Research Interests and Directions

The role of design and collections 
​
​Design culture improvement in brands
Design process development from inspiration to final collections
Design thinking and logic 
Design management
​Design leadership and team working
The role of design collections in brands
Design-led brand /business

Sustainable design/ brands/business 

Sustainable design for long lasting use
​Sustainable brands/business development
Brand upgrading/Improvement
Brand positioning
Build brand identity through product design
​

Design education and training 
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Comparison between design education systems in UK and China 
Design teaching methods between UK and China
Design process practices
Design thinking training 

Paper Publications:
Conference paper of A-DEWS 2015 Hong Kong: The creative gap in Chinese knitwear industry 
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Xin-Zhang-171/publication/283492228_The_Creativity_Gap_in_Chinese_Knitwear_Industry/links/563a991f08aeed0531dcb733/The-Creativity-Gap-in-Chinese-Knitwear-Industry.pdf

Book chapter : 'Chinese consumer and knitwear market' for the book of 'Chinese consumer and fashion market' published in 2018.
https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-10-8429-4
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323661979_Chinese_Consumers_and_the_Knitwear_Fashion_Market

Conference paper of Global Fashion Conference 2018:  'could creative design help Chinese brandS develop?' published in  2018.
https://gfc-conference.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/ZHANG-ET-AL_Could-creative-design-help-Chinese-knitwear-bands-develop.pdf

PhD thesis (2022): Chinese knitwear brands: the need for creative design to result in global business success