Our skilled diverse interdisciplinary team is a mixed

group of designers, engineers, and scientists who

love ​critical thinking and making. 
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​

​​​Chang Hee Lee PhD FRSA is the director of Affective Systems and Cognition lab and Assistant Professor of Industrial Design in School of Engineering at KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science ​and Technology). Before joining KAIST, He was the 2nd Year Program Leader and Tutor (Assistant Professor) in Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) — a joint postgraduate program between the Royal College of Art (RCA) and Imperial College London (ICL). He is a graduate of the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) and obtained his PhD from the Royal College of Art (RCA). He was chosen for the UK Design Council's One's to Watch list, a list of the 70 most talented emerging designers in the UK. He was elected by the Overseas Korean Foundation (OKF) as one of Korean Future Leaders.

changhee.lee@kaist.ac.kr        
CV
​Elena Dieckmann PhD FRSA is a Senior Teaching Fellow (Teaching Associate Professor) at Dyson School of Design Engineering Imperial College London.  Elena obtained her PhD from Imperial College London, and her specialist areas are biomaterials pilot production of circular products waste resource conversion design of circular materials and systems. Her main research contribution to date is the development of the world’s first feather based thermal packaging material. She is a co-founder and the technical development lead of Aeropowder and was chosen for the 2017 Forbes 30 under 30 Social Entrepreneurs.

elena.dieckmann13@imperial.ac.uk
​More Info


Haena Cho is an interaction designer who enjoys thinking outside the box. She is currently a master candidate in the Affective Systems and Cognition (ASC) lab at KAIST. Her design interests are in tangible, interactive systems that inspire novel perceptions of human behaviors and social interactions. Before joining the ASC lab, Haena received her B.Sc. degree in Industrial Design from KAIST. During her undergraduate studies, Haena participated in projects aimed at enhancing communication beyond limits. These works were presented in the CHI ‘21 Late-Breaking Work.

haena.cho@kaist.ac.kr
Prof. Chang Hee Lee
          
​ Director
 Elena Dieckmann (2021 - )​

Visiting Scholar
​(Imperial College London)
Haena Cho (2022 - )

MSc(KAIST) Student / Researcher

Yoonji Lee is a multidisciplinary designer who enjoys coming up with creative solutions through various forms; visual, emotional, tangible, experiential. Currently, she is a master candidate in the Affective Systems and Cognition lab at KAIST. Her research objective focuses on expanding the range of perception by thinking through engaging interactive applications. She is passionate about presenting both directions and questions of the future. Prior to joining the Lab, Yoonji graduated from Korea National University of Arts with a B.A degree in Interaction Design. After, she designed timepieces to redefine the aspect of time by using light, movement, materials and etc.

leeyoonji@kaist.ac.kr
   Yoonji Lee (2022 - ) ​​

MSc(KAIST) Student / Reseacher







​
Young Won Seo supports all aspects of administration for the lab.

hackdong01@kaist.ac.kr
Young Won Seo
          
​Admin Staff
Yuqian Sun ia an AI artist and researcher. She holds BA from Academy of Arts&Design, Tsinghua University and MFA from Goldsmiths. She's currently conducting her PhD in the Computer Science Research Center (CSRC) at the Royal College of Art (RCA). She's also one of Baidu PaddlePaddle AI developers experts.

Inspired by conversations between virtual characters in the video games, she produces works that steer with curiosity. She creates art projects based on AI chatbots, which focus on the narrative and intimacy in human-AI interaction. 

Her works and research have been presented at Artificial Life 2020 conference gallery, Shanghai Aiiiii Center, The media facade of Yeltsin Center in Russia and 7th ACM Celebration of Women in Computing, etc.
yuqiansun@network.rca.ac.uk
Bjorn Sommer PhD is Research Tutor and Year 1 Lead (Assistant Professor) for Innovation Design Engineering (IDE) at the Royal College of Art (RCA) since 2019. Bjorn’s interdisciplinary background ranges from Computer Science over Visualization towards Design. Bjorn has a background in Media Informatics and Design (B. Sc.), Interdisciplinary Media Sciences (M.A.) and a PhD in Bioinformatics. He established the CELLmicrocosmos project, a cell visualization and modeling project. He is leading the I2D group at the RCA School of Design which he initiated together with Chang Hee Lee during his time at the RCA. Bjorn was researching and teaching at 
Bielefeld University, Monash University in Melbourne, and the University of Konstanz before joining the RCA.

bjorn.sommer@rca.ac.uk
Yu Qian Sun (2021 - )
          
  PhD(RCA) Student / Researcher
​Tibor Balint PhD is a Principal Human Centered Designer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He explores the roles of second-order cybernetics to create new perspectives, broaden paradigms, and foster design conversations through boundary objects, that may advance technological innovations in society. He probes how designerly and artistic modes of operation may offer demonstrable values to enhance NASA’s capability to innovate beyond its predominantly engineering environment. His current work ranges from the formulation of space missions to UX/UI designs. Tibor earned a PhD from the Royal College of Art, in Innovation Design Engineering, and a second PhD from the University of Warwick in biomechanical engineering.

tibor.balint@jpl.nasa.gov
   Dr. Tibor Balint (2021 - )   ​​

Visiting Scholar
(JPL NASA)
   Dr. Bjorn Sommer (2021 - )       
Visiting Scholar
(Royal College of Art)

​​Manoj Sahi Kumar is a serial entrepreneur and subject matter expert in Emerging Technologies, Design Thinking and Venture Development.

Coming from a deep tech background and growing as a global nomad, he has kept pushing the limits of Robotics and Autonomous Systems through his ventures Mattr5, Elbots and Robots Alive. He has also been serving as an independent advisor to several MNCs.

He advocates for harmoniously interweaving technology, design and art to Invent Exceptions. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Distinction in Mechatronics, and Double Master’s Degrees with Distinction in Innovation Design Engineering from Imperial College London (ICL) and the Royal College of Art (RCA).

manoj.kumar@network.rca.ac.uk
More Info
   Manoj Kumar (2021 - )   ​​

Visiting Researcher






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