Graduate Students

Name Position  Research Area  Email Bio
Bi Yue PhD Student Developmental Psychology e0321222@u.nus.edu I am interested in exploring social-cognitive development processes in children, especially the interplay between theory of mind abilities and deceptive behaviours in children.
Chai Jing Wen PhD Student Cognitive Neuroscience j.chai@u.nus.edu I am broadly interested in the domain of social and cognitive neuroscience. My current research focuses on the impact of reward on cognitive mechanisms such as attention and decision-making.
Jazton Chern Jie Sern Masters Student e0175392@u.nus.edu My current research interest revolves around language acquisition and processing. Specifically, it involves the use of network analysis to make sense of our mental lexicon. I find this area of research to be of particular interest as growing up, I personally have always enjoyed learning about different languages and cultures in general. I found it meaningful to be able to apply some of the skills I have picked up to improve on my understanding of this area of interest. I play football several times a week. Outside of work, I am a professional singer in the shower. My other hobbies include cooking, eating, and sitting in front of the screen for hours as I go down the YouTube rabbit hole.
Chua Ming Kai Pierce Masters Student Social Psychology piercechua@u.nus.edu Hi! I am currently pursuing a Masters degree under the mentorship of Dr Eddie Tong. I am broadly interested in the field of emotions with a current focus on how emotions affect functional and behavioural outcomes. As a self-proclaimed jack of all trades, I have had many hobbies, but currently, I like to spend my free time playing games and reading fiction.
Joanne Chua PhD Student psycsaj@nus.edu.sg I am undertaking a PhD with a focus on Clinical Psychology, specifically on competency-based training and supervision.
Tabitha Chua Masters Student Cognitive Psychology e0758738@u.nus.edu Hello! I'm pursuing a Masters under the supervision of Dr Stephen Pan. My current research focuses on learning strategies and cognition, namely examining the effectiveness of prequestioning and the role of feedback on metacognitive judgements. Aside from that, I enjoy reading, spending money on fancy electric guitars and losing my queen in an online game of chess.
Haneul Chun (Esther) PhD Student Developmental Psychology haneulchun@u.nus.edu I am passionate about exploring the intricacies of parent-adolescent socialization processes and developing effective parent-targeted interventions to alleviate teenage social anxiety and address mental health challenges. By integrating perspectives from developmental and clinical psychology, I aim to enhance our understanding of how family dynamics influence adolescent well-being and to create practical solutions that support the healthier development of adolescents.
Dai Meng PhD Student Developmental Psychology daimeng@u.nus.edu My research interest is in investigating the development of moral behaviors in young children, applying both behavioral and neurobiological methods. In addition, I explore the cognitive factors that contribute to the development of moral behavior, including Theory of Mind and Executive Function.
Eelama Devi Paraniruva Singhan PhD Student e0966396@u.nus.edu I am pursuing my PhD under the supervision of Dr Ryan Hong. I joined this programme with the aim of gaining a more nuanced understanding and in-depth knowledge of relationships between personality and psychopathology and with the hope that this research informs interventions for the vulnerable population in our society. Broadly speaking, I am interested in exploring associations between dispositional traits and social-cognitive processes and their additive effects on psychopathology. I am also interested in are elucidating etiological processes that are involved in the development of psychopathology including substance use or exploring transdiagnostic pathways and cognitive vulnerabilities in relation to internalizing symptoms. In my free time, I love reading thrillers and spending time with my loved ones.
Genevieve Fong PhD Student Comparative Psychology (Animal welfare and behaviour) genevieve.fong@u.nus.edu From my previous experiences in zoo research and education, my research interests broadly lie in animal welfare, behaviour and reintroductions.
Under the supervision of Dr Elias Garcia-Pelegrin, I hope to explore comparative psychology further (e.g. animal cognition, emotion, personality) and tie these findings in with animal welfare and improve husbandry practices.
Goh Gabriel PhD Student gabriel.g@u.nus.edu My research interests are in attitudinal research, with a focus on message tailoring to personality factors such as the dark triad.
Patricia Goh Pei Fen Masters Student Social Psychology e0563889@u.nus.edu I am broadly interested in how people behave, interact and feel differently in social situations. My current research explores how couples communicate about sacrifices made in their relationships.
Anna Heng PhD Student Cognitive Psychology anna_heng@u.nus.edu I am interested in psycholinguistics. In particular, I am undertaking research on word recognition in Chinese.
Khoo Ee Wan PhD Student Social Psychology khoo.eewan@u.nus.edu I have a Masters in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, and my current research interest lies in the pursuit of learning and development goals, especially how our social/organisational context influences this.
Kong Yuwei PhD Student Social Psychology e1023888@u.nus.edu I am interested in explaining cultural differences from the perspective of culture and history and exploring complex systems through network analysis. People's attitude toward nature is what I focus on now.
Ariel Lee PhD Student Social Psychology E0771168@u.nus.edu Interested in academic identity and motivation in minority students.
Lee Russell PhD Student Educational Psychology psylr@nus.edu.sg With a passion for education and teaching, I am interested in a range of topics that relate to student learning and the learning process. In particular, certain areas I have explored in the past are: the curiosity-effort relationship in the context of learning, student self-regulation in higher education and individual factors that affect online learning success. I also have an interest in how language affects knowledge acquisition/understanding and the effect of different grading systems on student motivation and performance. In my free time, I indulge in a variety of hobbies that I will never have enough time for, including but not limited to writing, video production, card games and mixing alcohol.
Lee Sze Chi PhD Student Quantitative and Clinical Psychology sze.chi@u.nus.edu I am broadly interested in using statistical models to better understand the relationship of symptoms across psychological disorders, as well as predicting the risk of developing disorders
Leong Utek PhD Student Personality Psychology e0771165@u.nus.edu Broadly, I am interested in advancing healthcare research through the study of personality and individual differences. I am particularly interested in the relationship between personality and treatment adherence in Singapore.
Li Baitong (Lacey) Masters Student Social Psychology e0868992@u.nus.edu I'm currently pursuing a Masters under the supervison of Dr Michelle See. I'm broadly interested in the study of social cognition. In particular, I have studied issues related to social attitudes, identity, bias and culture.
Li Binghui Masters Student Clinical Psychology binghui.li@u.nus.edu I am currently a research masters student supervised by Dr Kean Hsu. My research interest lies in the broad field of clinical psychology, with a specific focus on the cognitive mechanisms underlying anxiety and mood disorders. By studying the underlying mechanisms of depression and anxiety, I am also interested in potential development of novel intervention targeting these mechanisms to improve people's mental health state. In my spare time, I enjoy singing, swimming, and video games especially sandbox games.
Li Ying (Leena) PhD Student ying_li@u.nus.edu I am interested in social and affective psychology, particularly in topics like how the mindsets and emotions interact with each other and its influence on decisions. Interested in how people constructed the inner worlds in the era of new media, I minored in communication. I am photographing the surroundings and human beings as well as working out at the gym when not working.
Li Yumeng PhD Student yumeng.li@u.nus.edu Hi! I am currently pursuing my PhD degree under the supervision of Dr Cynthia Siew. Before joining the PhD program, I conducted several research projects on compound word processing and the perceptual learning of degraded speech. Now, I am focusing on using network analysis to study cognitive structures, particularly the mental lexicon in Chinese.
Li Zheng (Charlie) PhD Student Social Psychology e0983458@u.nus.edu I am pursuing my PhD under the supervision of Dr Michelle See. I am interested in cross-cultural differences in the processes of attitude formation and attitude change. Specifically, my research attempts to examine whether interpersonal and intrapersonal factors can have different influences on people’s attitudes in different cultures.
Carine Liew PhD Student Clinical Psychology e1385621@u.nus.edu I am undertaking a PhD with a focus on Clinical Psychology. I am interested in the development and treatment of psychopathology. I am a registered Clinical Psychologist and have been working with children and adults in the past decade.
Joanne Lim Masters Student Personality Psychology Joanne.Lim@u.nus.edu Primary research interest: dark traits, other personality traits, including how they tie in with other fields of psychology, and the corresponding cognitive processes in relation to intrapersonal feelings and behaviours.
Secondary research interest: psychological scale construction
Lin Junqi PhD Student Developmental Psychology junqi.lin@u.nus.edu My research interests are to explore the family and sociocultural factors that could enhance children’s emotional and learning development. Specifically, I am interested in the longitudinal effects of parenting practices and parent-child interactions on children’s motivation, social adjustment, and academic performance. Finally, I would like to propose interventions and education programs to promote optimal parenting and positive child development.
Joyce Lum Ka Wei Masters Student Social Psychology e1144062@u.nus.edu One of my lifelong projects is exploring psychological insights that enhance societal well-being, with emotions at the heart of human experience. Currently, I focus on emotions —studying social and cognitive factors, appraisal structures, and their impact on cognition, motivation, and well-being. I'm also passionate about mastering statistical techniques for robust data analysis.

Beyond research, I embrace slow living —finding joy in music, arts, nature, philosophical reflections on life, the art of coffee brewing and tasting, volunteering in mental health settings, and cherishing moments with loved ones.
Mah Cai Jun, Terence PhD Student e0310083@u.nus.edu My current research interests lie in understanding the complex processes underlying fatigue and motivation. What causes cognitive and emotional fatigue, and how do we recover from it? Outside of research, I have a long-standing interest in Korean culture and board games, and love to spend time reflecting on various questions about life and people!
Mao Anqi PhD Student Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology mao.anqi@u.nus.edu My research primarily focuses on social perception, specifically on how people extract information from others' faces, actions, and language during social interactions. I am also interested in using computational models to predict human behavior in social dynamics.
Nadyanna M. Majeed PhD Student Quantitative Psychology nadyanna@u.nus.edu I am a PhD student in Quantitative Psychology at NUS, supervised by Prof Mike Cheung. Previously, I obtained my MPhil and BSocSc(Hons) in Psychology from SMU where I focused on social/personality and cognitive psychology, especially in relation to stress. Currently, I am primarily an applied statistician/research methodologist, where I frequently collaborate with researchers in various fields to ensure they can get the answers to their research questions. In my free time, I enjoy coding/programming, making music, and advocating for animal welfare.
Reiner Ng Wei Jie PhD Student Social Psychology reinerng@u.nus.edu I have interests in understanding how conflicting evaluations can influence our attitudes, and how the resultant attitudes and its properties may further affect the downstream behaviours (e.g., intentions, advocacies, attitude durability, certainty). Primarily, I focus and work on social- and health-related topics using experimental design, survey design, and social media analytics. I hope to integrate these understandings with dyadic and cross-cultural research.
Ong Hee Seng Masters Student Social Psychology heeseng.ong@u.nus.edu My research interest lies in social psychology, especially on national identity, inter-group relation and social cognition. Currently, I am pursing the master's program under the supervision of Dr Jia Lile.
Ong Jiehan (Jamie) PhD Student Clinical Psychology e0776001@u.nus.edu I am undertaking a PhD with a focus on Clinical Psychology, specifically on parental factors and adolescent mental health. I am a registered Clinical Psychologist and have been working with children and adolescents in the past decade.
Hyungjun (Jun) Park PhD Student Quantitative Psychology e0437677@u.nus.edu i, I am Jun - the name is pronounced like the month June. I research about how to make sense of incomplete psychological data, under the supervision of Prof Mike Cheung. I try to figure out how to improve upon the methods there already are. I am always looking for friends to discuss about research methods and badminton.
Qian Yichen PhD Student Cognitive neuroscience e0966377@u.nus.edu I am interested in the brain mechanisms supporting our working memory, visual attention and consciousness.
Qian Zongyu PhD Student Cognitive Psychology e0771160@u.nus.edu Hi, I am Zongyu. My broad research area is cognitive psychology, especially psycholinguistics. Before commencing my doctoral studies, I got some research experience in cognitive neural mechanisms in spoken word production during my Master’s study. Currently, I am pursuing my PhD under the supervision of Associate Professor Winston Goh. My research interest is mental processes underlying speech perception and spoken word recognition. In my free time, I enjoy taking photos and shooting videos to record every second in my life.
Titus Quek Wei Yang PhD Student e0026768@u.nus.edu As someone who has been fortunate enough to cross paths with a slew of inspiring teachers over the past 16 years of formal education, it is my sincerest hope to be able to pay it forward by eventually becoming an educator myself. I am currently pursuing my PhD under Dr Jia Lile and my research interest revolves around enhancing academic goal pursuit and student learning. When not working, I enjoy spending my time watching sitcoms, catching up with loved ones, and immersing myself in a boatload of video games.
Shi Yuqing PhD Student Social Cognition yuqing.shi@u.nus.edu My current research focuses on how conceptual knowledge influences trait inferences and the organization of trait space during the dynamic process of impression formation. I am also interested in clinical neuroscience, particularly related to social functioning deficits.
Sophia Song Danial Masters Student Cognitive Psychology e0771164.u.nus.edu My interest primarily lies in how people perceive causal events and learn from the environment around them. In the future, I hope to investigate this further in atypical development to gain a better well-rounded understanding of the mechanisms of learning and conditioning. In my free time I read horror manga and play with my cat. My favourite Kardashian is Kim.
Joel Tan Chong Rong CDP Student Cognitive Psychology e0538234@u.nus.edu I am currently enrolled in the Concurrent Degree Programme, under the supervision of A/P Melvin Yap.

My research interests lie broadly in the realms of cognitive psychology; but more specifically, in psycholinguistics. Being a huge language nerd, I am intrigued by the mechanisms involved in word recognition. As such, I seek to clarify how linguistic factors jointly influence our language processing. I also hope to explain how individual differences, cross-linguistic distinctions, and other task demands might moderate these relationships.
Tan Jun Liang Jonathan PhD Student e0771163@u.nus.edu My research interest lies in behavioural addiction, particularly gaming disorder. I am interested in exploring the influence of personality and psychological processes on the development and maintenance of problematic gaming, as well as the possible interventions to mitigate it.
Justina Tan Masters Student Clinical and Translational Science justina.tan@u.nus.edu Hello! I am a Master's student under the Concurrent Degree Programme (CDP), with a second major in social work. My research interests include developmental and cultural factors contributing to mental health issues. Additionally, I am interested in clinical and translational work and hope to conduct research that impacts real lives. In my free time, I enjoy singing, watching anime, and exploring food spots in Singapore.
Tan Yia Chin PhD Student Social Psychology yiachin@u.nus.edu Yia Chin's general research interest lies in the area of goal pursuit. Particularly, she is interested in investigating the underlying processes and factors that help or hinder people in pursuing their long-term goals. Long-term goals are fraught with obstacles and setbacks, and at best, lose their novelty after some time. How can we help people to maintain a sustained dedication towards their goals, navigate around obstacles and bounce back from failures? She hopes to contribute to a better understanding in this area, so that psychology as a field is better equipped to come up with more effective advice or interventions to facilitate people in achieving their desired goals in life. When taking breaks, Yia Chin enjoys decorating the whiteboard (in the graduate students' room) with character drawings from the PHD Comics and taking comfort that graduate students across the world are all in this "together".
Tang Rui PhD Student Social Psychology rui.tang32@u.nus.edu I'm interested in goal disengagment, specially the interepersonal influence on people in action crisis.
Tao Weicheng PhD Student Cognitive Neuroscience weicheng.tao@u.nus.edu My current research focuses on using EEG to study how people perceive and avoid loss. I am also interested in developing algorithms to detect and remove EEG artifacts. Besides research, I am good at playing badminton and making dumplings.
Teo Qiao Kang PhD Student tqiaokang@u.nus.edu My research interests are in mindsets and self-regulation. I hope to make an impact in the lives of learners by advancing knowledge on effective self-regulation and psychological well-being, and by refining and scaling up interventions.
Adrian Toh PhD Student Clinical Psychology adrian.toh@u.nus.edu I am undertaking a PhD with a focus on Clinical Psychology, specifically on anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. I am a registered Clinical Psychologist and have been practising for more than a decade of experience working in the field of mental health, caring for individuals with health and mental health struggles.
Joy Tong PhD Student joytong@u.nus.edu My research interest lies in the social cognitive underpinnings of cross-race face perception. Specifically, I an interested in how group categorisations, motivation, intergroup emotions and biases could contribute to our ability to recognise faces from other races.
Xing Liangyu PhD Student Social Psychology liangyu.xing@u.nus.edu My research interest is in how to achieve goals more effectively by blending motivation with creativity. I often wonder why some people are so driven to pursue their goals with such energy and whether creative individuals are better at reaching their objectives.
Xue Chunyun (Corrine) PhD Student Comparative Psychology/ Evolutionary Anthropology cxue.corrine@u.nus.edu As humans, we excel at socialising in everyday contexts, whether it’s reading a friend's gaze, sharing feelings and ideas verbally or in writing, and bonding with others both in person and through digital platforms. We receive these social signals and act on them to maintain relationships. While the evolutionary advantages of being social are well-known, the origins of our socio-cognitive abilities remain unclear. My work aims to explore the socio-cognitive abilities of our close relatives, nonhuman primates (NHPs), using novel experimental paradigms and quantitative approaches. Through this research, I hope to contribute significantly to our broader understanding of these faculties.
Yao Ruitong Masters Student Cognitive Neuroscience ruitong_yao@u.nus.edu I am working under the supervision of Assistant Professor Camilo Libedinsky. My research focuses on the function of the rostral part of the dorsal premotor cortex.
Yin Shihan Masters Student Cognitive Psychology yinshihan@u.nus.edu I am currently pursuing my Master's degree under the supervision of Dr Colin Palmer. My research interests lie in perceptual learning, specifically in gaze perception and the learnability of eye contact from others. In my spare time, I like playing basketball and video games 🙂
Yu Liwen PhD Student Developmental Psychology e0966388@u.nus.edu I am interested in the mechanisms behind children's lying behaviour and would like to explore how to promote honesty.
Yu Runquan Masters Student Social Psychology runquan.michael@u.nus.edu I am broadly interested in social, affective, and cognitive neuroscience. I am particularly interested in human social interactions, with a focus on emotion, personality traits, and behavioral/physiological responses.