TAN Puay Yok (Dr)

Professor

Dr. Tan Puay Yok is Professor and cluster leader of the Landscape Studies group. His academic training was in horticulture science and plant physiology, and his research, teaching, and professional activities now focus on the science, policies, and practices of urban greening and ecology of the built environment. He combines his background in the sciences, experience in urban governance from the public sector, and interactions with practitioners to apply knowledge for urban greening to improve environmental quality and societal well-being. He leads the Urban Ecology Lab@SDE: https://blog.nus.edu.sg/tanlab/).

He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief for Landscape and Urban Planning (Elsevier), Associate Editor for Journal of Urban Ecology (Oxford University Press), Editorial Board Member of npj Urban Sustainability (Nature Partner Journals), and Advisory Board Member of The Gardens Bulletin (Singapore Botanic Gardens). He is active in international collaborations, grant reviews and publishes widely in different forums. He also advises on greening policies, landscape design and planning projects in the region as a means of transferring knowledge from the academia to practice.

With effect from 31 Dec 2019, he is jointly appointed by the National Parks Board, Singapore, as the Group Director of the Singapore Botanic Gardens (https://www.nparks.gov.sg/sbg). The Singapore Botanic Gardens is a leading institute in tropical botany and horticulture and has over its 160-year history, played a key role in the social, economic and environmental history of Singapore and the region. It is one of only three botanic gardens in the world that is currently inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site.

He is concurrently the Executive Director of National Parks and Gardens Cluster, and Chief Science and Technology Officer for the National Parks Board (https://www.nparks.gov.sg/), the national agency responsible for greenery, ecology and conservation matters in Singapore.