ENgAGE Ageing in the Right Place Symposium 2025
Keynote Speaker: Age-Friendly Cities from WHO Perspective (Virtual)
Dr Thiago Herick de Sa
Technical Officer
World Health Organization
Demographic Change and Healthy Ageing Unit
Department for Social Determinants of Health
Switzerland
Thiago Herick de Sa holds a degree in Sports Science, and Masters and PhD degrees in Public Health. He started his career as a physical educator, working with older people at hospitals, primary care settings and households in Brazil. From 2010, Thiago worked as a researcher in Brazil and in the UK, with a track record of scientific publications in high-impact journals.
Thiago joined WHO in 2017 to support the work around urban, transport and health, including the development of WHO’s Urban Health Research Agenda (2022), the Sourcebook on Integrating Health in Urban and Territorial Planning (2020) and the adaptation for global use of the HEAT tool (2021).
In 2022, Thiago joined the Department of Social Determinants of Health to lead the work on Age-friendly environments, including the coordination of WHO’s Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, the development of the guide for National Programs of Age-friendly Cities and Communities and the technical support on age-friendly environments to WHO Member States.
Moderators
Emi Kiyota
Associate Professor Emi Kiyota is an internationally recognized expert in environmental gerontology, participatory design, and inclusive urban development. With over two decades of experience, she is dedicated to creating age-inclusive, resilient communities that promote dignity and well-being across all stages of life. Dr. Kiyota is the founder and director of Ibasho, a non-profit organization that facilitates the co-creation of community spaces by and for older adults in diverse cultural contexts, including Japan, the Philippines, Nepal, and the United States.
Her academic work bridges research and practice, focusing on the intersection of social infrastructure, design innovation, and community empowerment. Currently serving as an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore, she collaborates with urban planners, architects, and policymakers to advance sustainable and equitable approaches to create living environment with and for older persons.
Dr. Kiyota has served as an advisor to various international agencies, including the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Asia Development Bank. Her participation in the jury panel for the Singapore Institute of Planners reflects her commitment to recognizing transformative planning efforts that build inclusive, sustainable communities for future generations.
Thang Leng Leng
Associate Professor Thang Leng Leng is socio-cultural anthropologist and associate professor with the Department of Japanese Studies, National University of Singapore. She is also co-lead of the workstream on purposeful longevity with the Health District@Queenstown, a joint initiative by National University of Singapore, National University Health System and Housing and Development Board Singapore.
Her research interests focus largely around aging-related issues that include intergenerational programs and relationships, active aging, retirement migration, caregiving and senior housing. She publishes widely on these topics, especially relating to Japan and Singapore contexts.
She is active in advancing the intergenerational field not only in research, but also in practice and policy fronts. She was co-editor-in- chief of Journal of Intergenerational Relationships, and also participated actively in international movements on promoting intergenerational work. She is current President of Singapore Gerontological Society and also active in community services, serving with Fei Yue Community Services and Presbyterian Community Services in Singapore.
Associate Professor Lim Yee Wei is a physician researcher with two areas of interest: the design and evaluation of integrated care systems, and the role of social innovations in health. His work has involved healthcare systems in Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Australia and the US, covering areas including pandemic preparedness programs, primary care capacity building, elder care, and healthcare technology assessment. He co-led a multi-million dollar Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation project to determine the future of diagnostic platforms for infectious diseases in developing countries, resulting in a series of papers that were published in Nature, and formed the basis for the Foundation’s Grand Challenges grant call. He co-led the NIHA Healthcare Leadership Programme from 2011-2015.
Jean You
Panellists
Panel: Ageing Meaningfully in Intergenerational Communities
Kyosuke SAKAKURA Ph.D.
Professor
Tokyo City University
Kyosuke Sakakura is a Professor of the Faculty of Urban Life Studies, Tokyo City University. And also the representative director of the Mita no Ie General Incorporated Association. He has served as a member of the Setagaya Ward Board of Education since 2022. Sakakura received his PhD in Media and Governance from Keio University, in 2019. His fields of interests are community design and management based on sociology and urban design. He has conducted practical research on community building methods for local communities and organizations from the perspective of "co-creation platforms" where connections and activities are created through the interaction of diverse actors.
Since 2008, he has been operating ‘Shiba no Ie’ in Minato Ward, Tokyo, which is a leading example of ‘Ibasho’ in Japan. Currently, he has established the “Oyamachi Living Lab” in Oyamadai which is the home town of Tokyo City University, and are promoting numerous cross-sectoral co-creation projects with citizens, government, and private companies aimed at creating a Japanese-style ‘15-minute city’ that fosters well-being.
Dr Donghee Han
Director, Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly Board Member & Korean Representative, Active Aging Consortium in Asia Pacific` Board Member, Korean Gerontological Society Head, Commission of Elderly Policy in Busan Metropolitan City Government Visiting professor Univ Respati Yoyakarata Indonesia
Dr. Donghee Han is the Director of the Research Institute of Science for the Better Living of the Elderly (RISBLE). She serves on the board of the Active Aging Consortium in Asia Pacific and the Korean Gerontological Society. Additionally, she is a visiting professor at University Respati Yogyakarta in Indonesia and chairperson of the Commission of Elderly Policy in Busan Metropolitan City Government. She also consults for the National Pension System and 15-minute city of Busan.
Dr. Han has received Korean government awards for her RISBLE programs, “Information and Culture in Cyber Spaces for Older Persons” and “Re-design for Dementia Patients and their Families.” She has developed innovative ICT programs for older people, including Cyber Family, Cyber Neighbors, and Internet Navigators. Recently, she created CEP (Cognitive, Emotional, and Physical) Programs as narrative aids and for thought expression skills for the elderly. She is also a columnist writing on various aging topics for newspapers and broadcasts in Korea.
Dr Christy Nishita
Gerontologist and Researcher | University of Hawaii's Center on Ageing
Dr. Christy Nishita is a Gerontologist and Researcher at the University of Hawaii’s Center on Ageing. She received her PhD in Gerontology from the University of Southern California in 2004. She has an extensive background in long-term care coordination, caregiving, senior housing, Alzheimer’s disease support programs, intergenerational programming and age-friendly community development. She is the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Kūpuna Collective. Kūpuna is Native Hawaiian for respected elder and the Collective is a social incubator and network of over 200 kūpuna-serving organizations and 500 individuals in Hawaii.
Panel: Ageing Well in Place for Solo Older Persons
Ms. Maiko OYA
Deputy Director, Division of Dementia Policy and Community-Based Long-Term Care Promotion, Bureau of the Elderly, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare
Ms Maiko OYA worked as a nurse and midwife in a hospital for five years, and studied at a master course in a university after clinical experience. Her research topic in the master course was developing a new method to assess and detect troubles of catheterization collaborated with a medical device industry.
Since 2016, she has been working as a nursing technical officer at the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. She has engaged in nursing education, licensure examination for nurses, support for nursing managers, medical fee system in hospitals and home-visiting nurse stations, and global health. Sha has been in her current position since 2024 and is in charge of policy-making toward supporting community development in local governments for prevention of long-term care and support of daily life for the elderly.
Panel: Ageing in Place Amid Climate Change
Associate Professor Rebecca Patrick
Academic Convener (Climate CATCH Lab) ) | Associate Professor (Climate Change and Health) Melbourne School of Population and Global Health Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, The University of Melbourne
Associate Professor Patrick is an academic and practitioner who is internationally recognised for her broad ranging expertise in climate change and public health. In the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Australia Patrick convenes research, policy-relevant and capacity building projects including for international, regional and national partners. Prior to joining the Melbourne, she was the inaugural Director, Deakin Sustainable Health Network and Co-Lead Health, Nature, Sustainability Research Group.
She has expertise in participatory, qualitative, and co-design research methods in the areas of climate change and public health. Her training programs on climate, environment and health has been recognised with two Vice Chancellor awards and Australasian Green Gown Award. She has been CI/AI on >$6.5M funded research projects, published >60papers as lead/senior author and supervised more than 50 Honours, Masters and PhD students to successful completion. Prior to completing her PhD (2012), she worked for >10 years in public health with priority populations in the UK, Africa and Australia.
Ms Yuko Arai
Senior Urban Specialist
Yuko Arai is a Senior Urban Specialist at the World Bank’s Urban, Disaster Risk Management, Resilience and Land Global Practice. She brings over 20 years of experience working on urban development, currently leading a series of projects in Indonesia related to urban and regional planning, circular economy and solid waste management, and slum upgrading with inclusive urban designs that incorporate universal accessibility. She co-leads the Inclusive Cities Knowledge Silo Breaker Group in the World Bank and has recently co-authored the global report “Silver Hues: Building Age-Ready Cities.”
Prior to joining the World Bank, she was a private sector urban and transport planner based in the East Asia Region, working in Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Her experience spans across spatial and land use planning, slum upgrading, urban development Master Plans, inclusive urban designs, land readjustment pilots, transit-oriented development, inter-city high-speed railway development, and more. She has worked for capacity building projects for local officials on urban/regional plan formulation and development control through writing manuals for use in training courses and lecturing in some of them. She holds master’s degrees in Urban Planning, Growth and Regeneration from the University of Cambridge, UK, and Civil Engineering (hydrology) from the University of Tokyo, Japan.
Panel: Design & Policy Dialog
Mr Chern Siang Jye
Chief Corporate Officer of the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC)
Chern Siang Jye is Assistant Chief Executive Officer of Agency for Integrated Care. He oversees AIC’s Sector Group which includes sector planning and engagement efforts with partners and stakeholders in the Community Care sector.
AIC supports the Community Care sector to be ready for the growing and evolving needs of our population and creates networks and partnerships to enable Seniors to live well and age gracefully. At AIC, Siang Jye previously oversaw strategy and corporate functions, sector leadership development, grant making and research and data.
Prior to AIC, Siang Jye led the Strategy and Infrastructure Planning functions within the Ministry of Health. He also led the Strategic Planning division, oversaw Singapore’s Intellectual Property policy development and drove projects to improve access to legal aid and insolvency schemes at the Singapore Ministry of Law. He started his career at the Singapore Economic Development Board where he worked on Government-
Government projects.
Mr Chiu Wen Tung
Group Director (Research & Development)
Urban Redevelopment Authority
Mr Chiu Wen Tung is Group Director (Research & Development) at Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA). He leads his team to research for solutions to meet Singapore future planning needs and steers URA’s research programmes. Keys areas of interest include planning for social-demographic trends such as an ageing population, catering for growing business needs such as e-commerce, and leveraging new technologies such as autonomous vehicles and digital planning.
Wen Tung was previously Executive Director (Resource Development) in EDB, responsible for planning and securing resources needed for industries to grow in Singapore.
Wen Tung graduated with a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the Imperial College, United Kingdom and with High Honours from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business Executive MBA programme.