Our Team

DREAMS is conducted by a dynamic team of distinguished researchers from the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, renowned for their impactful contributions to the education and psychology fields. Supported by additional academic and research personnel from the Office of Education Research and other esteemed collaborators, our team is committed to making a difference through our project.

On This Page

Lead Project Principal Investigators

The Lead Project team oversees the operations of DREAMS and its 7 sub-projects.

Lead PI & Project 6 Lead

Prof. Kenneth is Lien Foundation Chair Professor of Education (Psychology and Human Development) at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. He is also Dean, Education Research, as well as Centre Director of the Centre for Research in Child Development. Trained as a clinical psychologist and as an early interventionist, he has spent the past 20 years of experience working with children and persons with neurodevelopmental disabilities.

Prof. Kenneth is leading/has led, as principal investigator, research projects with a combined quantum of over SGD$7 million. His research has focused on the development of children (especially children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and children from low-income families) examining how the home and school environments impact development.

Co-Lead PI & Project 1 Lead

Dr. Melvin Chan is Assistant Dean and Research Scientist at the Office of Education Research (OER). As Assistant Dean of Knowledge Management at OER, he oversees matters related to research data management, data curation and reuse. Dr. Chan's research interests are interdisciplinary, covering aspects of learning, motivation, future-readiness, youth development, and quantitative methodology.

Co-Lead PI

Dr Trivina Kang is NIE’s Chief Strategy and Partnerships Officer. She is also Senior Lecturer at the Policy, Curriculum and Leadership Academic Group where she contributes in areas related to leadership studies and qualitative methodology. Trivina's research interests focus on sociological experiences of students in different contexts. She is especially interested in how students are prepared for life and the role of schools, teachers and leaders in this journey.

Sub-Project Principal Investigators

Each of the 7 sub-projects cover investigate a key area of adolescent development

Project 2 Lead, Project 1

Gregory Arief D. Liem is an Associate Professor at Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group, National Institute of Education (NIE), an institute of Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Dr. Liem's research interest lies in the area of educational psychology with a special focus on student motivation, engagement, and well-being. He views these substantive issues by adopting a sociocultural lens and a quantitative approach.

Project 3 Lead, Project 7

Dr. Imelda Santos Caleon is an Assistant Dean on Partnership at the Office of Education Research and Senior Education Research Scientist and Academic Lead on Well-being at the Science of Learning in Education Centre, National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. She is experienced in conducting studies using both experimental and mixed-methods research methodologies. Her main research interests are in the areas of well-being, metacognition, and social networks.

Project 4 Lead

Rebecca P. Ang is a Professor at the Psychology and Child & Human Development Academic Group, NIE. She is a Nationally Certified School Psychologist in the USA, and a Registered Psychologist in Singapore. Professor Ang is a well-cited researcher whose scholarly work has been published in top-tier journals. Prof Ang is interested in child and adolescent mental health and wellbeing, developmental child psychopathology including externalizing and internalizing conditions, and related prevention and intervention work.

Project 5 Lead, Project 4

Dr. Fannie Khng Kiat Hui is a Research Scientist with the Centre for Research in Child Development, National Institute of Education (NIE). Her work is situated at the interface between cognitive psychology and education, focused on executive functioning (e.g., inhibitory control and attention) in children and adolescents and how they contribute to aspects of their development such as academic achievement and cognitive-emotional self-regulation. She also works with interested schools to develop, evaluate and refine interventions to enhance executive functioning, such as sustainable teacher-led school-based mindfulness practices.

Project 7 Lead

Asst/Professor Azilawati Jamaludin is faculty at the Learning Sciences and Assessment Academic Group at National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University. She is also Assistant Centre Director at NIE’s Science of Learning in Education Centre, overseeing Human Potential and Translation. As a Learning Scientist, she conducts research in the areas of Science of Learning, Games and Learning, and Educational Innovations for Learning. She teaches graduate courses in Neuroscience, Technology and Learning, Educational Neuroscience, and Digital Game-based Learning. She oversees the Brain Literacy for Educators and Applications of Educational Neuroscience program at the degree level.

Asst/Professor Azi has worked on large-scale Science of Learning projects to investigate at-risk learners’ struggles in learning and designing neural-informed games to remediate their learning difficulties. Apart from collecting behavioural, psychometrics, and social data, she uses portable cutting-edge brain imaging techniques such as Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess learners’ brain functions. She is also Co-Principal Investigator for multiple other projects investigating Learning for at-risk students. She supervises students ranging from junior college, pre-university students to undergraduates and Masters and PhD students in the area of games and using Science of Learning methodologies in education. She is also Research and Academic Mentor to NTU undergrads, serves as Consultant for game-based learning units and Expert Panel Member for optimizing human potential at the national level. She is registered with the British Psychological Society with qualifications in Educational testing and Ability assessments.

Co-Investigators

Project 2, Project 4, Project 7

Dr Wong Zi Yang

Project 1, Project 2

Prof Liu Woon Chia

Project 2

Prof Wang Chee Keng John

Project 4

Dr Aik Lim TAN

Project 7

Dr Lim Choon Guan (IMH)

Project 4

Dr Sun He

Project 5

Collaborators

Dr Ng Siow Chin

MOE Project Director

Dr Liu Wei Cheng

MOE (Project 3)

Dr Mariam Aljunied

MOE (Project 4)

Dr YU Ting Iris

MOE (Project 6)

Assoc Prof Andy Khong Wai Hoong

NTU (Project 7)

Research Team

Lead Project:

  • Roodra Veera (Project Management)
  • Lee Chiew Lim (Survey Instrumentation)
  • Divya Prabha Chandrasekaran (Data)
  • Emily Chan Yat-Meng (Communications)
  • Janelle Shaina Ng Hui Yi (Qualitative)
  • Olivia Chew (Qualitative)

Project 1 & 2:

  • Liyana Binte Safii
  • Low Jia Min

Project 3: 

  • Nur Qamarina Binte Ilham
  • James Elicano

Project 4 & 6:

  • Wong Jin Nen

Project 5:

  • Ashley Chua Fang Rui
  • Sim Chen Xing
  • Shawn Lim Thong Sheng 

Past Team Members

Thank you to our past team members!

Cameron Kheng Jin, Joanne Lim Ting En, Dr. Wong Zi Yang, Monika Balaya.