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LEADERSHIP TEAM AT ISCE2

Dr Ng Wai Kiong
Acting Executive Director
Dr Xu Jianwei
Deputy Executive Director (Research)
Gavin-Chua-115x138-resized
Dr Gavin Chua
Coordinating Director
Wang-Peiyi-115x138-resized
Mr Wang Peiyi
Division Director
Strategy
Radiana Soh
Ms Radiana Soh
Division Director
Business Development
Ms Leong Wan Bin
Division Director
Administration
zhang lili
Dr Lili Zhang
Division Director
Catalysis and Green Process Engineering
Dr Lim Yee Hwee
Division Director
Chemical Biotechnology and Biocatalysis


Ken Lee 115x138
Dr Ken Lee
Division Director
Green Chemistry
Assoc Prof Li Zibiao
Division Director
Sustainable and Green Materials
Dr Daniel Cheong
Division Director
Digital Chemistry
Project Management Office


Mr Andrew Lim
Division Director
Advanced Characterization and Instrumentation
Mr Ng Junwei
Division Director
Lab and Facilities Management
Prof Huang Kuo-Wei
Scientific Director
Mr Norhazry Johari
Director
Special Projects



Mr Wang Peiyi

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wang peiyi

Mr Wang Peiyi
Division Director
Strategy

Mr Wang Peiyi is the Division Director (Strategy) and oversees the Strategic Planning and Communications roles.

Peiyi started his career with A*STAR in the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (pre-cursor of ISCE2), where he supported national strategy efforts in Joint Industrial Sectorial Planning and Industry Transformation Mapping (Energy & Chemicals). Subsequently, he had contributed to the establishment of A*STAR’s first international partner’s centre in Suzhou Industrial Park for deep tech startups to enter the China market. He had also established multiple innovation programmes to foster Singapore’s deep tech ecosystem, such as the A*STAR-NHG-NTU biomedtech incubator co11ab, FTIC Food Tech Startup Challenge, and the A*STAR Advanced Manufacturing Startup Challenge.

Peiyi graduated with a BSc in Chemical Engineering (Cum Laude) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a scholarship from A*STAR.



Ms Radiana Soh

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Radiana Soh

Ms Radiana Soh
Division Director
Business Development

Radiana Soh is Division Director of Business Development at ISCE2. Her role involves identifying and nurturing strategic partnerships, collaboration projects, and guiding the institute's efforts in translating research breakthroughs into real-world industry solutions.

Additionally, Radiana is also the Director of Chemicals, Materials and Sustainability at the Agency for Science, Technology & Research’s (A*STAR’s) Innovation & Enterprise Group. With more than a decade of experience in technology development and commercialisation, she leads a team that focuses on ideation, marketing, technology commercialisation, productization, business model and venture co-creation, licensing and collaboration to build ecosystems from SMEs to MNCs.

Her areas of interest include creating new innovations and start-ups and seeing through new product launches that flourish into viable businesses. She places particular importance on being able to comprehend and execute solutions for complex business and technical requirements.



Dr Lili Zhang

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zhang lili

Dr Lili Zhang
Division Director
Catalysis and Green Process Engineering

Assistant Prof. Lili Zhang received her B.Eng. and Ph.D. degree from Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2004 and 2011, respectively. Prior to joining A*STAR in 2012, Lili was a process engineer at Micron from 2004 to 2006, and a research fellow in Professor Ruoff’s group at The University of Texas at Austin from 2011 to 2012.

Lili's expertise is in green and sustainable catalysis, electrocatalysis, clean energy production, carbon-based materials and their applications in energy storage and catalysis. She is a Global Highly Cited Researcher, and her research works have led to over 100 publications with more than 25,000 citations (H-index: 50, by Web of Science).

Research Interests and Areas:
- Advanced materials and sustainable processes for clean energy solutions
- Fundamental materials chemistry and physics, and electrochemistry
- Reaction mechanistic study
- Waste upcycling



Prof Yeoh Lean Weng

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Prof Yeoh Lean Weng
Chief Sustainability Officer, A*STAR,
Advisor, ISCE2,
Advisor, Urban and Green Technology Horizontal Technology Programme Office (UGT HTPO), Advisor, Urban Solutions and Sustainability Innovation & Enterprise (USS I&E)
Consultant, Public Sector Science & Technology Policy & Plans Office (S&TPPO)

Prof Yeoh Lean Weng is Chief Sustainability Officer at A*STAR, Advisor to the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), Urban and Green Technology Horizontal Technology Programme Office (UGT HTPO) and Urban Solutions and Sustainability Innovation & Enterprise (USS I&E). Prof Yeoh is also a Consultant for the Public Sector Science & Technology Policy & Plans Office (S&TPPO).

As Chief Sustainability Officer of A*STAR, Prof Yeoh is responsible for the strategic positioning of A*STAR’s capabilities and curation of A*STAR’s contributions to address national demands and opportunities in sustainability. He represents and promotes A*STAR as a leading organisation for sustainable solutions and technology development globally. 
Prof Yeoh is active in the Singapore engineering professional and academic circles. He is Emeritus President of the Institution of Engineers (IES), Chairman of IES Awards Committee, President of IES from 2018 to 2020, President of the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Singapore Chapter from 2009 to 2011, Deputy President of IES from 2017 to 2018 and Vice President of IES from 2014 to 2017. He has co-authored numerous professional publications. He is a Fellow of INCOSE, the first fellow in Singapore. He is concurrently an adjunct professor with NUS. He is a member of the PUB Water Technology Advisory Panel (WTAP), and Energy Studies Institute. He is also a board member of International Electrotechnical Commission Market Strategy Board (IEC MSB). 
Prof Yeoh received his Bachelor of Science (with Honours) and Master of Science degrees from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1983 and 1987 respectively. He further obtained two Masters (with distinction) in 1990 and a PhD degree in Electrical Engineering in 1997 from the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS). He attended the Program for Management Development at Harvard University in 2003.

Prof Yeoh is a recipient of the Singapore Public Administration Medal in 2001 (Bronze) and 2008 (Silver). He was conferred the Defence Technology Prize in 1992, 2004 and 2007, the last of which was an individual award for C4I development, large scale systems engineering and technology leadership.



Dr Ng Wai Kiong

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Dr Ng Wai Kiong
Acting Executive Director

Dr Ng Wai Kiong is the Acting Executive Director at A*STAR's Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2) where he also leads the Strategy & Development division. He received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the National University of Singapore and Diplom Ingenieur (Chemical Engineering) from the Technical University of Clausthal in Germany supported by the GlaxoSmithKline-Economic Development Board (EDB) scholarship. Upon graduation, he joined the Chemicals group of EDB Industry Development Division. During the formative years of A*STAR's former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (re-organised as ISCE2 in April 2022), he was assigned to the institute and subsequently headed the Industrial Programme Development group. He has also previously managed the Applied Process Technology group of Sulzer Chemtech.

Research Interests and Areas

  • Novel formulations: amorphous solid technologies via mesoporous materials, co-extrusion, co-milling, and co-precipitation using supercritical fluids
  • Particle technology: micronisation, granulation, powder flow, fluidisation, advanced characterisation, process analytical technologies
  • Mass transfer technologies in oil & gas industry


Dr Calum MacBeath

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Dr Calum MacBeath
Director, Formulation Technologies, ISCE2

Dr Calum MacBeath is a technologist with almost 20 years of global experience in the consumer products industry. He received his D.Phil in Chemistry from the University of Sussex in the UK. After completing a Marie Curie Research Fellowship at the University of Murcia in Spain, he joined Procter & Gamble in its research centre in Pescara, Italy, and relocated to Singapore in 2011. During his time in P&G, Calum managed technology development programmes across the company's business units, bringing new technologies from the lab to the market.



Dr Armando Borgna

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Dr Armando Borgna
Director, Special Projects, ISCE2
 
Dr Armando Borgna is Director, Special Projects at the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2). He also holds an Adjunct Associate Professorship from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at the Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina (1983) and his Ph.D. from the same University (1987). From 1987 until 1990 he worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse (IRC- CNRS), Villeurbanne, France. In 1991 he was appointed Professor and Researcher of CONICET (National Research Council of Argentina) at the Institute of Research on Catalysis and Petrochemistry (INCAPE), Universidad Nacional del Litoral, Argentina. From 2001 to 2004 he worked as a Senior Research Associate at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), The Netherlands. He was Visiting Professor in the School of Chemical, Biological and Materials Engineering at the University of Oklahoma (USA) and in the Department of Chemical & Environmental Engineering at the Universidad of Zaragoza (Spain). He was awarded an ACS fellow (1997) and Fulbright Fellow (1999). He has been involved in research on Catalysis and Materials Science for more than 15 years. His research interest is in the area of heterogeneous catalysis and the goal of his research is to understand the relationship between the catalytic performance and the microscopic structure and composition of the catalytic materials.

Research Interests and Areas

The goal of Dr Borgna's research is to understand the structural/electronic characteristics of catalytic active sites and the structure-catalytic performance relationships. Achieving this goal requires multidisciplinary studies involving materials synthesis, materials characterisation under reaction conditions, and precise measurement of the catalytic performance.

Research interests in the area of heterogeneous catalysis:

  • Gas-to-Liquids (GTL), Fischer-Tropsch, C1 chemistry
  • Biomass to Chemicals and Fuels
  • Catalysts for Clean Fuels
  • Molecular sieves
  • Metal Catalysts, Catalyst Deactivation and Regeneration
  • Nanostructured Materials: Advanced Mesoporous Materials Nanoalloy Clusters, Carbon Nanotubes
  • Catalyst characterisation: Characterisation under working conditions, X-Ray Absorption Spectroscopy: EXAFS and XANES, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS)
  • Kinetic Modeling


Dr Brendan Burkett

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Brendan Burkett ICES

Dr Brendan Burkett
Director, Scientific Infrastructure & Analytics, ISCE2

Dr Brendan Burkett leads the Scientific Infrastructure & Analysis division at the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2). He is a PhD graduate in Chemistry from the Research School of Chemistry at the Australian National University and has held postdoctoral appointments at the University of Southampton's Combinatorial Centre of Excellence, and in the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. After a brief stint in academia at the School of Chemical and Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand, he joined A*STAR's former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences in 2008 where he has been involved in the development of antifouling additives for marine coatings and establishing capabilities in the area of stimulus responsive molecular systems.

Research Interests and Areas

  • Thermally promoted molecular fragmentation reactions
  • Programmable molecular architecture
  • Multifunctional additives for care chemicals
  • Mechanistic organic chemistry
  • R&D Strategic Planning

Personal Affiliations

  • Member of the American Chemical Society (ACS)


Mrs Eleanor Ng

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Eleanor Ng ICES

Mrs Eleanor Ng
Director, Corporate Services, ISCE2

Eleanor joined A*STAR in August 2007 as Head (Finance) at the former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences. In that capacity, she was responsible for the company’s finance and procurement functions. In 2009, she joined Science and Engineering Institutes (SCEI) SERC Shared Services and had undertaken a number of key roles in shared services finance. During her tenure, she was involved in improving systems and processes in a number of Research Institutes as well as growing the capabilities of finance and procurement within SCEI.

Eleanor is a Chartered Accountant of Singapore. She has more than 20 years of working experience in the private and public sectors.



Mr Norhazry Johari

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Mr Norhazry Johari
Director
Special Projects

Norhazry is a Chemicals and Energy industry professional, with over 20 years’ experience in the private sector, holding various positions and leadership responsibilities in Technology Licensing, Mass Transfer Technologies and Plant Operations. He has resourcefully guided Multinational company start-ups in Singapore to successfully build regional Asia Pacific presence. This has allowed him to cultivate a unique ability to manage multi-disciplinary initiatives and projects. 

Before joining A*STAR's former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (now known as ISCE2), Norhazry plied his expertise for equally established companies such as Honeywell UOP, Koch Glitsch, GTC Technology, Sulzer Chemtech and Shell Chemicals. Apart from his core passion for sales, Norhazry is similarly adept in the areas of Commercial Excellence, Business Development and Mass Transfer Technologies. He holds a Bachelor of Business Degree from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology and majored in Economics and Finance.

Norhazry Johari ICES


Dr Connie Liu

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Dr Connie Liu
Dr Connie Liu
Director, Strategy Management, ISCE2

Dr Connie Liu is Director of Strategy Management at the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), A*STAR where she oversees the team that supports the planning and coordination of R&D activities and research strategy. The team also looks after project and portfolio management, talent development and organisational change. Previously, she was a Research Scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE), A*STAR and held a Joint Appointment with A*STAR's former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (now known as ISCE2). Her specialisation is in Colloid Science and Advanced Characterisation methods such as synchrotron X-ray scattering and neutron scattering and She currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Chapter of Singapore Crystallographers, under the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (SNIC). Connie completed her BSc.(Advanced) (Hons.1) and PhD in Physical Chemistry at The University of Sydney.


Assoc Prof Li Zibiao

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Assoc Prof Li Zibiao
Division Director
Sustainable & Green Materials

Li Zibiao is the Division Director of Sustainable & Green Materials at the Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2), A*STAR. Li holds a joint appointment at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) and is an adjunct Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS). 

He leads a group of highly experienced researchers at ISCE2 who are working on sustainable polymer science innovation towards circular materials economy. Zibiao obtained his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2014. His research interests focus on materials sustainability and MedTech polymer for healthcare applications.

He is currently leading the Next-Gen Circular Plastic Materials Program funded under the RIE2025 Manufacturing, Trade and Connectivity (MTC) domain. 


Dr Lim Yee Hwee

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Dr Lim Yee Hwee
Division Director
Green Chemistry & Biocatalysis

Yee Hwee heads the Green Chemistry & Biocatalysis Division at A*STAR's Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2) to develop integrative technologies at the interface between chemistry, materials and biology for applications in therapeutics, biotechnology or pharma manufacturing. She is also the Director of Graduate Affairs (SERC), editorial member of the A*STAR Research Publications and Programme Co-Lead for the new A*STAR Strategic Research Program in Synthetic Biology.

Yee Hwee obtained her joint PhD/DPhil from The Scripps Research Institute, USA and University of Oxford, UK where she was trained in natural product total synthesis (Prof. KC Nicolaou) and fluorination radiochemistry (Prof V Gouverneur) respectively. Since starting her career in 2010 as a scientist A*STAR's former Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (now known as ISCE2), she has been working on harnessing the synergistic power of both chemical and biological systems to innovate and find solutions to problems through inter-disciplinary lens. Some of her achievements include the co-invention of *Phine ligand and catalyst platform (licensed to Aspira Scientific in 2015), the development of fluorinase and its application in Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging, and most recently, the discovery of auroramycin, a highly potent anti-infective, doubly glycosylated macrolactam natural product. 

Research expertise and interests:
  • Biocatalysis
  • Chemoenzymatic synthesis
  • Complex molecules synthesis
  • Fluorination
  • Radiochemistry
  • Sustainable natural molecules discovery and characterisation


Andrew Lim

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Andrew Lim
Division Director
Advanced Characterization and Instrumentation

Andrew Lim leads the Advanced Characterization and Instrumentation (ACI) division at A*STAR's Institute of Sustainability for Chemicals, Energy and Environment (ISCE2). This division manages shared scientific resources across ISCE2 and partner closely with internal R&D community to provide analytical and characterization support for research activities. In addition, the division also deploys a wide range of capabilities accompanied by advanced analytical techniques to provide efficient and effective solutions for external industrial sectors in Singapore.

Prior to current appointment, Andrew was Team Leader for Analytics and Characterisation where he led a team comprising of experienced and strong technical professionals to streamline existing analytical operations onto areas of domains, each guided by technical leads that better respond towards evolving and emerging analytical needs. This team is also proficient around the developments of analytical methods, method validations and measurement uncertainties. 

Andrew graduated from National University of Singapore (NUS) with a Bachelor of Technology (Hons), Chemical Engineering in 2011 and subsequently obtained a Master of Science, Industrial & Systems Engineering in 2013.  He is a trained internal auditor for both ISO 9001 and ISO 17025 management systems, quality manager for ISO 17025 and has good experience around these implementations.




Dr Xu Jianwei

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Dr Xu Jianwei is a Deputy Executive Director (Research) at ISCE2, A*STAR and is also an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore (NUS). 

He has previously held various positions at A*STAR including as the co-manager of hybrid thermoelectric program of Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), Strategic Research Councilor and Head of Synthesis and Integration Capability Group at Institute of Materials Research and Engineering.

Throughout his career, Dr Xu has led and participated in numerous competitive grant-funded projects and thematic programs. He has collaborated with many multinational enterprises to develop various functional polymers and hybrid materials. 

Dr Xu has published over 250 articles in refereed journals, edited two books on organic electrochromics and aggregation-induced emission materials, filed more than 40 US and PCT patents and company know-hows, and some of his works have been licensed for commercialization.

Dr Xu has received several awards throughout his career, including the Firefly Award: Innovative Project/Policy Bronze Award from the Ministry of Trade & Industry in Singapore in 2022, the Shimadzu-SNIC Industry Award in Applied and Translational Chemistry in 2021, and the A*STAR Aerospace Programme Achievement Awards in 2018, 2014, and 2011. 

His contributions to the organic chemistry and polymer materials have been recognized through his election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), a Fellow of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (SNIC) as well as a Fellow of the Singapore Plastics and Rubber Institute (PRIS). 

Dr Xu received his B.S. and his M.S. in Chemistry from Department of Chemistry, Nanjing University in China. He graduated from NUS with a PhD degree.

Research Interests:
• Organic chemistry and functional π-conjugated molecules and polymers 
• Organic electrochromic polymers
• Thermoelectric materials
• Aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecules and polymers
• Specialty chemicals and polymers

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