Sustainable and Resilient Data Centres

Dr. Lock is a Professor (Engineering) at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and the Head of its Energy Efficiency Technology Centre. He plays an active role in energy efficiency and sustainability, being the Chairman of Accreditation Committee for Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) and the Co-Chair of Steering Committee of Singapore Certified Energy Managers (SCEM) Scheme. He is an Accredited Tier Designer awarded by the Uptime Institute. He is a specialist consulting engineer in the areas of mission-critical electrical design, power quality, EMC, and safety. He conducted many power failure investigations of data centres.

Professor Lock has a unique blend of practicing and academic experience acquired through a career which is equally split between the industry and the academia. He received both his B.Sc. (1975) and Ph.D. (1979) degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Strathclyde, UK. He was a faculty at the Department of Electrical Engineering, National University of Singapore for 17 years when he left to set up his consulting practice in 1997. He returned to the academia as a professor at SIT in 2016 after 20 years in the industry.

He is a registered Professional Engineer (Electrical) and served as a Board Member of the Professional Engineers Board, Singapore for 14 years. He is a Fellow of Academy of Engineering Singapore and an Honorary Fellow of the ASEAN Federation of Engineering Organizations.

He is the co-Laureate of the 2021 WFEO Medal for Excellence in Engineering Education awarded by the World Federation of Engineering Organisations. He received the Public Service Medal (2015) and the Public Service Star (2020).

Dr. Lee Poh Seng (PS) is the Dean’s Chair Associate Professor in Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS), where he combines his deep expertise in energy-efficient cooling technologies and sustainable data centre design with a commitment to academic and research excellence. With a PhD from Purdue University, Prof. Lee has built a career that spans both innovative research and practical applications in the field of mechanical engineering, particularly focusing on liquid and two-phase cooling systems, green data centre technologies, and alternative cooling solutions.

At NUS, Prof. Lee holds several key positions that allow him to influence energy policy and research direction. He serves as the Executive Director of the Energy Studies Institute (ESI), Co-Director of the Singapore Energy Centre (SEC), and Director of the Centre for Energy Research & Technology (CERT), roles through which he promotes the development and adoption of sustainable energy technologies.

In addition to his academic and leadership roles, Prof. Lee is also the founder of CoolestDC Pte Ltd, a startup aimed at commercializing innovative liquid cooling solutions for data centres, particularly in tropical climates. This endeavour reflects his passion for translating research findings into practical, market-ready products that can contribute to environmental sustainability.

Prof. Lee's contributions to the field have been recognized with awards and fellowships from esteemed organizations such as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME), the Energy Institute (EI), and the Institution of Engineers Singapore (IES). His work not only advances the state of mechanical engineering and sustainable technology research but also inspires the next generation of engineers to pursue innovations that address global energy and environmental challenges.

Derek William is a Consulting Engineer based in Singapore, with experience in data centre works in many countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Derek has been in the data centre industry since 1998. As a professional engineer, he has been the founder and principal of a Mechanical & Electrical Engineering Consultancy company since 2000, now semi-retired but still active in the Data Center industry.

Apart from being a registered Professional Engineer, Derek holds globally-recognised qualifications as data centre specialist (in design engineering) and an accredited tier designer. The projects include LEED certified data center, GreenMark Platinum data center, and Free Cooling (in Singapore), ranging in size from small server rooms, through colocation, to hyperscale.

His contributions to the industry include seminar/webinar presentations such as GreenMark for Data Centers committee, Singapore Computer Society committee, and contribution to STDCT. Derek has been a regular trainer for DCD Academy (formerly DC Pro) since 2012, specialising in Data Center cooling.

Wong Tew Kiat is a seasoned industry practitioner with 30 years of working experience in data centre and system infrastructure and operations management of a 100,000 sq. ft data centre space. His work experience includes IT Infrastructure, data centre infrastructure & operations management, Business Continuity Management (BCM) for pandemic preparedness planning, crisis response management, incident response, IT Disaster Recovery (DR) management, emergency management and data centre risk and health check management.

He is currently appointed as the Data Centre Chapter (DCC) chairman by the Singapore Computer Society, with responsibility on national platform development for Data Centre professionals to network and share research and innovative ideas. He is a Certified Business Continuity Professional (CBCP), has a Certification by the Disaster Recovery Institute International (USA) and is also a Fellow of the Business Continuity Institute (FBCI, UK). He is also a Certified IT Project Manager, Senior (CITPM), Certified Outsourcing IT Manager, Senior (COMIT) and Certified IT BCM Manager, Senior (CITBCM) by the Singapore Computer Society (SCS) Singapore.

He was the President of the Business Continuity Chapter, an industry chapter in SCS between 2005 and 2008 and between 2010 and 2011. He also chaired the CITBCM Resource Panel to develop the Body of Knowledge for the CITBCM. He currently chairs the CITBCM Board of Assessors. He is also currently the Chairman, Technical Committee with Institute of Technical Education for its Diploma in Data Centre Operations. He has also conducted numerous trainings in the modules of Data Centre and Business Continuity Management for SMU. He is also an experienced public speaker in many data centre and business continuity seminars and conferences in Singapore and the region.

Dr. Jin Guang Yu is Senior Manager at the Building and Construction Authority, where he leads the development and operation of the SLEB Smart Hub. This innovative digital service platform empowers real estate owners and developers to implement energy-efficient solutions, thereby reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions. Additionally, the platform streamlines the green financing process for real estates, utilising advanced AI-powered tools for online assessment and verification.

Dr. Li Xiaorong is an Assistant Professor in the Infocomm Technology Cluster at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). Dr Li works on the frontiers of distributed computing systems and large-scale artificial intelligence. She has taught courses such as mobile and cloud computing, database systems, etc.

Before that, she was a senior research scientist and capability group manager, focusing on cloud/edge computing for big data analysis, AI/Machine Learning, modelling and simulation in A*STAR Institute of High Performance Computing (IHPC). Dr Li was also an Executive Manager and a technologist working on various topics such as green data centres, AI and technology roadmap at Infocomm Media Development Authority, Singapore. She received her PhD in Electrical and Computing Engineering from the National University of Singapore in 2006 and her B.E. from the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications in 1998.

Her interests include parallel and distributed/high-performance computing, big data analysis, AI/ML, modelling and simulation, green computing, etc. Dr Li is a senior member of IEEE and she has published more than 50 papers in prestigious international journals and conferences.

Dr. Wei ZHANG received the B.Sc. degree in electronic information science and technology from the School of Science, Xidian University, Xi’an, China, in 2008, the M.Eng. degree in circuits and system from the School of Electronic Engineering, Xidian University in 2011, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in 2015. He is currently an Assistant Professor with the Information and Communications Technology Cluster, Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT). Before joining SIT, he was a Scientist at the Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), Singapore. From 2015 to 2017, he was a Research Fellow at NTU, Singapore. His current research interests include energy optimization for the information and communication technology area, as well as smart buildings and smart cities.