Zhou
Kat
🌱 writer, researcher, designer
📍 based in Oxford & Taipei
ABOUT KATKat Mei Zhou, also known as 周玫, is a doctoral researcher at the University of Oxford examining the sociology of work and geographies of artificial intelligence. Previously, she was a senior product designer in the tech industry. Occasionally, she is an international speaker on design and tech ethics. Some things she likes: lecturing; exploring how to <Design Ethically>; serving on the committee of a trade union; teaching dance; biking around with her adopted husky; reading hella books. Kat’s “fun facts” for forced icebreakers are: she was an extra on the worst-rated season of House of Cards; she performed piano in NYC’s Carnegie Hall; she’s lived in five countries.
Appeared
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Appeared ~
Speaking
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Speaking ~
Taiwan Research Hub Conference “Guest Workers and Global Engineers: Border Controls and Spatial Fixes in the Semiconductor GPN”: June 23, 2026 at the University of Nottingham
Feminist Jurisprudence Discussion Group “Totopa v. Spain: Colonial Legacies, Migration, and Family Separation”: June 17, 2026 at the University of Oxford, Faculty of Law
The Datafied State “Artificial Intelligence’s Bargaining Chip: Migrant Workers and the Negotiation of Spatial Fix in the Semiconductor Industry”: June 1, 2026 in Cardiff, Wales
American Association for Geographers Annual Meeting “Artificial Intelligence’s Bargaining Chip: Migrant Workers and the Negotiation of Spatial Fix in the Semiconductor Industry”: March 20, 2026 in San Francisco, CA
Gender, Work, and Organization Conference “Emotional Labor Offsetting: Examining the Fauxtomated Care Work Behind Maintaining a ‘Safer’ Internet” (*winner of the best single-authored paper award): July 21-23, 2025 in Nantes, FR
Dervorguilla Seminar “Emotional Labor Offsetting: Examining the Fauxtomated Care Work Behind Maintaining a ‘Safer’ Internet”: June 5, 2025 at the University of Oxford
Human Centred Computing “Designing Ethically” Guest Speaker: May 13, 2025 at the University of Oxford
Queer Seminar “Care Beyond Capitalism: Radical Intimacy in Queer Communities” Speaker: February 13, 2025 at the University of Oxford
Experiments in Motion “AI Ethics” Guest Lecturer: September 25, 2024 at Hyper Island Stockholm
uxcon vienna Keynote Speaker: September 20, 2024 in Vienna, AT
rest practice sthlm: August 9, 2024 in Stockholm, SE
Norbergfestival “No Business as Usual: Exercising Direct Action” Speaker: July 6, 2024 in Norberg, SE
Latitude59 “Explainable AI: Mind Over Matter” Panelist: May 24, 2024 in Tallinn, EE
Huiput Creative Festival Keynote Speaker: May 21, 2024 in Helsinki, FI
Creative AI Program “AI Ethics for Creatives” Guest Lecturer: May 15, 2024 at Värmeverket
Palestine Direct Action Fund “The Praxis of Intifada: Direct Action for Palestine” Host: April 5, 2024 in Stockholm, SE
Palestine Teach-In “The Panopticon in Palestine: Examining the Digital Surveillance used by the Settler-Colonial State of Israel” Guest Lecturer: April 3, 2024 at Stockholm University
rest practice sthlm: March 3, 2024 in Stockholm, SE
DesignMatters+ “Designing for DEI” Guest Lecturer: February 28-29, 2024 in Copenhagen, DK (remote)
Konstfack Guest Lecturer: December 13, 2023 in Stockholm, SE
Technigo “How to Design Ethically” Webinar: December 6, 2023 in Stockholm, SE (remote)
Integrity Institute “Shedding Light on Dark Patterns” Panelist: November 1, 2023 at Integrity Institute (remote)
SmashingConf Keynote: October 9-12, 2023 in Antwerp, BE
Technigo Guest Lecturer: October 10, 2023 in Stockholm, SE (remote)
What If? Summit “AI for All: Ensuring diversity, equity, and inclusion in the age of artificial intelligence” Panelist: October 3-4, 2023 at Tech Circus (remote)
Design Matters: September 27, 2023 in Copenhagen, DK
Human Centered Design Guest Speaker: September 13, 2023 at Hyper Island Stockholm
rest practice sthlm: September 10, 2023 in Stockholm, SE
UX 365 Academy Guest Speaker: July 25, 2023 (remote)
UX Scotland: June 9, 2023 in Edinburgh, SCT
Nobel Prize Summit Deceptive Design Workshop Guest Speaker: May 26, 2023 in Washington, D.C. (remote)
Webbdagarana: April 18-19, 2023 in Stockholm, SE
Technigo Guest Lecturer: March 15, 2023 in Stockholm, SE (remote)
Information Commissioner’s Office “Privacy, Seriously” Speaker: February 23, 2023 in Cheshire, UK (remote)
CBS Innovation & Design Guest Speaker: December 7, 2022 at Columbia Business School
World Usability Day Estonia: November 24-25, 2022 in Tallinn, EE
Product Management and Society Guest Speaker: November 1, 2022 at Harvard Kennedy School (remote)
AIGA Design Conference: October 21, 2022 in Seattle, US
Shift: October 13, 2022 in Ghent, BE
Dark Patterns Webinar: October 13, 2022, at Kelkoo Group (remote)
Duke Business Oriented Women “Diversified Industries” Speaker: October 5, 2022, at Duke University (remote)
Better World x Design: October 2, 2022, at Brown University x RISD
Human Centered Design Guest Speaker: September 28, 2022 at Hyper Island Stockholm
Women Talk Design Speaker Stories: August 17, 2022, remote
Valsplat Guest Speaker: June 30, 2022 in Sneek, NL
UX London: June 28, 2022 in London, UK
Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection “Dark Patterns - Manipulation by Design” Panelist: May 23, 2022 in Brussels, BE
From Business to Buttons: May 12-13, 2022 in Stockholm, SE
ORCID Guest Speaker: April 12, 2022, remote
Media TechnologyGuest Lecturer: March 29, 2022, at Södertörn University (remote)
PowerxDesign: March 27, 2022, at Harvard University (remote)
European Parliament's Hearing “Dark patterns and how such practices harm consumers and the internal market”: March 16, 2022 in Brussels, BE (remote)
World Wide Web Foundation “Dark Patterns and Trusted Design” Panelist: November 18, 2021 in London, UK (remote)
Dark Pattern Detection Project Panelist: November 10, 2021 for the German Research Institute for Public Administration and Heidelberg University (remote)
500 Global “Ethical Design & Tech Anti-Patterns” Guest Speaker: October 27, 2021 in San Francisco, CA (remote)
Human Centered Design “Accessibility in Prototyping” Guest Speaker: October 27, 2021 at Hyper Island Stockholm (remote)
Product Management and Society Guest Speaker: October 21, 2021 at Harvard Kennedy School (remote)
Human Centered Design Guest Speaker: September 23, 2021 at Hyper Island Stockholm
Nackademin UX Guest Speaker: September 1, 2021 in Stockholm, SE (remote)
Front Conference: August 26, 2021 in Zürich, CH
Product Crunch Berlin Guest Speaker: July 28, 2021 in Berlin, DE (remote)
US Federal Trade Commission “Bringing Dark Patterns to Light” Guest Speaker: April 29, 2021 in Washington, DC (remote)
Bytes of Good Live: February 25, 2021 for Hack4Impact and Impact Labs (remote)
Communication Design Guest Speaker: February 25, 2021 at Berghs School of Communication (remote)
Product Management and Society Guest Speaker: January 27, 2021 at Harvard Kennedy School (remote)
Duke MBA Design & Innovation: November 6, 2019at Fuqua School of Business
Kenan Institute for Ethics: October 14, 2019at Duke University
Design for Social Innovation Guest Speaker: October 9, 2019 at School of Visual Arts (remote)
WebExpo 2019: September 20, 2019 in Prague, CZ
Hexagon UX: June 22, 2019 in Houston, TX
Layers: June 3-5, 2019 in San Jose, CA
Mind the Gaps 2019: May 21, 2019 in Malmö, SE
SXSW 2019: March 12, 2019 in Austin, TX
ATX Speculative Futures: February 27, 2019 in Austin, TX
Decolonize Austin 2019: January 20, 2019 in Austin, TX
UXPA DC World Usability Day: November 8, 2018 in Washington, D.C.
Writing
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Writing ~
BOOK CHAPTERS
BOOK REVIEWS
RESEARCH REPORTS
Fairwork. (2025). Fairwork AI Supply Chain Assessment: Sama 2025.
BLOG POSTS
OP-EDS
Zhou, K. (2023) ‘Sweden needs to reckon with its racism’, Vogue Scandinavia, 19 January.
Featured
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Featured ~
Design circulaire: 160 outils clés pour innover et créer de la valeur (Circular Design: 160 Key Tools for Innovation and Value Creation”): Gabriella Cinque, May 2026
Eames Institute Curious 100: March 2026
University of Oxford Boycott, Divest, and Sanction Pledge: June 2025
Universal Methods of Ethical Design: 100 Ways to Become More Ethically Aware, Responsible, and Active in Your Design Work: Sai Shruthi Chivukula and Colin Gray, 2025
Svenska asiater: antiasiatisk rasism och framväxten av en ny minoritet (Swedish Asians: Anti-Asian Racism and the Emergence of a New Minority): Tobias Hübinette, June 12, 2024
Scaling Tech Ethics with Kat Zhou: Design Tracks by Design Matters, February 21, 2024
The Age of AI with Kat Zhou and Dr. Jason Miller: Ampersand by Emdash, February 20, 2024
Open Letter from Stockholm Cultural Workers for Palestine: January 10, 2024
Queer Artists for Palestine: December 29, 2023
The Responsible AI Community in Solidarity with Gaza and the Palestinian People: November 15, 2023
Demand for Unionen to Issue Statement in Solidarity with Palestine: November 1, 2023
Scholars, students and activists in the UK stand in solidarity with Palestinians: VersoBooks, October 26, 2023
Ethical Design, Dark Patterns and Responsible AI with Kat Zhou: Up Next in Tech, September 19, 2023
5 Questions with Fantastic Designers - Kat Zhou: DeMagSign, July 27, 2023
Interim Report for the Nobel Prize Summit Solution Session on Deceptive Design: Minderoo Centre for Technology & Democracy, July 20, 2023
Communities, Inclusion, and the Future of UX: Border Crossing UX, June 15, 2023
To Prevent Harm, Look to Ethical Design Tools: dscout, May 5, 2023
Plast Kan Aldrig Vissna (Plastic Can Never Wither): Louise Sinaga Helmfrid, May 3, 2023
Are you designing unethically? Kat Zhou on ethical design: Innovation Explorers, February 28, 2023
Tech worker’s tweets on racism in Sweden go viral: Radio Sweden, November 3, 2022
Tech worker Kat Zhou on racism in Sweden and its implications on the tech industry: Breakit, October 30, 2022
Racism in Sweden, and how welcome do foreigners feel after the election?: Sweden in Focus Podcast from The Local, October 29, 2022
Asian American speaks out about racism in Sweden and is met with more racism: AsAmNews, October 26, 2022
Asian American’s woman’s scathing account of racism in Sweden goes viral: NextShark, October 22, 2022
She testifies about Swedish racism - accused of being a Chinese agent: Dagens ETC, October 21, 2022
US tech worker’s tale of racist Swedes goes viral: The Local Sweden, October 20, 2022
The Swedish election did not surprise me: Folkhemmet Opinion, October 20, 2022
Ethical Design and Respectful UX Research with Kat Zhou: Awkward Silences Podcast from User Interviews, September 22, 2022
Kat Zhou on speaking to motivate impactful change: Women Talk Design, September 9, 2022
Design ethics: the importance of ‘doing right’ by your users: Unboxed, July 19, 2022
What’s in a Name? Unpacking Dark Patterns versus Deceptive Design: Caroline Sinders, June 18, 2022
Class of 2022 UX Research Yearbook: User Interviews, June 2, 2022
Critics of Deceptive Design Push for More Ethical UX: The New Stack, May 11, 2022
Fixing the Digital Services Act to address “Dark Patterns”: Tech Policy Press, March 30, 2022
FBTB 2022 Highlights: Kat Zhou’s Design Lunch: inUse, March 1, 2022
Dark Patterns Documentary: BBC World Service, February 15, 2022
Deceptive Design Untangled: World Wide Web Foundation, January 26, 2022
Anti-Patterns: When Design Gets Deceptive: 500 Global, January 7, 2022
How would you change our online world in 2022?: World Wide Web Foundation, December 16, 2021
Rising Stars in AI Ethics: Women in AI Ethics, December 2, 2021
FBTB 2022: Kat Zhou - Creator of <Design Ethically> and Product designer at Spotify: inUse, November 17, 2021
Kat Zhou: What is the role of design in creating inclusive and equitable AI?: In AI We Trust Podcast (from EqualAI and the World Economic Forum), November 3, 2021
What Exactly is Ethical Design?: Built In, October 5, 2021
Digital Wellness Newsletter: This Too Shall Grow, July 27, 2021
Chat with Kat Zhou: Let’s Circle Back Podcast, June 27, 2021
Design’s time to shine: UX and digital product experts must demand new rules that prohibit exploitative Dark Patterns: Tech Policy Press, June 8, 2021
Can the FTC stop the tech industry’s use of dark patterns?: Fast Company, May 6, 2021
FTC Regulators have a new tech target, dark patterns: Protocol, April 29, 2021
UX leaders who are making a difference in the world: UX Design Institute, April 26, 2021
Surveying the Landscape of Ethics-Focused Design Methods: Chivukula, et al., February 17, 2021
How to Live Abroad: Femme Hive Podcast, December 30, 2020
Interview with Kat Zhou: Ethics Models, September 10, 2020
The Blurred Lines and Closed Loops of Google Search: Wired, August 31, 2020
Who’s Responsible for Preventing Dark Patterns?: AIGA Eye on Design, August 6, 2020
Additional Resources for Ethical Explorers: Ethical Explorer & Omidyar Network
In the Spotlight, featuring Kat Zhou: Spotify.Design, May 19, 2020
Help! My Company Won’t Hire a Tech Ethicist: Built In, May 13, 2020
Kat Zhou on Tech, Design, and Social Justice: All Tech is Human, January 13, 2020
Team Essentials for AI Course: IBM (featured <Design Ethically> in curriculum)
Let’s Talk Turkey, Thoughts on Decolonizing Design: Interstice, November 21, 2019
Ethics…for Tech Folks?: Kenan Institute for Ethics, October 15, 2019
Annual Layers design conference speaker lineup announced for WWDC week: 9to5Mac, May 10, 2019
Humane by Design: Jon Yoblanski, March 18, 2019
Pop Culture, AI, and Ethics: Forbes, February 24, 2019
An Interview with Kat Zhou: Marvel, February 5, 2019
Resources for Ethical Design: Dan Brown, November 21, 2018
Participated
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Participated ~
Blank Page Revival AAPI Writing Program: Fall 2024 in New York City, NY
Intersectional Rewrites Project “Totopa v. Spain” Rewrite: Spring 2024 (remote)
Information Commissioner’s Office “Deciphering Dark Patterns” Workshop: October 10, 2022 (remote)
World Wide Web Foundation “Towards Trusted Design: The Way Forward” Workshop: September 27, 2022 (remote)
World Wide Web Foundation “Towards Trusted Design: Prototyping the Future” Workshop: July 26, 2022 (remote)
Max Planck Institute for Human Development and Stiftung Neue Verantwortung “Platform Design Regulation” Workshop: February 8, 2022 in Berlin, DE (remote)
World Economic Forum “Responsible Product Innovation” Workshop: January 20, 2021 (remote)
Harvard Kennedy School “Please Do Not Include Us: AI Ethics & Inclusion” Workshop: September 25, 2019 in Boston, MA
Within “Emerging Leaders” Retreat: October 29, 2019 in Paradise Valley, AZ