Mr Tan Chin Tiong
Director, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

Mr Tan Chin Tiong, born in Singapore on 3 June 1944, studied at St Joseph's Institution and University of Singapore, graduating in 1967 with a First in History.  He was awarded the University Book Prize. 

Mr Tan has had postings to the Ministry of Finance (Economic Development Division), and the Ministry of Law.  He served with the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) from 1967 to 1982, retiring as Deputy Chief of General Staff.  He attended the 6th Army Staff Course, Camberley, in the United Kingdom in 1972 and the Advanced Management Programme, Stanford-INSEAD in Fontainbleau in 1981. 

Mr Tan was Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Home Affairs (1982-1993), Finance (1993-1995), Information and the Arts (1995-1997) and Foreign Affairs (April 1997 to July 2004).

Mr Tan was awarded The Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1976, The Public Administration Medal (Gold) (Military) in 1981 and The Meritorious Service Medal in 2005.

Mr Tan was Singapore's Ambassador to Japan from 15 October 2004 to 27 January 2012.

Mr Tan was appointed as Director ISEAS from 1 March 2012, and concurrently Ambassador at Large on the same date.

Dr Ooi Kee Beng
Deputy Director, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies

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Dr Ooi was appointed Deputy Director of ISEAS on 1 November 2011.  His books include The Reluctant Politician which won the "Award of Excellence for Best Writing Published in Book Form on Any Aspect of Asia (Non-Fiction)" from the Asian Publishing Convention  2008; and Continent, Coast, Ocean:  Dynamics of Regionalism in Eastern Asia, which was named "Top Academic Work" in 2008 by the ASEAN Book Publishers Association (ABPA).  He is Adjunct Associate Professor at the Southeast Asian Studies Programme at the National University of Singapore, Visiting Associate Professor at the Department of Public and Social Administration at City University of Hong Kong, and Editor of Penang Economic Monthly.

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Rodolfo C Severino, a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies since 2004, is a former ASEAN Secretary-General and former Philippine diplomat. He is the first Head of the ASEAN Studies Centre. He has authored four books, all published by ISEAS: Southeast Asia in Search of an ASEAN Community (2006), ASEAN (2008), The ASEAN Regional Forum (2009) and Where in the World is the Philippines?(2010). Mr Severino served as ASEAN Secretary-General from 1998 to 2002. Prior to that, Mr Severino was Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, and Ambassador to Malaysia, among other duties. He twice served as ASEAN Senior Official for the Philippines.

Dr Termsak Chalermpalanupap
Lead Researcher, Political & Security Affairs

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Dr Termsak Chalermpalanupap is a Visiting Research Fellow at ISEAS and Lead Researcher for Political and Security Affairs.  He retired from the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta in July 2012, after nearly 20 years of service in the political and security field of ASEAN cooperation.  Throughout his ASEAN career, Termsak has contributed opinion pieces, articles and book chapters and presentations on various aspects of ASEAN political and security cooperation, including human rights, nuclear non-proliferation, ASEAN regionalism, and the ASEAN Charter among others.  Termsak is also a Global Associate of the Centre for International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore.  He has a BA in Political Science from Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand and a MA and PhD in Political Science from the University of New Orleans, USA.

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Sanchita Basu Das is an ISEAS Fellow and Lead Researcher for Economic Affairs in the ASEAN Studies Centre at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. She is also the coordinator of the Singapore APEC Study Centre at ISEAS.  Prior to ISEAS, she worked in the private sector as an economist at Consulting Engineering Services, India, ABN AMRO Bank, India and United Overseas Bank, Singapore. She writes book chapters and articles regularly, on economic and financial issues facing Southeast Asia and ASEAN Regionalism. Sanchita has edited two special issues of the ASEAN Economic Bulletin (Economics Journal). She is the author of Road to Recovery: Singapore's Journey through the Global Crisis (ISEAS, 2010) and editor of Achieving the ASEAN Economic Community 2015:  Challenges for Member Countries and Businesses (ISEAS, 2012), Enhancing ASEAN Connectivity (ISEAS, 2013), and ASEAN Economic Community Scorecard:  Performance and Perception (ISEAS, 2013). She has a MBA from the National University of Singapore and a MA from the Delhi School of Economics (India).

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Moe Thuzar is an ISEAS Fellow and the Lead Researcher, Socio-Cultural Affairs of the ASEAN Studies Centre. Before joining the Centre, she headed the ASEAN Secretariat's Human Development Unit. She has contributed to various ASEAN compendia and publications on social and human development. Moe co-authored with Pavin Chachavalpongpun, formerly of the ASC, Myanmar: Life After Nargis (ISEAS, 2009), and is a co-editor of Urbanisation in Southeast Asia:  Issues and Impacts (ISEAS 2012).  Her other research interests cover environmental cooperation in ASEAN and ASEAN's dialogue relations.  Having served in Myanmar's Foreign Service, she is also working on a review of Myanmar's foreign policy, focusing on the post-1988 period. Moe holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the National University of Singapore.

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Amy is in charge of public information and communications for the ASEAN Studies Centre (ASC) at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (ISEAS), Singapore. Before joining ASC, Amy was an Associate Editor with a leading global provider of energy and metals information, and prior to that, she was an Executive Search Director at a boutique executive search company in Singapore, with extensive networks in the banking and finance, academia, hospitality, retail and energy sectors. Amy has also been a Visiting Associate at ISEAS since June 2009 with ISEAS' Energy Studies Programme, and has co-edited the ISEAS Energy Series publications. Amy holds a Master's degree in International Relations from Curtin University, Australia, and her research interests include energy security, human security, and transnational crime.

Pham Thi Phuong Thao
Research Assistant

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Thao joined the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS in November 2012 as a Research Assistant.  Before that, Thao worked in different diplomatic missions in Hanoi, Vietnam, including the Embassy of Finland and the Embassy of India, covering research, public diplomacy activities and communications.  Thao holds a Bachelor of Economics in Foreign Economic Relations from the Foreign Trade University, Hanoi and her research interests include economics, particularly regional trade.

Catherine Rose James
Research Assistant

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Catherine is a Research Assistant with the ASEAN Studies Centre at ISEAS.  Catherine has been working in the areas of water and infrastructure in Asia and Africa with policy think thanks and advisory firms in India, including TERI and ICRA, and later in the UK with WSUP - a not for profit organisation working with water utilities in develeoping countries.  Catherine holds a BA in Economics from St Stephen's College, New Delhi and a Postgraduate Diploma in Rural Management from Xavier Institute of Management, India.  Her research interests include infrastructure policy and reform, private sector development and urbanisation in Asia.

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