Goethe-Universität — Dr. Chin Chin Wong

Dr. Chin Chin Wong

Personal Statement

My research expertise lies at the dynamic intersection of education, design and sustainability. I am deeply committed to fostering imagination, multidisciplinary collaboration, and relational perspectives as essential tools for advancing education toward a sustainable future. My multicultural experiences across Asia and Europe have enriched my professional journey, equipping me with diverse knowledge and adaptable skills as an academic researcher, designer, and educator.

Degrees

PhD in Educational Sciences

Doctoral Program in School, Education, Society and Culture

Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki, Finland

The PhD degree is completed on 30 January 2026, with the thesis titled "Riddle of the Spirit: In search of a holistic approach to children's climate change education".

MA in Creative Sustainability

Department of Design, Aalto University, Finland

My key learnings are Scandinavian co-design approaches, workshop facilitation, system thinking, circular economy, research and development for sustainability transition.

BA in Product & Industrial Design (First Class Honours)
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong

02/2026 - 03/2026
Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Helsinki, Funder: Academy of Finland

09/2024 - 01/2026
PhD Researcher, University of Helsinki (1yr & 5 months), Funder: Academy of Finland

01/2021
Grant-Funded PhD Researcher, University of Helsinki
Jan 2021 – Aug 2024 (3yrs), Funder: KONE Foundation (parental leave, Feb – Sept 2023)

01/2019 - 12/2020
Project Planner, Playful Learning Center, University of Helsinki

2012 - 2016
Toy Designer, Grow'n Up Ltd (2 yrs), Lil Nika Ltd (2yrs), Hong Kong.

2014 - 2016
Start-up co-founder, Lilliput Studio Ltd., Hong Kong.

Engaged Research Projects

2024 - present
KRHIZOME SKAPA, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki
A collaborative program explores translingual arts education in teacher education.
PI: Professor Hannah Kaihovirta, Funded by Svenska kulturfonden.
Website: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/krhizomeandskapa/

2020 - 2026
ECHOing – Enriching Children's Ecological Imagination, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Helsinki
A research group investigates and develops pedagogical materials that promote children's imagination with the environment and climate change.
PI: Professor Kristiina Kumpulainen, Funded by Academy of Finland, KONE foundation and Australian Research Council
Website: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/echoing-project/

2015 - 2016
Eco STEAM design research and development, PolyPlay Lab, School of Design, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
A project researches and designs playful objects and activities for learning ecological topics in primary schools in Hong Kong.
PI: Lecturer Remi Lecterc, Funded by the 4M Industrial Development

Teaching experience

01/2026 - 04/2026
01/2025 - 04 /2025
EDUK129 Visual arts education and visual practices for ECEC, University of Helsinki
Using a teaching method that foregrounds multisensory, co-design and materialist perspectives, teacher students were engaged to explore aesthetic learning and arts-based pedagogy in ECEC.

04/2019 - 05/2019
Teachers as Designers program, University of Helsinki
A series of four professional development co-design workshops were organized to engage education practitioners, including in-service teachers, to co-create playful multimodal educational programs for children in environmental education.

Presentations and international experiences

03/2026
NERA 2026 (Nordic Educational Research Association), Aarhus, Danmark
Paper presentation: The assemblage of collaborative art-making

10/2025
Invited speaker at the National Seminar of Architecture and Design Education at the Architecture & Design Museum, Helsinki
Seminar presentation: Enriching Children's Imagination through Design 05/2025

05/2025
Research trip to the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

Seminar presentation: ECHOing Ecological Imagination: Children's Storying with Nordic Folktales and the More-than-Human World

12/2024
SuoMu (Finnish Design Education Association), Helsinki, Finland
Invited talk: Teachers as designers: empowering education practitioners with co-design workshops

09/2024
EARLI – SIG 10, 21 & 25 Conference 2024, Bari, Italy
Paper presentation (as co-author)

03/2024
NERA 2024 (Nordic Educational Research Association), Malmö, Sweden
Paper presentation (as leading author)

08/2022
Braidotti's Posthuman Summer School, University of Utrecht, online
In a one-week intensive summer school led by Prof Rosi Braidotti, we explored posthuman critical theory, including new materialism, non-representational theories and decolonial thinking.

05/2022
NERA 2022 (Nordic Educational Research Association), Reykjavik, Iceland
Paper presentation (as co-author)

06/2021
ISLS 2021 (International Society of Learning Sciences), online
Poster presentation (as leading author)

Learning Futures Conference 2021, Helsinki, Finland, online
Hosting workshop

03/2021
BIN 2021 – Designing for Play in New Nordic Childhood, University College Copenhagen, online
Paper presentation (as leading author)

06/2020
ICLS 2020 – International Conference of Learning Sciences, online
Doctoral Consortium Workshop

09/2019
BIOTOPE – Co-creative strategic design firm, Tokyo, Japan
Invited talk: Playful learning in Finland

Stipendien und Auszeichnungen

Forschungsnetzwerke

Children and Placemaking Collective: an international network of women scholars committed to slow and collaborative childhood scholarship

Imaginatory: Imagination Laboratory for Early Childhood Education

PLC: Playful Learning Center, University of Helsinki

LECI: Learning, Culture & Interventions, University of Helsinki

DIMISO: Diversity, Multilingualism and social justice in Education, University of Helsinki

DigiChild: Nordic Research Network on Digitalizing Childhoods, 2019-2021

NERA: Nordic Educational Research Association, Network 22 – Post-approaches to Education

Publikationen

Wong C. C. (2026). Riddle of the Spirit: In search of a holistic approach to children's climate change education. [Doctoral dissertation, University of Helsinki]. http://hdl.handle.net/10138/624542

Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J., Wong, C. C., Byman, J. (2025). Reimagining Digital Technologies in Environmental Education: Relating with the More-than-Human World Through Augmented Storying. In: Ligorio, M.B. (eds) Technology as Cultural Mediator. Culture in Policy Making: The Symbolic Universes of Social Action. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-97673-5_4

Wong, C. C., Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J., & Byman, J. (2024). The Materiality of Children's Imaginative Sense-making in Climate Change Education. Australian Journal of Environmental Education, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1017/aee.2024.51

Renlund, J., Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., Wong, C. C., & Sintonen, S. (2024). Aesthetic flux: inquiring into the sensuous dynamics of children, matter and environments with a more-than-human lens. Environmental Education Research, 30(7), 1076–1092. https://doi.org/10.1080/13504622.2024.2350675

Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J., Byman, J., & Wong C. C. (2024). Des arbres qui invitent les enfants à raconter des histoires avec le monde plus qu'humain (Trees that invite children to story with the more-than-human world). In A. Iannaccone, E. Cattaruzza, E. Schwab (Eds.), Expériences socio-matérielles: objects, interactions et espaces (pp. 299-325). Éditions Alphil, Neuchâte.

Renlund, J., Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., & Wong, C. C. (2023). Rhizomatic Patchworks: A post-qualitative inquiry into child-environment-researcher aesthetic encounters. Digital Culture & Education, 14(5), 107-126. Link

Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J. Renlund, J., & Wong, C. C. (2023). Dialogic learning with the 'more-than-human world': Insights from posthuman theorising. In C. Damşa, A. Rajala, G. Ritella, & J. Brouwer (Eds.), Re-theorizing learning and research methods in learning research. Routledge. DOI: 10.4324/9781003205838-4

Kumpulainen, K., Wong, C. C., Byman, J., Renlund, J., & Vadeboncoeur, J. A. (2023). Fostering children's ecological imagination with augmented storying. The Journal of Environmental Education, 54(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/00958964.2022.2152407

Byman, J., Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J., Wong, C. C., & Renshaw, P. (2023). Speculative spaces: Children exploring socio-ecological worlds with mythical nature spirits. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 0(0). https://doi-org.libproxy.helsinki.fi/10.1177/14639491231162152

Renlund, J., Kumpulainen, K, Wong, C. C., & Byman, J. (2022) Stories of shimmer and pollution: understanding child-environment aesthetic encounters in urban wilds, Children's Geographies, 1-15. DOI: 10.1080/14733285.2022.2121914

Renlund, J., Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., & Wong, C. C. (2022). 'I could smell the sound of winter': Children's aesthetic experiences in their local forest through digital storying. In K. Kumpulainen, A. Kajamaa, O. Erstad, Å. Mäkitalo, K. Drotner, & S. Jakobsdóttir (Eds.), Nordic Childhoods in the Digital Age: Insights into Contemporary Research on Communication, Learning and Education (pp. 142-153). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003145257-16

Byman, J., Renlund, J., Wong, C. C., and Kumpulainen, K. (2022). Listening to and learning from children's voices and experiences in environmental discussions. Blogpost, Kone Foundation. link

Byman, J., Kumpulainen, K., Wong, C. C. & Renlund, J. (2022) Children's emotional experiences in and about nature across temporal-spatial entanglements during digital storying. Literacy (Oxford, England), 56 (1). https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12265

Wong, C. C., Kumpulainen, K., & Kajamaa, A. (2021). Collaborative creativity among education professionals in a co-design workshop: A multidimensional analysis. Thinking Skills and Creativity, 42, 100971. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsc.2021.100971

Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., Renlund; J., Wong, C. C., & Vadeboncoeur, J. (2021). Relational entanglements of children's ecological imagination: An investigation into augmented storying [Accepted paper]. 2021 Annual American Educational Research Association (AERA) Conference.

Wong, C. C., Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J. & Byman, J. (2021) Riddle of the Spirit: Cultivating children's ecological imagination through multiliteracies pedagogy, proceedings of International Society of Learning Sciences (ISLS) 2021 Annual Meeting, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Germany.

Kumpulainen, K., Renlund, J., Byman, J. & Wong, C. C. (2021) Empathetic encounters of children's augmented storying across the human and more-than-human worlds. International Studies in Sociology of Education. Link

Wong, C. C. & Kumpulainen, K. (2020). Multiliteracies pedagogy promoting young children's ecological literacy on climate change. In K. Kumpulainen & J. Sefton-Green (Eds.), Multiliteracies and Early Years Innovation: Perspectives from Finland and Beyond. Routledge.

Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., Renlund, J., & Wong, C. C. (2020). “Puu on vähän niin kuin ihminen, sekin alkaa itkeä" – Luontosuhde ja maapallon tulevaisuus lasten kertomana. In E. Pekkarinen, & T. Tuukkanen (Eds.), Maapallon tulevaisuus ja lapsen oikeudet (pp. 51-67). (Lapsiasiavaltuutetun toimiston julkaisuja; No. 2020:4). Lapsiasianvaltuutetun toimisto.

Kumpulainen, K., Byman, J., Renlund, J., & Wong, C. C. (2020). Children's augmented storying in, with and for nature. Education Sciences. 10, 6, 15 p., 149. doi:10.3390/educsci10060149

Wong, C. C., Kumpulainen, K., Sintonen, S., Sairanen, H., Byman, J., Renlund, J., Erfving, E., & Hintsa, A. (2020). Riddle of the Spirit. Haettu https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/320570

Wong, C. C. (2018). Riddle of the spirit: promoting sustainability through play design in Finnish education. Master thesis, retrieved 22 May, 2019, from aaltodoc.aalto.fi/handle/123456789/34762