Peining Sheng is a PhD candidate in the School of Design at Edinburgh College of Art. As a Chinese designer and researcher educated in the West, she has noticed that the narrative of local innovation and the understanding of multiple cultures often remain limited by a Western-centric perspective. From 2015 to 2019, Peining collaborated with Chinese craft practitioners to co-design products and build brands aimed at safeguarding traditional crafts. These valuable experiences inspired her to pursue doctoral research. Her PhD research explores the opportunities and challenges that rural-based craft practitioners face in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the investigation of grassroots, social enterprises, and the sustainability of traditional crafts.

Peining earned her first master’s degree in visual communication from Birmingham City University in 2018. She received a BA and a second MA in art and design from Nanjing University of the Arts in 2016 and 2019, respectively.

Since 2022, she has served as a teaching assistant at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, primarily for postgraduate courses on the circular economy and service management and design. She also worked with undergraduate students on reflection proposals for the Summer Student-Led, Individually Created Courses (SLICCs) at the University of Edinburgh.

Peining has presented papers at international conferences, including the 10th Nordes Biennial Conference, the IASDR 2023 Doctoral and Postgraduate Consortium, the 15th Annual Conference of the EAD (Glasgow Hub) 2023, the Cumulus Association Beijing 2023 Conference, the PlaCE International Conference, and the DRS 2024 Boston Conference.