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I am an Assistant Professor in the School of Design at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, where I direct the Little Design Group. My research sits at the intersection of Child-Computer Interaction, Design, and the Learning Sciences, with a focus on how technologies can support meaningful, equitable, and contextually grounded experiences for young people. Across this work, I examine how social and cultural contexts shape children’s interactions with technologies, and I develop new media, learning environments, and interaction designs that better support children’s participation, creativity, and learning across diverse settings. My work also engages broader questions in Human-Computer Interaction and design research, such as research and design methodologies in HCI (e.g., designerly ways of knowing) and the ways emerging technologies enable new forms of interaction and experience.

Before joining PolyU Design, I held research positions at the University of Colorado Boulder and the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. I received my PhD in Information Science from the University of Colorado Boulder, where I was a member of the Creative Communities research group. I also hold a master’s degree in Design from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design from Zhejiang University.

Selected Projects

Illustration of diverse children engaging with learning technologies

Inclusive Learning Tech Design

This line of research explores how learning technologies can support children’s varied identities, interests, and experiences. We investigate gender-inclusive designs that engage children with different aesthetic and activity preferences, alongside culturally responsive programming tools that reflect their diverse backgrounds. Through these studies, we examine how design can broaden participation in computing and make learning more inclusive, engaging, and relevant to children’s lives.

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Physical play and computational learning

Computational Literacy for Children

We investigate how children learn about computing through activities connected to their interests and everyday experiences. Our work spans AI literacy, youth civic engagement through computing, and physical play as a setting for computational learning. By building empirical understanding and developing frameworks and learning technologies, we explore how computing education can support children as active learners, creators, and contributors to their communities.

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Family engagement with learning technologies

Family Joint Media Engagement

In this line of work, we study how families engage with technologies in everyday life. Our research examines how children and adults contribute different perspectives, negotiate roles and decisions, and support one another in shared technology use. These studies inform designs that support meaningful shared experiences and participation in family settings, while advancing theoretical understandings of broader joint media engagement.

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Design research and designerly ways of knowing

Design Research

Based in a design school, I also study design as both practice and a mode of inquiry. Our work examines the roles of AI in design processes and how design activities contribute to knowledge generation. We investigate the conceptual foundations and practices of participatory design and co-design, including their defining features, boundaries, and use in HCI. Through empirical and conceptual inquiry, we seek to advance understanding of design practice and clarify how design contributes to research.

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Selected Publications [Google Scholar]

Participatory Design Revisited: Framings, Key Features, and Its Boundary with Co-Design [LINK]
Junnan Yu
CoDesign, 1-30.

Participatory Design in Human-Computer Interaction: Cases, Characteristics, and Lessons [LINK; Best Paper Honorable Mention]
Xiang Qi, & Junnan Yu
In Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '25), Yokohama, Japan.

Exploring Computational Thinking with Physical Play Through Design [LINK]
Junnan Yu, Ronni Hayden & Ricarose Roque
In Proceedings of the 22nd Annual ACM Conference on Interaction Design and Children (IDC '23), Chicago, IL, USA.

Family Negotiation in Joint Media Engagement with Creative Computing [LINK]
Junnan Yu, Sari Widman & Ricarose Roque
In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI '23), Hamburg, Germany.

Parental Facilitation of Young Children’s Technology-based Learning Experiences from Nondominant Groups During the COVID-19 Pandemic [LINK]
Junnan Yu, Julisa Granados, Ronni Hayden & Ricarose Roque
Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 5, CSCW2, Article 307 (October 2021), 27 pages. (CSCW '21)

A Review of Computational Toys and Kits for Young Children [LINK]
Junnan Yu & Ricarose Roque
International Journal of Child-Computer Interaction, (2019) 21: 17–36.

Service

Teaching

Selected Academic Service