ROSA Leadership
Professor Straughan’s research interests center around the sociology of family and medical sociology. She is the Director and Principal Investigator at the Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA). Separately, she leads a project investigating the environmental risk factors in childhood obesity. She was also the Principal Investigator of a recently concluded project on Successful Ageing in Singapore, Seoul and Shanghai which involved multiple institutions and a multidisciplinary team. Professor Straughan serves as Consultant on numerous projects commissioned by various government agencies, including the Marriage and Parenthood Survey 2016 & 2012 commissioned by the National Population and Talent Division. She has published in both sociology and medical journals, like Social Science and Medicine, Cancer, and Cancer Causes and Control. Her books include Marriage Dissolution in Singapore: Revisiting Family Values and Ideology in Marriage, and Ultra-Low Fertility in Pacific Asia: Trends, Causes and Policy Issue (with Gavin Jones and Angelique Chan).
Professor Straughan was a Nominated Member of Parliament from 2009 to 2011, during which she argued for work-life balance and the nurture of a more pro-family social environment. Her community involvement includes serving on the Child and Youth Health Task Force, and the Infectious Disease Research Advisory Group (both at the Ministry of Health).
She is happily married to an Applied Mathematician, and they have 2 sons.
Email: paulints@smu.edu.sg
Will Tov is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Singapore Management University. He completed his doctorate in social and personality psychology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the multilevel processes that underlie well-being. At the macro-level, he is interested in cultural similarities and differences in well-being as well as the societal-level conditions associated with well-being. At the micro-level, he examines daily fluctuations in emotion, satisfaction, and meaning—and how these fluctuations are influenced by positive personality traits, memory, and social interactions. He also examines the expression of emotion on social media and the veracity of such expressions as indicators of well-being. At SMU, he has received recognition for his dedication to teaching excellence and was awarded an innovative teaching award. He has also been a recipient of the Lee Kong Chian Fellowship at SMU. His work has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, and the Journal of Personality.
Email: williamtov@smu.edu.sg
Seonghoon Kim is Associate Professor of Economics and Lee Kong Chian Fellow at Singapore Management University and a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Germany. His research interests focus on health economics, labour economics, and public economics. Dr. Kim's current research project examines the causal impacts of income on health and economic outcomes, the impacts of COVID-19 on consumption, employment, and health. He has also published several articles in journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Urban Economics, and Journal of Development Economics. He teaches Health Economics at the advanced undergraduate and Ph.D. levels and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the Ohio State University.
Email : seonghoonkim@smu.edu.sg
ROSA Staff
Having worked in SMU for the past 10 years in various departments, Wensi has built up a wealth of institutional knowledge and is now helming ROSA’s operations team. Wensi keeps the research and operations team on track and coordinates the centre’s outreach efforts with external stakeholders such as the Government, Voluntary-based organisations and the Public. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Singapore Management University (SMU) and Master’s degree in Public Policy from Kings College, London. Believing in lifelong learning, Wensi has been certified as a Lego Serious Play facilitator and a Gallup-certified Strengths Coach.
Email: wensilim@smu.edu.sg
Tel: (65) 6808 7992
Micah is a Research Associate at ROSA and is part of the team generating and communicating the Centre’s research outputs to stakeholders. Prior to this he was a Research Assistant under Professor Paulin Straughan at Singapore Management University (SMU), working on several research projects. Micah’s research interests predominantly focus on understanding health behaviors among older adults from a life course perspective, and the implications that this has for health policy. His work has been published in Social Science and Medicine and The Journal of Family Psychology, and his reports have been mentioned in news outlets such as Channel News Asia, The Straits Times, The New Paper, and Zaobao. He studied Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS) for his Honours degree, and subsequently went on to complete a Master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University of Oxford.
Email: micahtan@smu.edu.sg
Grace is a Research Associate at ROSA and is part of the translational research team for the centre. She graduated from the National University of Singapore with an Honours degree in Social Sciences where she majored in Sociology. Prior to joining ROSA, she worked on an MOE Tier 2 project investigating the environmental factors influencing childhood obesity under Professor Paulin Straughan. Grace’s research interests lie broadly in health and well-being, family sociology, social mobility, and the life course.
Email: llcheong@smu.edu.sg
Catherine Loh has been the Research Panel Manager since September 2018. She assists the Centre Manager in overseeing the Centre's operations and research.
She is responsible for operational activities, managing database systems, maximizing panel retention, and supervising the call centre. She also trains and guides SMU student staff who provide operational assistance to the Centre and service support for survey participants.
Catherine received her Bachelor's degree in Engineering Business Management from Coventry University.
Email: catherineloh@smu.edu.sg
Tel: (65) 6828 0050
Yan Er studied Business Administration in Singapore Polytechnic with a major in Finance and Retail Management before graduating from the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2020 with a Bachelor’s in Arts, majoring in English Language. Prior to joining ROSA, she worked as a trainee in NUS as a Teaching Assistant under the department of Social and Cultural Geography.
Her main duties include assisting in the financial administration matters and daily operations of the centre.
Email: yanertan@smu.edu.sg
Rachel graduated from Singapore Management University with a bachelor's degree in Social Science (Sociology). Her research interests center around gender and family, care work, as well as social stratification and inequality. As a Research Assistant at ROSA, Rachel supports the researchers with translational research at the centre.
Email: rachelngu@smu.edu.sg
Mindy is a Research Assistant at ROSA and is part of the centre’s translational research team. Prior to this, she was a Research Assistant under Professor Paulin Straughan and Professor Lily Kong at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and a Teaching Assistant in the Departments of Sociology and Political Science at NUS. She received a double BA in Political Science and International Relations from Syracuse University (New York, USA) and an MA in International Studies from the University of Washington (Seattle, USA). Mindy’s research interests include identity, family, and public health and social policy development in Singapore and East Asia.
Email: metadai@smu.edu.sg
Jia Ying graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology (Honours) from the Australian National University. She has worked in the field of research across various institutions in both Australia and Singapore. At ROSA, Jia Ying is involved in the Singapore Life Panel project. She is passionate about doing psychological research and contributing to the enhancement of the biopsychological wellbeing of the general public.
Email: jiayinglow@smu.edu.sg
Yen Cong graduated with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Economics (Honours) from the Nanyang Technological University. She is interested in topics like socioeconomic inequality, mental wellness, and public economics. Currently, at ROSA, she mainly works on data processing for the Singapore Life Panel project. Her goal is to work on research that answers difficult but important questions that makes the world a better place to live in.
Email: ycwong@smu.edu.sg
Prior to joining ROSA, I was with the Living Analytics Research Centre (LARC) at the School of Computing and Information System (SCIS) in Singapore Management University (SMU) under Professor Lim Ee-Peng. During my time at LARC, I was responsible for managing most of the IT administrative matters, including IT procurement and maintenance of IT equipment such as desktop PCs, laptops, servers, and other IT peripherals to ensure the center’s IT systems run smoothly.
Email: desmondyap@smu.edu.sg