Keynote Speakers
Chian Siau Chen, Darren
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Biography: Dr. Chian Siau Chen, Darren is an Associate Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Chian is also the Director of the Centre for Soft Ground Engineering in the university. Dr. Chian obtained his Ph.D. and B.Eng. from Cambridge University and Nanyang Technological University respectively. Dr. Chian actively involves in collaborative research projects with local government agencies to recycle unwanted soils from underground construction projects as land reclamation fill materials. Dr. Chian has also expanded recycling waste material into useful pozzolans in supplementary cementitious material technology. Dr. Chian was named as Asia’s Top 10 Innovators under 35 (TR35) by the MIT Technology Review in 2016, GeoSS Promising Young Geotechnical Engineer Award in 2018, Enterprise Singapore SAC Distinguished Award in 2018, Ministry of Transport Distinguished Minister Innovation (Distinguished) Award in 2021, Award Finalist of the Land Transport Excellence Award (Most Innovative Solution) and Prominent Geotechnical Engineer Award in 2022. Dr. Chian is the current President of the Geotechnical Society of Singapore (GeoSS).
Arvin Farid
Boise State University, USA
Biography: Dr. Farid is a Professor at the Civil Engineering Department. He joined the faculty in Civil Engineering at Boise State as an Assistant Professor in spring 2008. He was first promoted to Associate Professor in 2013 and then to Professor in 2020. Before joining Boise State, he was an Associate Research Scientist at CenSSIS (The Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems), Northeastern University, Boston, MA. From 2001-2003 he was a Research Assistant at CenSSIS and Civil & Environmental Engineering Dept., Northeastern University, Boston, MA where he received his Ph.D.
Ernest Kian Jon Chua
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Biography: Dr. Chua Kian Jon is an internationally recognized expert in clean thermal energy systems. His research spans thermal energy recovery, hybrid cooling, desiccant dehumidification, solar-assisted systems, and thermal energy storage for buildings and industrial applications. He is internationally recognized for pioneering work in dew-point evaporative cooling, membrane dehumidification, and waste heat recovery, enabling low-energy solutions for sectors such as buildings, data centres, EVs, and district cooling. Dr. Chua has published over 280 SCI-indexed journal papers, eight monographs, and holds more than 10 patents. A Fellow of the Royal Society, IET, Energy Institute, and IMechE, he ranks among the top 1% of scientists globally (USERN) and top 2% of energy researchers per Stanford since 2021, with 17,500+ citations and an H-index of 70. He is the founding Editor-in-Chief of Thermal Science and Engineering (Nature Portfolio) and serves as Associate Editors of numerous journals in Elsevier, Springer, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis. A two-term NUS Dean’s Chair holder, he has received multiple international awards and leads major competitive research projects and is frequently invited to deliver plenary and keynote lectures and serve on technical committees at major international conferences. His work continues to shape the future of sustainable thermal energy systems across Asia and beyond.