Environmental Sustainability Measurement

Dr. Kevin Ow Yong is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the Singapore Institute of Technology. He holds a First Class Honours Degree (with a University Medal) in Accounting from Nanyang Technological University and received his PhD degree from Duke University. He has previously worked at Peking University as an associate professor, Singapore Management University as an assistant professor, and Singapore Airlines as a regional accountant and financial analyst.

Dr. Ow Yong has been a Chartered Accountant (CA) and Certified Public Accountant (CPA) since 2003 as well as a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) since 2002. He currently sits on the IS Chartered Accountant Journal Editorial Advisory Panel. He is also a member of the UAFRS Advisory Council with Valens Research. He has previously served on the Candidate Programmes Committee with the CFA Society (Singapore) and was on the advisory board with Brahm Centre, a non-profit charity organisation as their finance advisor.

His work has been published in numerous well-known accounting research journals, including the Review of Accounting Studies, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, Journal of Accounting and Public Policy, European Accounting Review, Advances in Accounting, and China Journal of Accounting Research.  He has been cited in two of Singapore’s most well-circulated newspapers, the Straits Times and the Business Times on several occasions, and in CPA Singapore (Institute of Singapore Chartered Accountants publication), Accounting and Business (ACCA publication), Pulses (previously, the Singapore Stock Exchange Journal), Asian Scientist, Smart Investor, QFinance and CFO Asia, a publication of The Economist Group. He has also received invitations to speak at several top ranking universities in China,including Tsinghua University, Sun Yat-Sen University and Xiamen University as well as other famous universities in the Asia-Pacific region. He was invited as a guest lecturer to teach at Kozminski University, the top private university in Poland, and at Kyushu University, widely regarded as one of the top ten best universities in Japan.

In recognition of his research work, he has won the Second Best Paper Award at the Chicago Quantitative Alliance Academic Competition, the Best Paper Award from the Third International Conference of Accounting and Finance (Danang City, Vietnam), and the Best Paper Award from the China Journal of Accounting Research Symposium (Guangzhou, China). He has received several research grants for his research work, including a research grant from the KPMG Foundation and the International Association for Accounting Education and Research (IAAER) in 2011 and the prestigious Ministry of Education Tier II educational grant in 2015 for his research work on fair value accounting.

Dr Jeffrey Kwik is currently an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology involved in their sustainability program. He was a senior researcher at the National University of Singapore studying various aspects of community ecology and biology in Singapore’s aquatic habitats; a lecturer at the University of Queensland co-ordinating their Australian marine biology programs; and a lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic teaching aquaculture, fish husbandry, health, and disease management.

Dr Kwik is a fish biologist and ecologist with more than 30 years of experience studying fishes in both freshwater and marine habitats, and across tropical to temperate ecosystems in countries including Singapore, Indonesia, Fiji, and Australia. His specific areas of expertise include trophic and community ecology, growth and development, invasive biology, reproductive biology, and the sensory biology of fishes. He has more than 30 publications on fish research in journals such as the Journal of Morphology, Ecological Engineering, Biological Invasions, Hydrobiologia, and Journal of Applied Ichthyology; and is on the journal editorial boards of the Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Philippine Journal of Systematic Biology and Aquatic Ecosystems Health and Management.

Since 2005, he also has been involved in several consultancies looking at the aquatic diversity in Singapore’s waters including five PUB-commissioned involving applied research projects such as studying the freshwater fish communities and characterizing the food webs in the reservoirs and waterways of Singapore; researching the environmental impacts of floating solar panels on the aquatic and avian communities within and along the perimeters of reservoirs; and most recently, investigating the applications of nature-based solutions (i.e. biomanipulation techniques) for improving water quality and controlling nuisance issues (i.e., midges) in Singapore’s reservoirs.

Dr. Hu Chengcheng has over 10 years of experience in the field of sustainability research and application, collaborating with diverse stakeholders including government agencies and industry sectors such as manufacturing, technology, finance, food, and oil & gas, translating strategy into actions. She is a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) subject expert helping clients in comprehending and mitigating the carbon footprints of their products and services to enhance sustainability.

Her professional journey includes a significant tenure at Environmental Resources Management (ERM) Consulting, where she held the position of Principal Consultant, spearheading initiatives in product sustainability and carbon finance. In this role, she delved into various aspects of sustainability, including circular economy practices, sustainable supply chains, greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting and reporting, assurance, and sustainability finance, among others.

Before ERM, Chengcheng worked in the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) as a research scientist, specialising in LCA methodology research and development. Her responsibilities extended to supporting governmental agencies in regulatory research and development, while also guiding industries—ranging from multinational corporations to small and medium-sized enterprises—in the formulation of strategies for decarbonisation transactions, waste management, and circular economy applications.

Chengcheng received her doctoral degree in Environmental Engineering from Nanyang Technological University (NTU), complemented by the prestigious NRF Clean Energy scholarship. Additionally, she has acquired numerous global sustainability certifications from reputable institutions such as Cambridge and DTU, alongside obtaining the Advanced Certificate in Learning and Performance (ACLP) from WSQ. Beyond her professional endeavours, Chengcheng likes flora design and outdoor sports. Moreover, she actively participates in community activities during her leisure time, reflecting her commitment to holistic well-being and societal contribution.