Karen von Schmieden is a PhD candidate in the HPI-Stanford Design Thinking Research Program and an editor for the ThisIsDesignThinking.net web resource project. She has a background in journalism and worked for several  print and online publications. Her research interests focus on design thinking in organizations and public institutions, teaching design thinking to users in these environments, and the role of design thinking as a method in public participation strategies.She studied Arts and Culture with a major in Political Culture (B.A.) in Maastricht and Istanbul and holds a Master’s Degree in European Studies of Society, Science and Technology from the ESST European Inter-University  Association, which she pursued in Maastricht and Lisbon with a focus on water management. She subsequently participated in the HPI D-School Potsdam and has worked as a freelance coach in design thinking trainings.