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Yo I'm Keith

I am a multidisciplinary designer and researcher interested in how technology and design can be broadly used to support and empower those at the margins. While my work spans across both disciplinary and geographic borders, I am primarily interested in one central question: how can tech and design help enable more liberatory ways of seeing, thinking, and engaging with the world?

Refereed Publications

  • Thomson, C.R., Crisotomo, A., Cheng, K., Rodricks, D.J. (2026) An Academic Borderland: Deconstructing University Hierarchies through an Arts-Based Professor-Student Research Collective. Proceedings of CASAE/ACÉÉA-AERC Joint Conference: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges: Adult Education in Times of Transformation. 
  • Rodricks, D.J., Crisostomo, A., Cheng, K., & Thomson, C. (2026). A Methodology of (Un/Re)Making: A Kitchen Table Conversation with an Early Career Scholar-Educator-Practitioner Collective. Research in Drama Education (RiDE) 2067: The Futures of Drama Education and Applied Theatre and Performance 30(3). 10.1080/13569783.2025.2525978
  • Petterson, A., Cheng, K., Chandra, P. (2023). “Playing with Power Tools: Design Toolkits and the Framing of Equity,” Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference. doi.org/10.1145/3544548.3581490. 

Forthcoming Contributions 

  • Rodricks, D.J., Cheng, K., & Charise, A. (Forthcoming). Queering on Paper: Papercraft as a Method for Social Wellness with Racialized 2SLGBTQ+ Youth in Eastern Toronto, Canada. In E. Fitzpatrick, R. Reilly, & Y. Wang (Eds.), The scholarship of making: Craft as method, as knowing, as decolonisation and connecting. [Accepted, Awaiting Publication]

 

Awards and Grants

  • Canada Graduate Scholarships–Master’s (CGS-M), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ($27,000) - 2024
  • Emerging Projects Grant, Queer and Trans Research Lab ($25,000) - 2024–2026
  • FLOURISH Graduate Research Award ($1,500)- 2025
  • School of Cities Urban Small Grant, University of Toronto ($1,000) - 2024
  • Faculty of Information EDI Student Initiative Fund, University of Toronto ($500) - 2023
  • Hardy & Mildred Wright Hill Scholarship, Victoria College ($1,000) - 2019

 

Refereed Conference Presentations

  • Rodricks, D., Cheng, K., Li, L., Weaver, T., Zhang, Z., & Charise, A. (Forthcoming). Queer Voices Beyond Downtown: Arts-Wellness Practices with 2SLGBTQ+ Youth of Colour in Scarborough. INQYR: Beyond Limits. Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Thomson, C., Crisostomo, A., Cheng, K., & Rodricks, D.J. (2026, May 26). An Academic Borderland: Deconstructing University Hierarchies through an Arts-Based Professor-Student Research Collective. 2026 CASAE-AERC Joint Conference: Crossing Borders, Building Bridges. Adult Education in Times of Transformation. Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
  • Myburgh, B., Cheng, K., & Roberts, D. (2025, November 14). Navigating Critical Conversations: Advancing Global Learning through Digital Literacy, Dialogue, and Place-Based Collaboration. 2025 AAC&U Conference on Global Learning.
  • Charise, A., Cheng, K., & Rodricks, D.J. (2025, April 5). Exploring Arts-based Social Wellness with Queer of Colour Youth in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada: A Mixed-Methods Study. Health Humanities Consortium Conference 2025. Philadelphia, PA., United States of America.
  • Cheng, K. & Rodricks, D.J. (2024, November 22). (Out)side The Downtown Core: A Mixed-Methods Study of Community Arts-Wellness Programming for 2SLGBTQ+ Youth of Colour in Scarborough, Ontario. Community-Based Research Summit 2024. Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
  • Myburgh, B., Cheng, K., & Stiff, A. (2024, August 9). Digital Dialogues: Exploring Digital Humanities in HBCUs Through a Kitchen-Table Talk Approach. DH2024: Reinvention and Responsibility, Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations, Washington, D.C., United States of America.
  • Cheng, K. (2024, June 17). Power to the People: Digital Humanities for/as Community Development. [Conference presentation]. #OTESSA2024: Sustaining Shared Futures. Montreal, QC, Canada.
  • Cheng, K. (2023, May 12) Afro-Asian Solidarities: Designing Tools for Solidarity. OISE Asian Heritage Month Symposium 2023. Toronto, ON, Canada.

Poster Presentations

  • Li, L., Cheng, K., Weaver, T. Zhang, Z., Rodricks, D., & Charise A. (Forthcoming). On Paper, In Practice: Archiving Queer Scarborough. INQYR: Beyond Limits. Toronto, ON, Canada. 
  • Li, L., Charise, A., Weaver, T., Zhang, Z., Cheng, K., & Rodricks, D.J. (2026, April 21). On Paper: Building Sustainable Community Arts-Wellness Programming for 2SLGBTQ+ Youth. Creating Space 16: The Impact of Identities on Health and Well-being. Canadian Association of Health Humanities. Ottawa, ON, Canada

Teaching Assistantships

  • CMDS1630: Video Gaming and Society, York University (Fall 2026)
  • UT201: Change-Making in Cities, University of Michigan (Winter 2026)


Invited Talks & Workshops

  • Cheng, K., (2025, August 24) Zine-Making Workshop for In Friendship We Roar Exhibit. Unit 270 Gallery, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Cheng, K., Rodricks, D., & Charise, A. (2025, April 4). Queer Scarborough ‘On Paper’: Toward a Queer of Colour Archival Practice [Invited Talk]. Queer and Trans Research Lab, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Cheng, K. (2023, December 14). Re-imagining a Community: Our Third Place: Zine Workshop [Public talk/workshop], Faculty of Information, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Cheng, K. (2023, June 8). The Activist-Academic: Resistance in/of the University [Public lecture]. INQYR Rainbow Rendezvous: Queer Research Mixer, Toronto, ON, Canada.

 

Guest Lectures

  • Cheng, K., Li, L. Weaver, T., & Zhang, Z. (2026, March 16). Loving Scarborough as Method: Queer of Colour Research Methods [Guest lecture], SDS256: Methods in Queer and Trans Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON
  • Cheng K. (2026, March 9). Planning Sideways: Engaging Queer of Color Youth through Play [Guest lecture], URP 611: Radical Planning, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, United States.
  • Cheng K. (2023, October 18). UX Research Design & Methods [Guest lecture], ART 340: Special Topics in Art and Design (Digital Humanities), Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, United States.
  • Cheng K. (2023, October 11). Intro to UX and Black Digital Humanities [Guest lecture], ART 340: Special Topics in Art and Design (Digital Humanities), Jackson State University, Jackson, MS, United States.
  • Cheng K. (2023, March 23). Resistant Archives/Resisting the Archive: Zine Making as Anarchive [Guest lecture], RTA893: Social Justice Media, Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada.  

Digital Scholarship

  • Craig, S. L. (2026). The Nuts and Bolts of Affirmative CBT with Sexual and Gender Diverse Populations. Oxford University Press. [Contribution: Diagram & Figure Production] https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:9780197778623.001.0001 
  • DEEDS Project (Documents of Early England Data Set). Directed by M. Gervers, University of Toronto. [Contribution: Digital Restoration & Visual Production]

 

Research Creation 

  • Cheng, K., Rodricks, D. J., Charise, A., et al. (2024–2026). A Digital Archive of Queer Scarborough [Digital Archive & Arts-Based Research]. Black Digital Humanities Lab. https://blackdigitalhumanities.com/case-studies/queer-scarborough/ 
  • Stiff, A., Osman, A., Cheng, K., & Myburgh, B. (2024). Encoded Quilts: Weaving Future Directions [Digital Interactive Quilt & Case Study]. Black Digital Humanities Lab. https://blackdigitalhumanities.com/case-studies/encoded-quilts-weaving-future-directions/
  • Cheng, K. (2022). Gaze: A Museum App for Anti-Racist Education [UX Prototype]. Black Digital Humanities Lab. https://blackdigitalhumanities.com/case-studies/gaze/. 
  • Cheng, K. (2022). A Living Archive of Student Activism [Digital Archive]. Studio for Media Activism and Critical Thought. Toronto Metropolitan University, Toronto, ON, Canada. https://studioformediaactivism.com/archive/.