Faculty Profile

Chaojie Chen

Professor, PhD, Master’s Supervisor

Research Interests

Design Policy and Strategy; Sustainable Design; Integrated Innovation

Biography

Chaojie Chen is a Professor and Master’s Supervisor at the School of Art and Design, Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT). He holds a PhD in Engineering, with a specialization in Industrial Design and Creative Products. From 2023 to 2024, he was a China Scholarship Council (CSC)-sponsored Visiting Professor at the School of Arts, Design and Architecture, Aalto University, Finland.

His research focuses on design policy and strategy, sustainable design, and integrated innovation, with particular attention to the roles of design in innovation, sustainability transitions, and social and economic development. His research has been featured or republished by national media and academic platforms in China, including the China Social Sciences Network, China Culture Daily, and China Fashion News. In 2024, he was named among the CNKI Highly Cited Scholars Top 5% in Design.

Professor Chen currently serves as an expert in the Ministry of Education’s national expert pool for the random inspection and review of postgraduate theses/dissertations and undergraduate graduation theses/designs. He is also a member of the Professional Committee of Computer-Aided Industrial Design of the China Graphics Society; a Standing Committee Member of the Packaging Education Committee of the China Packaging Federation; an Expert Committee Member for the Evaluation of Service Design Professionals and Institutions at the Beijing Guanghua Design Development Foundation; a Council Member of the Science and Technology Design Branch of the China Industrial Design Association; a Council Member of the Industrial Design Branch of the Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society; and a member of the Academic Committee of Packaging Engineering. He previously served as Head of the Department of Industrial Design at the School of Art and Design, GDUT, and as Deputy Secretary-General of the Industrial Design Branch of the Guangdong Mechanical Engineering Society.

Research Projects

Professor Chen is currently Principal Investigator of a Post-Funded Project of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC), “Sustainable Design Empowerment and Transformation from the Perspective of Ecological Civilization” (2025–present).

He previously served as Principal Investigator of the National Social Science Fund of China project “Research on Design Policies in China and the European Union” (2019–2023), which was completed with a “Good” evaluation, and the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Fund project “Design Policy-Driven Economic Transformation: Insights and Lessons from Finland” (2015–2018), which was completed through the exemption-from-inspection procedure.

He has also participated in four national and provincial/ministerial-level research projects, including a major consulting project of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Publications and Academic Achievements

Professor Chen has published five academic books and nationally planned textbooks, including two sole-authored monographs.

His English-language monograph, The Design Policy Nexus in Finland and China: Innovation, Sustainability, and Global Challenges, was published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group) on 16 July 2026 and is included in the Routledge Research in Social Design series.

His Chinese monograph, Design Policy: Design-Driven National Development, was selected for China’s 13th Five-Year Plan for National Key Publications and received the Second Prize of the 10th Guangdong Provincial Outstanding Achievement Award in Philosophy and Social Sciences.

He has published more than 30 academic papers, including papers indexed by SCI and EI and articles in leading Chinese core journals. He also holds more than 20 granted utility model and design patents.

Professor Chen and the undergraduate and postgraduate students under his supervision have received more than 30 major international and national design awards, including three iF DESIGN TALENT AWARDs.