Director of Academic Enterprise and Commercialisation
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- peipei.yu@uca.ac.uk
- Farnham
- Media enquiries
Dr Peipei Yu is the Director of Academic Enterprise and Commercialisation at the University for the Creative Arts (UCA). She provides strategic leadership across academic enterprise, income diversification, careers and employability, industry engagement, and commercial development, connecting creative education with industry, enterprise, and professional practice.
Bio
Previously, Peipei oversaw UCA’s pre-degree portfolio, including Foundation, Pre-Masters, and English programmes, shaping curriculum and supporting student progression. She has led large academic teams across multiple campuses, delivering growth, stability, and high-quality student experiences. With over 13 years of experience working with international partners and students, she has developed deep expertise in global collaboration, transnational education, and the development of new models of creative education.
Alongside her directorship, Peipei is a designer, artist, and researcher. She graduated with a BA in Industrial Design and an MA in Product Design from BIAD (Birmingham Institute of Art and Design), and holds a PGCert in Creative Education. She completed her PhD at BIAD, focusing on design, cultural identity, and the transformation of design education in contemporary China. She has published and exhibited internationally and is active in supervising research degrees within her specialist areas.
Research statement
Peipei’s practice is closely intertwined with her research, often using new and emerging media to interrogate questions of design, culture, and identity. Her work examines how cultural identity is shaped and redefined through art and design, with a particular focus on design thinking, creative subjects within Chinese cultural studies, and the transformation of design education in China.
Her recent research explores responsible AI integration in creative education, including how generative AI is reshaping creative learning processes, assessment, authorship, and the role of educators.
Research supervision
Peipei welcomes research degree proposals across creative education, design, emerging technologies, and cultural studies, including practice-based research that intersects with these areas. She is particularly interested in supervising research relating to generative AI in creative education, design pedagogy, cultural identity, material-led creative practice, and cultural and creative industries in China.
- Generative AI and Creative Education
- AI-mediated Teaching, Learning and Assessment
- Design thinking and Design Education
- Cultural identity and influence in design
- Textile, Fibre Art and Material-led Creative Practice
- Creative practice and cultural studies in China
Research degree students (completed):
- Yangzi Wang, Co-weave Performance Art: A New Understanding of the Chinese Silk Weaving Activity (UCA, January 2025, PhD).
- Yuanlu Zhang, Interweaving Identity: An Exploratory Investigation of the Relationship Between Fibre Art and Female Social Position in China from 2010 to Present (UCA, June 2026, MPhil).
Research degree students (current):
- Beier Zhang, Generative AI in Creative Learning: Practices and Pedagogical Implications in Higher Art and Design Education.
- Wenyun Lo, Teacher Judgment and Decision-Making in GenAI-Mediated Graphic Design Education.
- Jiayi Wang, A Practice-led Case Study of Emotional Well-being through Creative Visual Arts Workshops with Chinese International Students in the UK.
Professional Membership, Affiliation and Consultancy
- Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
- External examiner at Richmond international university 2022
- July 2025 – University for the Creative Arts, Internal Knowledge Exchange Funding for the project: Art Community X Urban Regeneration: How Creativity Empowers Local Development – FUNDED (£7,800)
- June 2022 – University for the Creative Arts, Internal Research Funding for the project ‘A Land Apart’ – FUNDED (£3,980). Exhibited in Yunnan Provincial Museum part of the 12th “From Lausanne to Beijing” International Fiber Art Biennale.
- December 2019 – University for the Creative Arts, Internal Research Funding for the project ‘Fragile Lines’ – FUNDED (£5,000). Exhibited in Today Art Museum, Beijing part of the The Fourth Today’s Documents: “A Stitch in Time” exhibition.
Media enquiries
For media enquiries, please contact our Press Office Team: pressoffice@uca.ac.uk.