CNCS 5th Anniversary
On 4 April 2025, the Centre proudly held our 5th Anniversary event at ONE°15 Marina and celebrated with over 100 attendees, which included our affiliates, partners, collaborators and supporters over the past 5 years.
Before the event officially kicked off, the CNCS team set up five booths for guests streaming in to interact with us and learn more about the work that is ongoing at the Centre.
Our Director, Professor Koh Lian Pin, opened the event with a sharing on the Centre's achievements and impact since we started, and our development over the years.
The programme continued with sharings from two of our researchers:
Assistant Professor Hao Tang, a Principal Investigator at the Centre, talked about the significance of geospatial science and how technology can scale up nature-based climate solutions. He also shared about our flagship project, Carbon Integrity Singapore (CISG), a regional research initiative to improve carbon estimates and develop carbon density maps, which is supported by HSBC and the National Research Foundation.
Ms Alicia Ong, a PhD student, talked about her scientific research journey, and how it all began with an opportunity through the Young Scientist Award supported by Dalio Philanthropies.
We then engaged our audience with a game segment midway through our programme, with prizes up for grabs! Everyone had a great, light-hearted time.
We then proceeded with a panel discussion - From Insight to Impact: Bridging Science and Partnerships for Nature and Climate, which featured Dr Karenne Tun, Group Director (National Biodiversity Centre) at NParks, Ms Geraldine Chin, Country Director (Singapore) at Conservation International, and Assistant Professor Lim Jun Ying, a Principal Investigator at CNCS, as panellists and Ms Melissa Low, a Research Fellow at CNCS, as the moderator.
There was also an opportunity for the audience to put questions to the panel and one of them was "What gives you hope?".
Dr Karenne answered with an anecdote from when she was working on coral conservation in Singapore early on. People were skeptical about whether it was worth it or not, but her mentor Prof Chou Loke Ming said, which she quoted, "If the corals haven't given up, why should we?".
The Centre's Deputy Director, Associate Professor Adrian Loo, closed the event with a sharing on what's next for CNCS after the progress we have made in the past 5 years, current funding opportunities and called for our guests to continue to give us hope!
The event ended with a networking session over drinks and canapes as guests got to mingle and connect with one another, and continue to interact with the CNCS team at our booths.
A big thank you to everyone who made this event a success!
More photos from the day:
