Yuan-Chi Tseng is a Professor of Human-Centered AI Design in the AIMS Fellows (Intercollege Executive Master Program) and serves as Dean of Tsing Hua Residential College at National Tsing Hua University (NTHU). His research focuses on Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HCAI) design, examining how AI systems collaborate with humans in real-world contexts. He is particularly committed to advancing holistic digital health AI that supports both physical and mental wellbeing, as well as the design and application of innovative human–human and human–AI collaboration across scales ranging from small teams to large communities.

He founded and directs the inclusive inter-intelligence Design Lab (iiiD-Lab), where he adopts design-driven and interdisciplinary research approaches to systematically investigate core HCAI concepts such as human-in-the-loop, hybrid intelligence, agency, and ownership. In his work, AI is not treated as a purely automated tool, but is instead designed as a set of AI agents, including both single-agent and multi-agent systems, that collaborate with humans as part of hybrid intelligence systems. These systems are intended to support human understanding, decision-making, collaboration, and responsibility allocation, while enabling responsible and intelligible interaction across different forms of intelligence.

Three interconnected research directions

1. Human-Centered AI Design
   This line of research examines how AI systems participating in decision-making and service processes can be designed to ensure that humans retain meaningful understanding, intervention, and judgment, and that responsibility remains clearly distributed and traceable. Key topics include human-in-the-loop design, appropriate trust, role allocation, and responsibility-oriented human–AI collaboration architectures.

1. AI Agents and Multi-Agent Collaboration
   This direction investigates how AI agents, particularly LLM-based conversational agents, mediate communication, collaboration, and co-creation among people, and how they take on differentiated roles within team and organizational contexts. Research topics include role configuration and coordination in multi-agent systems, human–AI–human and human–AI–AI–human interaction patterns, and how humans understand, trust, and appropriately rely on multiple AI agents working in concert.

1. AI-Driven Digital Health
   This stream explores how AI agents can be designed and deployed in healthcare and medical service contexts to support personal health management, patient–clinician communication, and collaborative clinical care. The research emphasizes human-centered, culture-sensitive, and responsibility-aware design, focusing on real-world usability, interpretability, ethical accountability, and social impact—rather than technical performance alone.

Across these directions, his work is guided by a common question: not how much AI can do, but how AI should be designed to collaborate with humans in ways that generate positive impacts for individuals, organizations, and society. As a core faculty member of the AIMS Fellows Program, he actively promotes human-centered industrial AI transformation, translating research outcomes into practical deployment while emphasizing that AI technologies should serve human values, strengthen organizational innovation, and improve decision quality.

Academic Leadership, Education, and Scholarly Services

In academic leadership and education, Yuan-Chi Tseng serves as Dean of Tsing Hua Residential College, where he advances a forward-looking learning community grounded in human-centered values. He integrates innovation, academic exploration, social connection, and residential life to cultivate students with interdisciplinary thinking, global awareness, and a strong sense of social responsibility. He also serves as Convener of the Innovative Design Program and Admissions Committee Convener for the Innovative Design Group of the Tsing Hua Interdisciplinary Program, where he plays a key role in shaping design-oriented, interdisciplinary, and human-centered AI education across the university.

Alongside his leadership and educational work, Yuan-Chi Tseng maintains a strong record of scholarly contributions. He has a broad interdisciplinary academic background spanning design, the humanities and social sciences, and interactive technology and science. His research has been published in leading international journals and conferences across fields including digital health, human–computer interaction, artificial intelligence, experimental and cognitive psychology, behavioral neuroscience, medicine, neurology, and educational science. His work has been recognized with numerous honors, including the Excellent Research Award (2026), Distinguished Research Award (2025) honored by Tsing Hua Talent Development Fund, Sigma Xi Full Membership (2024.06) honored by Sigma Xi - The Scientific Research Honor Society (ΣΞ), ACM CSCW 2023 - The Recognitions for Contributions to Diversity and Inclusion Award (2023.10) honored by ACM CSCW 2023, Wu Ta-You Memorial Award (2017.11) honored by  National Science and Technology Council, and multiple Best Paper/ Poster Awards at TAICHI and other HCI/Design conferences.

He currently serves as Senior Editor (since January 2025) of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS), and previously served as Associate Editor (June 2023–December 2024). His academic career spans multiple disciplines and international contexts, including prior appointments at the UCL Interaction Center, University College London (visiting professor, Feb 2023–Aug 2023), Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, NTHU (jointly appointed professor, Aug 2019–current), Service Science, NTHU (associate professor, Aug 2018–Jan 2024), Industrial Design, NCKU (assistant/associate professor, 2011–2018), Vision Science, SKERI (Rachel C. Atkinson Postdoctoral Fellow, 2010–2011), Psychology, UIUC (post-doc, USA, 2008–2010), and Yale School of Medicine (visitor scholar in Professor Chiang-Shan Ray Li's lab, 2010)

Design Philosophy

Yuan-Chi Tseng’s design philosophy draws on perspectives, knowledge, and methods from technology and engineering, the humanities and social sciences, and art and design. His work seeks a harmonious integration of truth, goodness, and beauty, treating design not merely as problem-solving, but as a reflective and ethical practice that shapes how technologies meaningfully coexist with human life and society.