Principal Investigator

Jun Ying (“Jun”) enjoys pondering the hidden rules that govern biodiversity through space and time, and even more so try to figure them out! He is also passionate about mobilising our understanding of ecological and evolutionary processes to inform the conservation and management of biodiversity and ecosystems in an increasingly human-dominated planet. He enjoys bouldering / rock climbing, botanizing, birding, and the occasional watercolour painting.

CV | Google Scholar | ResearchGate | Github | Publons

Research Fellow

Charlie’s research interests are primarily in the distributions of biodiversity and ecosystem function, and how they are affected by anthropogenic disturbance, particularly fragmentation and habitat modification, with an emphasis on community-level processes (e.g. alpha- and beta-diversity). He is particularly interested in the spatial scaling of these processes and decoupling the effects of scales of observation from interpretations of spatial patterns of diversity. He enjoys bird watching and playing squash in his free time.

Lab manager / safety lead

Melvyn is in charge of the operation and management of the lab and is the overall safety coordinator for the lab. Having worked since 1996 in microbiology and molecular biology, with deep experience as a lab safety coordinator, he ensures the smooth and safe operation of the lab and is gaining experience in next-generation sequencing techniques. His hobbies are growing vegetables and video editing.

Research Assistant

Ziyad is working in the Climate Impact Science Research (CISR) Project, aiming to foresee the impact of climate change on Singapore’s tropical forest for conservation purposes. His interest is in botany, plant ecology, taxonomy and plant systematics, particularly focused on the diverse flora of Borneo. He aspires to overlap both interest in floral diversity especially the Aroids in Borneo and climate change to assess its impact on their biodiversity in the future. He enjoys playing video games and listening to music in his free time.

Ph.D. student

Hanci is a graduate student at NUS. Her research interests are in how inter-species interactions shape the natural environment and how this can be applied to shape our natural environment in the future. She is now developing a diet database for Southeast Asian frugivorous hornbills and using machine learning algorithms to infer trait matching patterns between hornbills and their dietary plant species. In her spare time, she enjoys playing basketball, swimming, and designing scientific illustrations.

Ph.D. student

Felicia is a PhD student at the Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, co-supervised with Prof. Koh Lian Pin. She is fascinated by the ecological processes that structure plant communities, and her current project looks at how plant interaction networks influence tropical forest dynamics. Her favorite plants are ferns, and she hopes to work with them some day. She enjoys playing video games when she is not working.

Ph.D. student

Hong Jhun is a PhD student under the Department of Biological Sciences at NUS. His previous research covers a range of topics including plant ecophysiology, inter-species interactions, and urban ecology. He is generally interested in the application of statistical and mathematical methods in answering biological questions. For his PhD research, he will be trying to understand and quantify the effects of defaunation on seed dispersal in Southeast Asian forests. His hobbies include board games, video games and puzzle hunts, among others.

Ph.D. student

Angelica is a PhD student interested in land use ecology. Her thesis involves the study of the effects of land use change on insect communities in Singapore. She has chosen insects as the subject of her study as she finds that despite the ubiquitous and diverse nature of insects, they are often understudied as compared to more charismatic animal groups such as mammals or birds. She hopes to contribute to local ecological knowledge that may inform future land use and conservation decisions in Singapore. In her free time, she enjoys keeping active with a mix of kayaking, yoga, gymming or swimming while looking forward to her next snorkeling/diving trip.

Ph.D. student

Alicia is a PhD student at the Plant Ecology, Evolution & Biogeography Lab with a keen interest in floristic biodiversity and conservation. She has a background in environmental studies and statistics from her undergraduate studies, where she was also actively involved in co-curriculars including nature guiding and raising awareness of local biodiversity. She enjoys doing arts & crafts during her free time.