Ms Hazel Khoo

Director, Coastal Protection
PUB, Singapore's National Water Agency

Since the appointment of PUB as the national coastal protection agency in Apr 2020, Hazel has been leading whole-of-nation efforts to safeguard Singapore from the threats of sea level rise. She oversees the formulation of the policy and regulatory framework, develops strategies to address Singapore’s unique challenges, as well as establishes design standards and guidelines for adaptation planning and implementation of coastal protection tailored to the urban context.

She also guides the coastal adaptation site-specific studies for the South-east coast, North-west coast and the coastal barrier feasibility study. Her role includes engaging the public, to which focus group sessions under “Our Coastal Conversations” have been launched to discuss options and their trade-offs and opportunities, as well as to serve as a platform for co-creation with the community.

Hazel has established a new research programme in coastal protection and flood management, including a new centre of excellence – CFI Singapore, to drive the development of innovative solutions, catalyze the growth of the local R&D ecosystem, as well as to facilitate translation of solutions. She also oversees the development of the national coastal-inland model to build local capability in holistic flood risk assessment and coastal forecasting.

Hazel is a member of the Governing Board for the St. John’s Island National Marine Lab (SJINML) and member of Governance Committee, Earth Observatory of Singapore.

She is also on the Steering Committee for the Marine Climate Change Science (MCCS) Programme, and member of the Programme Management Committee for the Climate Impact Science Research (CISR) and the National Sea Level Rise Programme (NSLP). She also serves on the National University of Singapore College of Design and Engineering Advisory Board as well as the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Consultative Committee.