued at PhDArts as a PhD candidate.
She holds a master’s degree from the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) and a bachelor’s degree from the Central Academy of Fine Arts, China (CAFA). Her work blends design, ecology, and social engagement, exploring how design can create a more resilient future. She is a co-founder of Superuse China, a consultancy dedicated to systemic design projects. She currently teaches Flows Study at KABK and has previously taught at CAFA.
Junyuan Chen has led several projects that highlight her expertise in sustainable design and research. She directed the preservation strategy design for the Beihai Wetland in Yunnan, and the development of the PulsApp circular resource management platform for Zhaoqing High-tech Industrial Park, which earned national green park recognition in 2019. She also contributed to Oxfam Hong Kong’s research on how traditional knowledge in Southwest China addresses climate change. These projects underscore her commitment to creating sustainable and impactful design solutions across diverse contexts.