Zheng Yen Ng is an applied linguist and Postdoc in the Department Population Health Sciences in the faculty of Veterinary Medicine. His work mainly focuses on health and care service provision and participation for children and adults with communication disability or difficulty. He has a particular interest in working with multilingual-multicultural families and examining cultural responsiveness in services. Using qualitative, participatory, and co-production methods, his work aims to support and give voice to individuals with disability, their families, and the professionals working with them.

Zheng has worked in academia (Netherlands, Australia) and a not-for-profit setting (United Kingdom). He has provided coordination of a UK hearing technology national registry, and has worked on a European hearing technology strategy and an Australian National Framework for assessing children’s functioning and support. In previous research roles he has worked alongside people with lived experience of hearing loss, dementia, aphasia, or autism on participatory and/or co-design projects to improve health and care services in clinical settings, education, and community.

He currently works on the project SPACES led by Associate Professor Heidi Lesscher, which investigates inclusivity in play and sport in built environments for children with disability and chronic health conditions. The project aims to identify barriers and facilitators and co-create inclusive solutions for participation of children in urban physical spaces. The project is a collaboration of Utrecht University, Hogeschool Utrecht, TU Delft, WKZ/UMC Utrecht, and societal partners including people with lived experience, architects, playground designers, and city council. The ultimate goal is for children to have inclusive and meaningful participation and self-confidence in play and sports, and in relation to mental health and well-being.