​Janice Ser Huay Lee 

Principle Investigator
​I am an Assistant Professor at the Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. The work I conducted for my PhD exposed me to the world of socio-ecological systems. Since then I have been identifying pertinent research questions related to rural land use and land cover change and investigating the consequences of these changes on biodiversity conservation and human livelihoods. I continue to work on research questions related to Southeast Asia's oil palm industry and have expanded my research interests to include food security concerns in Asia, fire activity in Sumatra, as well as ecosystem restoration and cropland abandonment processes in Asia.

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Muhammad Lubis

PhD candidate
I have been working for conservation issues especially in Indonesia for about 10 years. I graduated from Faculty of Forestry and took courses in wildlife conservation. I learned GIS (Geographic Information System) and Remote Sensing (RS) technology for my undergraduate research. I also awarded a master degree in Australia at James Cook University (JCU) through Australian Awards Scholarship (AAS) where I expand my knowledge about conservation and development trade off. I also enhanced my skills and knowledge in Geographic Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), and statistical analysis for biodiversity conservation studies. I have been working in Non-Governmental Organization such as World Wildlife fund for Nature (WWF), GIZ, and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) mainly in the subject of utilization GIS and RS technology for a better implementation of conservation management of protected areas. I have been involved in the development of forest and biodiversity monitoring program, analyzing long term deforestation rate, modelling threats for a better protection of PAs, predicting risk areas for human and wildlife conflict, and using species distribution modelling to effectively managed key species and its habitat especially for critically endangered species such as Sumatran tiger, Sumatran rhino, and Sumatran elephant.  My PhD topic would be related to enhance wildlife protection system by exploring various methods from statistical modelling to machine learning.

Zu Xiang Ng

Research Assistant
I am a research assistant helping to develop the project on deforestation-risk commodity supply chain, in particular on the sustainability of palm oil supply chains. I graduated from the Bachelor of Environmental Studies programme at NUS with a Minor in Global Studies. After graduating, I contributed to a research report for the International Labour Organisation working with a team consisting of members from the International Association of Labour Inspection, and was a research trainee at the Centre For Liveable Cities under Singapore's Ministry of National Development. I am interested in reading and writing on topics like political economy, development, and socio-ecological systems. 

Yuti Ariani Fatimah

Postdoctoral Researcher
My research interests include science and technology studies (STS) focuses on theoretical and practical aspects of power and agency, system dynamics and transition in developmental context. My broad interests are influenced by my inter-disciplinary background. I have a Bachelors in Mathematics and a Master from Development Studies, both from Bandung Institute of Technology. For my PhD in Eindhoven University of Technology, I combined development studies and innovation science literature through my ethnographic work in Central Java and Sumba area. Prior CHNS lab, I have done consultancy works on climate change (using system dynamics model) and smart city (by developing index) and worked as a journalist.

Anushka Rege

PhD candidate
My research interests include understanding land use changes in the tropics and how biodiversity responds to modified landscapes and anthropogenic influences, besides reconciling livelihoods with conservation. I strive to combine ecology with social sciences and collaborate with policy makers and stakeholders in my research work and also contribute to outreach. I have a Bachelors in Microbiology (2014) and a Masters in Wildlife biology and conservation (WCS India and NCBS Bangalore-2016). For my Masters dissertation I statistically modelled the habitat use of terrestrial mammals in a mixed forest-cashew plantation landscape in the northern Western Ghats.

Stuart Smith

Postdoctoral Researcher
A plant ecologist by training, my research seeks to understand the impact of land-use management on plant-soil ecological processes. Much of my research has involved working with rural communities, NGOs and other actors to investigate land management and restoration approaches from a plant-soil perspective. As part of the CHNS lab, my focus is on tropical peatland restoration in South East Asia, synthesising data on successful reforestation species, integrating decomposition and fire ecology into species selection criteria and developing spatial approaches to monitor the response of reforested peatlands post-fire. ​

Matthias Chua Seng En

SG United Trainee
I am a budding Research Trainee assisting with the ecological component of the socio-ecological peatland restoration project at the CHNS lab. I graduated from NUS with an Honours Degree in Life Sciences and a Minor in Japanese Studies. My research interests are primarily on Fungi, Ecology as well as Agriculture. I spent most of my internship in my undergraduate years exploring the different aspects of Ecology from environmental consultancy to state own nursery operations and plant species recovery. I aspire to bring greater awareness to the Fungi Kingdom as they are immensely understudied and literature published so far have proven that they have the potential to solve some of the world's most pressing issues. I hope that I would one day be able to accurately identify Fungi morphologically and genetically. I firmly believe that Fungi can shape our modern world like how they did aeons ago.

Nur Estya bte Rahman

Research Associate
My research interests and expertise include botany, tropical forest ecology and ecophysiology of forest tree species relative to changing climate and landscapes. I previously worked on projects which involved plant molecular genetics and phytoremediation work. Prior to CHNS lab, I worked on the carbon stocks assessment of the Nee Soon freshwater swamp forest in Singapore in NUS. Besides research, I have also participated in voluntary conservation efforts for NGOs since 2017 and through such efforts, I gained insights on the importance of vegetation restoration and community involvement with conserving ecological systems. In order to appreciate our natural systems as a whole, I believe an understanding of socio-ecological interactions is critical to understand and manage their ecological functions. Presently at the CHNS lab, I study the socio-ecological interactions of peatland restoration in Sumatra, Indonesia, and will assist in managing the project grant.

Liesbeth Frias

Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
I am a parasite ecologist, broadly interested in how host community structure influences/correlates with parasite communities, the extent to which parasites are shared across hosts, and the relationship between landscape conversion and host–parasite interactions. My PhD research focused on gastrointestinal parasite community assemblages in a multi–host system of Bornean primates living sympatrically in the Kinabatangan floodplain (Sabah, Malaysia). Since then I have expanded my research interests to explore interspecies interactions at the human–wildlife interface, and their consequences for parasite ecology. As part of the CHNS lab, my focus is on how land–use change alters host–parasite communities, transmission processes and ecosystem health. I am also interested in wildlife conservation and the development of good management practices for domestic animal ownership in areas of high rates of human–wildlife interaction, as well as land–use planning and public health.

Weng Ngai Lam

Postdoctoral Researcher
I am a community ecologist with an interest in plant and invertebrate ecology, particularly with respect to positive species interactions (facilitation/mutualism). I work extensively with pitcher plant phytotelmata, freshwater swamp forest tree species, and litter invertebrate communities. Much of my research revolves around the development and implementation of bottom-up, process-based ecological models. I did my bachelor’s, PhD and first postdoc stint in NUS, and am now working on decomposition and flammability traits of swamp forest tree species in the CHNS lab.

Maple Wu Sifeng

PhD candidate
My research interests include understanding non-linear dynamics in complex adaptive systems, especially how certain complex phenomenon emerge, and what we can do to build a more resilient and sustainable system. My previous background was in limnology,  focusing on eutrophication from the perspective of regime shift and resilience. That's how I get into the study of complex adaptive systems. For my PhD studies, I wish to expand my studies to larger scales, with emphasis on how human interventions and interactions between social systems and ecological systems give rise to complex behaviors. I have experiences in system dynamic models and agent-based models (mainly ecological models for both). I am trying to improve my skills in statistical learning and related modelling methods. Using multiple modelling methods to explore different aspects of complex adaptive system is what I have done and will be doing in a nutshell.

Parvathi Sreekumar

FYP student
Parvathi is a final year undergraduate at the Asian School of the Environment and is keen to pick up Google Earth Engine and use it to map cashew and forest land cover in northern Western Ghats, India.  

Fan Yi Zeng

FYP student
Fan Yi is a final year undergraduate at the Asian School of the Environment and is keen to understand more about the extent of burnt area over tropical peatlands which have been revegetated.

Lab Alumni

Thuan Sarzynski
Thuan was a MSc. exchange student from the University of Hohenheim and worked on mapping oil palm plantations using optical and radar satellitel imagery on Google Earth Engine.
Jocelyne Shimin Sze
Jocelyne was a research associate and worked on compiling socioeconomic and spatial datasets on fire activity in Sumatra. Jocelyne is a PhD candidate at the University of Sheffield.
Omar Saif
Omar was a trainee/visiting scholar and compiled spatial layers and consolidated time-series socioeconomic datasets to analyse the effects of sustainability standards on social well-being. Omar is a PhD candidate at the University of Edinburgh.
En Mei Tan
En Mei was a FYP student and evaluated the use of blockchain technology for the palm oil industry and developed a spatial map of high-risk palm oil mills.
Gladys Gan Enxin
Gladys was a FYP student and was co-supervised by Anushka Rege. Her project focused on sustainability commitments made by the cashew processors and traders in India. She will soon pursue her Masters in Environmental Sciences at ETH Zurich, Switzerland.
Pei Yun Teo
Pei Yun was a SG Trainee and assisted with field and lab experiments under the peat restoration project. She also worked on creating animations for visualizing social networks in knowledge production on peat revegetation.
Li Jia Go
Li Jia was a FYP student and evaluated sustainable seafood consumption in Singapore using questionnaires and a review of sustainable seafood policies among corporations.
Kai Wan Yuan
Kai Wan was a research associate and worked on the impact of cyclones on rice agriculture in Vietnam and the development of an updated dam database in Indonesia.
 Victoria Cahyani Tanggono
Victoria was a FYP student and was co-supervised by Asst/Prof Joyce Ong. She evaluated the use of VIIRS night-light satellite data to detect fishing activity in Southeast Asia's Marine Protected Areas.
Santhya Valluvar
Santhya was a FYP student and reviewed and assessed the sustainability policies from tyre-maker companies who are the largest consumers of natural rubber.

Undergraduates

URECA PROGRAMME
En Mei Tan (​Sept 2017-Jun 2018) Drivers of agricultural land abandonment across the tropics
Li Jia Go (Sept 2016-Jun 2017) Mangrove restoration across the tropics
Yuan Ning Mock (Sept 2016-Jun 2017) Coral reef restoration across Southeast Asia
ES3008 STUDENT PROJECTS
Ying Xuan Chua (Aug-Dec 2020) Environmental movements in religious organisations
Fanyi Zeng (Jan-Jun 2020) Understanding geospatial land price data from online market platforms in rural Indonesia
Jefferson (Jan-Jun 2017) Mapping land conflicts and fire activity in Sumatra
Jinying Teo (Jan-Jun 2017) Sustainability commitments of oil palm plantations in Indonesia
CNYANG STUDENT PROJECTS
Wivian Neo Hui Yan (Aug 2020-Jun 2021) Co-supervised with Muhammad Lubis Trends in human-tiger conflicts in Sumatra
Jaslyn Chan Jia Hui (Jan-Jun 2017) Co-supervised with Dr. Matthew Luskin Understory-Nest Predation in Singapore
Chelsea Lee Wen Si (Jan-Jun 2017) Co-supervised with Dr. Matthew Luskin Global Meta-analysis shows Increased Tiger Densities in Higher Latitudes
Interested to join us?
If you are interested to join this lab as an undergraduate, graduate student or postdoc, please do not hesitate to contact me at janicelee<a>ntu.edu.sg