Junying Zhou is a PhD researcher in Design Research within the RCA Robotics Laboratory, School of Communication & Design. Her research focuses on smart garments, soft robotics and responsive textiles for embodied self-regulation during panic attack escalation.
She explores how shape-changing and inflatable textile systems can be used to guide breathing, redirect attention and support bodily awareness with minimal cognitive effort.
Her practice is grounded in textile design, material experimentation and wearable robotics with a focus on how tactile and responsive materials can support interaction between the body and processes of self-regulation.
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Biography
Junying Zhou is a designer and PhD researcher working across textiles, wearable technologies, soft robotics and human-centred design. She is currently undertaking a PhD in Design Research at the Royal College of Art, based in the RCA Robotics Laboratory. She is also an Associated Member of Material Intelligence within the Creative Intelligence Exchange (CIX).
She holds an MA in Fashion from the Royal College of Art and a BA (Hons) in Fashion Design from the Glasgow School of Art. Her practice-based research examines how garments and responsive textile systems can support bodily awareness and self-regulation through tactile and material interaction.
Her current doctoral research focuses on the escalation phase of panic attacks, exploring how soft robotic textiles and shape-changing interfaces may support breathing guidance, attention anchoring and embodied regulation with minimal cognitive demand. Through iterative prototyping and material experimentation, she investigates pneumatic structures, tactile movement, rhythmic interaction and the relationship between textile surfaces and the body.
Her research has been presented across design, robotics and interdisciplinary research contexts. In 2026, she presented her work at the Turing Connections × University of Edinburgh PhD Networking Day in Edinburgh. Her soft robotic wearable project Quiet Companion was exhibited and demonstrated at the RoboSoft 2026 Art Gallery in Kanazawa, Japan, as part of the IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics. She also presented Listening to Cycles at the DRS 2026 PhD Hub in Edinburgh.
Her wider research interests include smart and responsive materials, wearable robotics, embodied interaction, affective design and material intelligence. Her work continues to explore how textile-based robotic systems can interact with the body through movement, pressure and touch.