New leadership appointments
The National University of Singapore (NUS) has appointed Professor Tulika Mitra as the new Dean for the NUS School of Computing (NUS Computing), and Associate Professor Leong Ching as the Acting Dean for the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP). Both appointments will take effect from 1 July 2025. Assoc Prof Leong will hold the Acting Dean appointment concurrently with her role as Vice Provost (Student Life), while a Dean search is underway.
They succeed current Deans Professor Tan Kian Lee and Professor Danny Quah respectively, who are returning to their academic pursuits at NUS in research and teaching.
NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye, said, “We are pleased to appoint Prof Tulika Mitra as Dean of the School of Computing and Assoc Prof Leong Ching as Acting Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy while a search for the Dean is being carried out. With their extensive academic and industry experience, I am confident that their leadership will propel NUS Computing and LKYSPP towards higher levels of excellence, enabling us to be at the forefront of teaching, research and innovation while nurturing future-ready students with deep intellectual rigour and the resilience and adaptability to thrive in today’s digital economy.”
School of Computing
Prof Mitra has served as Vice Provost (Academic Affairs) since January 2021 and as the Chair of the University Promotion and Tenure Committee (UPTC) since May 2020. From fostering a more supportive and robust promotion and tenure culture to introducing the induction programmes for new faculty, she has been instrumental in identifying and recruiting top academic talents, upholding academic excellence, strengthening the Singaporean academic pipeline. She has created a direct pathway for Full Professorship through impactful educational leadership and incorporated clear guidelines for practice track promotions. Her contributions were recognised with the Singapore Public Administration Medal (Silver) in 2024.
Prof Mitra is a leading expert in hardware-software codesign of computing systems, specialising in real-time embedded systems and energy-efficient AI accelerators. Currently Provost’s Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science, she has been with NUS Computing since 2001. She has served as the Editor-in-Chief of ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems, Member of the ACM Publications Board, and General/Program Chair of many conferences. Additionally, she serves on the DSTA Board of Directors, Scientific Advisory Board of MPI-SWS, Barkhausen Institute, and international expert panels of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, INRIA France, and KTH Sweden.
On taking up her new appointment, Prof Mitra said, “I am honoured to lead the School at a time when our discipline is central to interdisciplinary innovations reshaping the modern world. I look forward to returning to my roots and working closely with the NUS Computing family of exceptional colleagues and students.”
Prof Mitra will concurrently take on the role of Vice Provost (Special Projects) in addition to helming the School of Computing. She will support the Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost in leading high-impact strategic initiatives for the University.
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
Associate Professor Leong Ching joined LKYSPP in 2014 and was appointed to her current position in 2019.
An economist with a focus on applying institutional theory to the policy sciences, Assoc Prof Leong is today among the leading scholars in the field of behavioural public policy (BPP), with visiting appointments at the London School of Economics and Cambridge University.
She uses large field experiments to understand the motivating forces of government and public behaviour where her work has had significant impact on water policy and sustainability issues, as well as on public willingness to accept novelty such as recycled drinking water as a solution to global water scarcity. In the recent COVID-19 pandemic, her work on the willingness to accept new science in the form of mRNA vaccines has been cited by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as an important behavioural intervention to reduce hesitancy.
Beyond her contributions to public policy research and academic excellence, Assoc Prof Leong is committed to student growth and development. In her current role as Vice Provost (Student Life), she has overseen the integration of student life into the NUS curriculum.
In her new role as Acting Dean at LKYSPP, Assoc Prof Leong will build on LKYSPP’s strengths and track record in research, education and engagement, while fostering partnerships with government, industry and society. She will be supported by the current members of the LKYSPP Deanery who will continue to contribute towards leadership for the School.
Assoc Prof Leong said, “The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy is built on a belief in the transformational power of policy ideas. I look forward to working with my colleagues to continue producing these global public goods so as to inform government and public decisions on the most pressing problems of our time.”
New Vice Provost (Academic Affairs)
Professor Ho Ghim Wei, who has been serving as Associate Provost (Academic Affairs), will succeed Prof Mitra as Vice Provost (Academic Affairs) from 1 July 2025. In her new role, she will lead the University’s efforts to nurture, develop and empower faculty members towards excellence in education, research and innovation.
At the Office of the Provost, Prof Ho has been supporting the Vice Provost in overseeing the academic review process and upholding standards of excellence in faculty career progression. She has been playing key roles in organising faculty development workshops and events, as well as in outreach and recruitment efforts.
Prof Ho is an outstanding scholar from the College of Design and Engineering (CDE), where she leads the Sustainable Smart Solar Systems research group. Her team conducts fundamental and applied research on nanosystems based on emerging low-dimensional nanomaterials, interfacial interactions and hybridised functionalities for applications in energy, the environment, electronics and healthcare. She also served as Vice Dean for Student Life at CDE for over four years.
In appreciation
Expressing his gratitude to the two outgoing deans for their service, President Tan said, “I am deeply grateful to Kian Lee and Danny for their leadership and service. A homegrown talent, Kian Lee is an outstanding researcher, data scientist and educator who has steered the faculty from a small department in its early years into one of the world’s top and highly competitive computing schools. Danny is an eminent economist who has enabled LKYSPP to strengthen and anchor its position as a global thought leader, advancing impactful policy solutions and training policy makers for Singapore, the region, and beyond.”
“As they return to academia, I look forward to their continued contributions to NUS in inspiring future generations of researchers and students to shape the future of technology and serve for the greater good of society,” President Tan added.
Under Prof Tan’s leadership, NUS Computing has flourished, consistently drawing in and nurturing the best and brightest talents. In tandem with the growing prominence and impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the School has expanded its curriculum offerings with the launch of three new AI-centric degree programmes, and the opening of Sea Building and Sea Connect – featuring new collaborative spaces for teaching and innovation, and home to 12 research labs which will catalyse long-term, fruitful collaborations between academia and industry.
These efforts are vital in driving NUS’ bold ambitions in cutting-edge research, education, and collaboration, advancing the rapidly evolving fields in computing such as AI and data science.
A distinguished global scholar, Prof Quah returned from London in 2016 and joined LKYSPP to pursue research in and contribute to policy development on international economic relations, income inequality, and economic growth. Over the past seven years as Dean of LKYSPP, he has been a visionary and transformative leader.
Under his stewardship, the School has strengthened its position as a leader and authority in public policy research and education, with distinct focus on Asia’s unique challenges and opportunities. Among the significant initiatives that expanded the School’s reach and impact are enhanced leadership training programmes; the Global-is-Asian platform, advancing research and collaboration across the Asia-Pacific and beyond; and the biennial Festival of Ideas, a flagship forum for policy dialogue bringing together experts and opinion leaders to address the most pressing issues of our time.
A prolific writer and sought-after speaker, Prof Quah has worked to push the frontiers of research in his field and, at leading international forums, drawn on that academic research to provide thought leadership in economic policy, global governance, and Asia’s role in international affairs.
