Biography: Nhan Phan-Thien began his academic career in 1978 at the University of Newcastle, Australia. In 1991 he was appointed a Personal Chair in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Sydney. He was the first Department Head of BioEngineering at the National University of Singapore, 2000-2004. He was elected to the Australian Academy of Science in 1999, and the European Academy of Science in 2002. He published more than 310 papers and four books. He was awarded the 2003 Centenary Medal by the Australian Governor General, for service to Australian society and science in Mechanical Engineering, the 1997 Gordon Bell Prize, for Parallel Algorithm in the Price-Performance category, by the Computer Division IEEE, the 1997 Australian Society of Rheology, the 1982 Edgeworth David Medal by the Royal Society of New South Wales.

Biography: Dr. Vu Minh Khuong is an Associate Professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (National University of Singapore). His research and teaching concentrate on economic development and policy analysis. Dr. Vu received a BA in Mathematics from Hanoi University and an MBA and PhD from Harvard University. Professor Vu has published numerous articles in prestigious journals. His recent book, The Dynamics of Economic Growth: Policy Insights from Comparative Analyses in Asia, was published by Edward Elgar in November 2013. Professor Vu (together with Boyd Fuller) won the 2011 Best Article Award from the Public and Non-Profit Division of the Academy of Management (USA). He has also won the highest awards for research and teaching at the Lee Kuan Yew School: the LKY School Research Excellence Award (2012) and the LKY School Annual Teaching Excellence Award (2009 and 2011). He is an Editorial Board member of the journals Telecommunication Policy and East Asian Policy. (Source: http://lkyspp.nus.edu.sg)