Jin Ma, PhD, is Research Fellow and Director of the She Ji Publishing Platform at the Tongji University College of Design and Innovation (D&I), China. She is the deputy editor-in-chief and founding managing editor of She Ji: The Journal of Design, Economics, and Innovation (published by Tongji University in cooperation with Elsevier), and also serves as the editorial board member of the Journal of Visual Art Practice (Taylor & Francis). Educated initially as an industrial designer, she has developed a profound interest in fundamental issues in design, particularly regarding the design actor's experience when designing in complex socio-technical systems. She is interested in the philosophy of design, design knowledge and methods, design education, and design for social innovation. Her recent research focuses on new forms of academic publication for design, and developments in studies on the design discipline. Before joining D&I, she received her PhD degree from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University in 2013.
Jin’s work at She Ji Publishing Platform aims to foster a design publication ecosystem—including the journal, other publications, conferences and events—to promote theories and practices emerging at design frontiers to a larger audience. While the journal She Ji sits at the center of this system, Jin has been actively involved in editing anthologies and selected proceedings, translating the latest influential monographs on emerging design theories and practices. Her recent publications include Emerging Practices: Practices, Values, and Approaches in Design (China Architecture & Buildings Press, 2014), the Chinese edition of Ezio Manzini’s book Design, When Everybody Designs (MIT Press, 2015), and the Chinese edition of John Thackara’s book How to Thrive in the Next Economy (Thames and Hudson, 2015). Currently, she is co-editing a translation series on design theory and practice.
As a teacher, Jin participated in reframing the design foundation course for the undergraduate program, and constructs and teaches Reading Design Literature seminar course for graduate students. She is also the co-coordinator of the master’s program of Design History and Theory at D&I and the head of the D&I library.