Gillian Parker is a senior manager at Economist Impact and is the region's sustainability lead. Previous to this role, she was deputy editor for Eco-Business, a news site and business intelligence firm dedicated to sustainable development and ESG performance. Before moving to Singapore in 2019, Gillian lived in sub-Saharan Africa for nearly a decade. Gillian was reporting as a journalist across a dozen countries for The Economist, TIME and Voice of America on Islamist militancy, commodities and politics. She was also a contributor to The Economist Intelligence Unit, developing bespoke evidence-based policy research on issues ranging from food security to SMEs in Nigeria to Islamic finance. She then worked in Johannesburg and Lagos as a risk analyst, helping firms operate in challenging business environments. Gillian has a MSc in African and Asian Politics from SOAS and hails originally from Northern Ireland.

Dr. Caroline Wong is the Associate Dean for Learning and Teaching and Senior Lecturer at James Cook University, Singapore. Her research in knowledge management takes on a multidisciplinary approach that extends into knowledge-based cities, smart cities, creative cities with special focus on Singapore. In recent years, her research also focused on applied topics like food security and waste management.

Her academic research also extends into the scholarship of teaching and learning in higher education with focus on work-integrated learning, student support as well as future trends in higher education.

Lee Nai Jia is the Head of Real Estate Data Intelligence, Digital and Software Solutions at PropertyGuru Group. Before joining PropertyGuru, he was the Deputy Director of the Institute of Real Estate and Urban Studies (IREUS). He also actively participates in both academic and applied research projects at the Institute.

Besides commenting on market trends, he also researches housing affordability measures, food security feasibility, and ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) trends.

Dr Limin Hee is Director of Research at Singapore’s Centre for Liveable Cities (CLC), a nexus and knowledge centre for liveable and sustainable cities, where she focuses on research strategies, content development and international collaborations.

Under Dr Hee’s leadership, CLC Research spearheads forward-looking studies that consider how cities can prepare for the future and thrive in the face of driving forces such as resource shifts, the push for net-zero cities, ageing societies, and new ways of live-work-play.

She is also the project lead for collaborative research projects to promote thoughtful planning and design to enhance liveability in cities, and on how cities can make the necessary urban transformation towards decarbonisation, as well as enabling new work-live-play models. She played similar leading research roles at the National University of Singapore School of Design and Environment, as well as at the Centre for Sustainable Asian Cities and the Asia Research Institute.

Dr Hee’s individual research focuses on urban liveability and sustainability and their agenda for architecture, urbanism and public space. She has been the recipient of several accolades and her work on cities has been widely published, including in international refereed journals and architectural reviews. Her recent books include A City in Blue and Green: A Singapore Story (Springer: 2019 - forthcoming), Constructing Singapore Public Space (Springer: 2016) and Future Asian Space (NUS Press: 2012).

She obtained her Doctor of Design from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, where she has been invited to speak as a notable alumnus. She obtained her Master of Arts (Architecture) as well as her professional degree in Architecture, for which she received top honours, from the National University of Singapore.

Sumana is a senior policy professional with 17 years of experience. Having worked at several dynamic and vibrant tech firms, Sumana designs and implements policies through advocacy, strategic communication and evidence-based analysis. With a flair for writing and communication, Sumana is able to negotiate complex engagements & cultivate senior-level internal/external relationships.

Sumana holds a Masters in Public Policy from the University of Michigan, as well as a B.A. in Political Science and Geography from UCLA.