Yihua (Amy)
Profile
Strategic product graduate Yihua Wang (TU Delft) joined this research team and executed her thesis project "Embodying Brave Space for Value-Centered Discussion" because she believes that the involvement of various stakeholders and successful collaboration are crucial for enacting societal change and collectively defining project goals. This process cannot happen without diverse values and different voices being acknowledged and heard. Only by identifying and navigating the underlying value tensions—rooted in cultural, institutional, or ideological differences—can individuals with diverse knowledge and backgrounds work together to co-create a mutually agreeable path forward. While values often lie at the center of an individual’s decision-making, priorities, and unspoken perspectives, they are rarely discussed and can be viewed as a daunting deal-breaker.
Yihua believes that Brave Space reframes discomfort and conflict as necessary conditions for transformation. Instead of the opposite of safety, Brave Space is a liminal state built upon psychological safety. Yihua believes designers and facilitators can play a crucial role, and aims to address this core challenge by exploring how to intentionally design facilitation to navigate these latent value tensions, moving beyond simple consensus to enable constructive conflict.
More about Yihua Wang:
Yihua Wang is a strategic design researcher with hands-on experience in dynamic, product-focused environments, from nimble startups to the fast-paced world of digital media and UI/UX design consultancies. She’s value-driven and system-thinking, skilled at tackling challenges end-to-end, transforming complex system challenges into tangible design solutions. From industry to academia, Yihua believes in agile philosophy, adopting design in action & research through design wherever she goes.
She completed a Master’s thesis project under the Strategic Product Design track (IDE faculty) at Delft University of Technology, focusing on applying UX and service design thinking to create actionable and structured methodologies for value-centered discussions. Through her graduation project titled “Embody Brave Space for Value-Centered Discussion,” she investigated common challenges in stakeholder collaboration and how to create a psychologically secure environment that encourages constructive conflict. This approach helps navigate value tensions and supports joint value creation among stakeholders.
Additionally, she is an experienced facilitator across various disciplines, bringing about real-world changes through positive psychology and design thinking to enhance students' mental well-being, and assists in identifying and navigating value tensions within entrepreneurial teams. Yihua aspires to deliver values through her passion for researching user experience to design behaviors and concepts, co-creating accessible futures, and enabling joint value creation through collaboration.
Contact
www.linkedin.com/in/yihua-wang-amy