At the recently held 14th World Congress on Design and Health in Singapore, Professor WANG Zhe from the School of Civil Engineering and Architecture of Henan University (HENU) was awarded the 2025 International Academy Award for Academic Research Project by the International Academy for Design and Health. This award represents the highest honor in its category, with only three recipients worldwide, underscoring Professor WANG Zhe’s international influence in the field of health design.

Professor WANG Zhe’s award-winning project, The Influence of Daylight Access in Cancer Hospital Waiting Areas on Stress Perception and Coping Behavior, focuses on the impact of daylight conditions in hospital waiting areas on the psychological and behavioral well-being of cancer patients. Based on field observations from 30 waiting areas across seven hospitals in China and 790 questionnaire responses, the study employed a mixed-methods approach to provide, for the first time in large-scale empirical research, evidence of the positive effects of natural lighting in alleviating patient stress and promoting interpersonal communication. The findings offer significant scientific support for the theory of “health-promoting design”.

Dr. Alan Dilani, founder of the International Academy for Design and Health, remarked during the award ceremony that the study deepens the concept of health design through evidence-based research, demonstrating the positive role of the built environment in promoting health.

Professor WANG Zhe, a Distinguished Professor of Henan Province, has been dedicated to research in healthy building and environmental design since joining HENU in 2013. She currently serves as a board member of the Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) and holds several international academic positions. This accolade reflects the outstanding achievements of HENU in interdisciplinary health design research and will further advance the institution’s “Double First-Class” initiative and internationalization efforts.