Our Researchers

Dr. Joe Simons 
Principal Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Research interests: Attitudes, Identity, Social opinions

Areas of expertise: Social psychology, Computational social science

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Dr. Choi Dongkyu
Principal Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Research interests: Cognitive systems / Cognitive architectures, Cognitive robotics / Human-robot collaboration, Knowledge-based systems

Areas of expertise: Cognitive systems / Cognitive architectures, Cognitive robotics / Human-robot collaboration, Knowledge-based systems

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Dr. Neil Huynh Hoai Nguyen
Senior Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Neil Huynh Hoai Nguyen is currently a Senior Scientist in the Systems Science Department at the Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC). He serves as the research theme lead of Socio-Urban Solutions, looking at the intercept of urban studies and social and behavioural science, under the Social Sciences and Technology (SST) Horizontal Technology Coordinating Office (HTCO) at A*STAR. Trained as a physicist, he has expertise in Complexity Science study with focus on Complex Networks and Urban Morphology.

His main interest is to study the spatial and temporal structures in urban systems and understand their interaction with social counterparts. Specifically, he’s interested in quantification of the built environment (e.g. design and physical layout of neighbourhoods, access to food options and amenities such as public transport or recreational facilities) to understand how these factors influence people’s lifestyle behaviours, which in turn would impact their health outcomes and society at large.

Research interests: Urban complexity, Urban physical-social forms' interaction, Built environment quantification, Social networks, Spatial inequality

Areas of expertise: Complexity science, Geospatial analytics, Complex networks analysis, Physics-inspired social models

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Dr. Charmaine Tan
Senior Scientist 
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Charmaine Tan specializes in Behavioural and Experimental Economics. Her research focuses on using computerized lab-based experiments to understand the social and psychological aspects of decision-making. She was a researcher at the Civil Service College Singapore (Institute of Governance & Policy) from 2010 to 2018, where she was involved in public sector capability-building and policy research.

Dr. Tan holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the National University of Singapore, Masters in Economics of Markets and Organizations from Toulouse School of Economics, and a Bachelor in Economics (First Class Honors) from the National University of Singapore. She was previously a Research Fellow at NUS Business School.

Research interests: Behavioural and experimental economics, Social preferences (e.g. altruism, trust, envy, reciprocity), Socio-psychological motivations (e.g. in adult learning, information sharing, health behavior), The role of stress and emotions in decision-making

Areas of expertise: Computerized lab behavioural experiments, Field randomized controlled trials, Behavioural modelling and estimation, Applications of behavioural sciences in public policy

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Dr. Aimee Elizabeth Pink
Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

After completing a Bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Southampton and a Masters in Abnormal and Clinical Psychology from Swansea University, Dr. Aimee Pink was adamant she was going to become a clinical psychologist. However, a developed love for research led her to a PhD in Psychology at Swansea University. Her PhD focused on the personality traits and psychological factors that influence emotional eating – allowing her to do research but in a clinically applied way.

Today, her research still focuses on the psychosocial influences of food choice and eating behaviours, covering topics such as portion size and food insecurity in addition to emotional eating. Her most recent research is funded by the Singapore Food Agency via the Singapore Food Story and aims to understand consumer perceptions of alternative proteins, with a particular focus on children and parents. Novel foods are a growing market to address health and environment concerns and food security across the world. Aimee is passionate about understanding how these fit into an individual’s diet, developing ways of educating consumers on their manufacturing process and identifying interventions to increase acceptance by consumers.

Research interests: Consumer perceptions of alternative proteins, Personality traits and psychological factors influencing eating behaviours, Social media influences on body image

Areas of expertise: Observational studies (e.g., surveys), Experimental studies (e.g., randomized control trial), Qualitative studies (e.g., focus group discussions)

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Dr. Rachel Sun Lining
Senior Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Research interests: Mindsets, Beliefs, Uncertainty, Challenge seeking, Lifelong learning, Career adaption

Research areas: Utilizing social psychology to foster adaptive mindsets, Effective learning and flexibility for in both young learners and working adults, Ensuring future-readiness for a dynamic and uncertain job market

Areas of expertise: Behavioural research methods including (measurement, randomized experiments, questionnaire methods), Intervention design and testing

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Dr. Nandini Anant
Scientist 
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Nandini Anant is an experimental social psychologist navigating the intersection of risk-taking behaviour, social support and well-being in both digital and physical environments. She lends her expertise in human behaviour and user research techniques to a range of projects at A*STAR. She also offers Final-Year Projects as a Supervisor for Masters and undergraduate students at James Cook University Singapore and Newcastle University (Singapore campus).

Her current research focuses on cross-cultural factors that influence human attitudes, perceptions and behaviours across various domains, including online gaming, risk-taking behaviour and mental well-being. Through her research, she wants to better understand how and why humans engage in risky behaviour across various domains, how the outcomes of such behaviour affect them, and whether having social support can mitigate this. She enjoys devising new solutions to old theoretical problems and searching for simple, generalisable answers to broadly relevant issues in today’s world.

Research interests: Risk-taking behaviour, Gaming and well-being, Human behaviour modelling

Areas of expertise: Experimental studies, Agent-based modelling, Questionnaire design

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Dr. Oh Hui Si
Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Oh Hui Si is an Industrial-Organizational (I/O) psychologist who specializes in research topics on emotions, social psychology, health and well-being and team creativity. She obtained her PhD in Psychology from Singapore Management University. Her current role is a research scientist in the Centre for Advanced Technologies in Online Safety (CATOS) in A*STAR IHPC and A*STAR Social Science and Technology Horizontal Technology Coordinating Office (HTCO).

She has experiences in utilizing mixed research methodology to understand how emotions predict team creativity and drive consumers’ behavioral intents in multiple cross-disciplinary projects. Since 2023, she has also been at the forefront of addressing key issues on Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy and mis/disinformation through her active involvement in multiple projects in which she served as a Co-I or project lead. She has previously published her works in various journals, such as Academy of Management Discoveries, Behavior and Information Technology, Aging, Neuropsychology and Cognition.

Research interests: Creativity, Emotions, Health and well-being, Interactive feedback, Leadership

Areas of expertise: Questionnaire design, Experimental based study

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Dr. Chitra Panchapakesan Kumari
Senior Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Research interests: Digital health communication, Mis/disinformation, Online safety, Disease surveillance, Infectious diseases

Areas of expertise: Qualitative methods (e.g. interviews, focus groups), Quantitative methods (e.g. surveys)

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Dr. Serenella Tolomeo
Senior Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Serenella Tolomeo’s research focuses on determining psychological and neural mechanisms underlying mental health conditions. Her research goals integrate psychological medicine, cognitive neuroscience, neuroimaging and decision-making neuroscience measures. Her research career began with a BSc degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and subsequently obtained a MSc in Clinical Psychology, Neuropsychology and Developmental Psychology at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy). She obtained her PhD in Medicine from the University of Dundee (UK) in 2020. She spent two years as a postdoctoral fellow at NUS conducting cognitive neuroscience and neuroimaging studies in mental health.

She started her position at the Social & Cognitive Computing Department at the Institute of High Performance Computing in 2021. She is currently leading research investigating stress, burnout and resilience in the workplace and the impact of problematic addictive behaviours, such as gaming and gambling.

Research interests: Cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying symptoms of mental illness (e.g. mood and addictive disorders), Digital health, Neuroscience, Mental health

Areas of expertise: Utilizing various experimental techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, Cognitive decision science and computational modelling in patient populations, high-risk populations and healthy volunteers

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Dr. Oscar Sun Shanshan
Scientist
Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC)

Dr. Sun Shanshan received her B.E. and M.S. degree from Shanghai Maritime University and Ph.D. degree from School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. Her thesis provided a methodology about how to expand conventional travel behaviour model by considering the impacts of emerging in-vehicle activities.

In her research, the effects from information and communication technology (ICT) on people’s travel time use patterns are identified through measuring the psychometric effects of habit and addiction. Given such enabled travel-based multitasking flexibility, potential strategies in behavioural nudges can be summarised to better guide transport services design and sustainable urban planning. She is passionate about exploring behavioural economics in different contexts such as lifestyle or financial decision-making.

Research interests: Behavioural economics, Travel-based multitasking behaviour, Habit and addiction behaviour

Areas of expertise: Choice modelling, Psychometric, Survey design

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