Dr Alistair D. B. Cook is a Senior Fellow and Coordinator in the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme within the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University. His research interests focus geographically on the Asia-Pacific and Myanmar in particular and thematically on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR), foreign policy and regional cooperation. He has taught undergraduate, graduate and professional development courses at Purdue University, University of Melbourne, Deakin University, Nanyang Technological University, Australian National University, Singapore Civil Defence Academy and SAFTI.

Col Lew Tze Soon is presently the Deputy Chief Guards Officer in the Guards Formation, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He is concurrently the Director of Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Coordination Centre (Changi RHCC).

Enlisted into the SAF on 2 October 2001, Col Lew was commissioned as a sword of merit on 5 October 2002, and completed the Guards Officers Conversion Course in 2003. He has served in numerous command and staff appointments in the SAF over the last two decades.

Col Lew’s key command appointments included Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards, and Delta Wing Commander, Officer Cadet School (OCS). His staff appointments included Head Operations in 1st Battalion Singapore Guards, Head Plans in Headquarters Personnel Command (HQ PERSCOM), and Head SAF Manpower Operations in Joint Manpower Department (JMPD). Prior to his present appointment, Col Lew was the Chief of Staff in Headquarters Medical Command (HQ MC).

As Director RHCC, Col Lew looks forward to strengthen the regional and global HADR networks, as well as the disaster relief preparedness of the SAF with its partners.

Lim Junli is a Research Fellow with the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) programme, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), at RSIS. She is an international lawyer focussed on issues of public international law including international humanitarian, refugee, and disaster law.

Junli has experience at international criminal tribunals, and has served as a consultant with a range of international institutions including the Judicial Integrity Group, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, the European Institute of Peace, and the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice. In 2021, she supported evacuation efforts from Afghanistan and was part of the team at Atlas Women to be awarded the PILnet Pro Bono Publico Award. Since 2023, she has been mentoring legal representatives for victims of conflict-related sexual violence in Ukraine.

Junli holds a BA (Hons.) in political science from the National University of Singapore and University of Melbourne. She graduated with a MA (Research) from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Laws (J.D.) from Monash University.

Ambassador Ong Keng Yong is Executive Deputy Chairman of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He is concurrently Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS) and Head of International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research (ICPVTR) at RSIS.

Mr Ong continues to hold the position of Ambassador-at-Large at the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran. Mr Ong chairs Humanity Matters, a non-profit humanitarian organisation focused on inter-faith understanding and volunteerism, and is based in Singapore.

Mr Ong was High Commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia from 2011 to 2014. He served as High Commissioner of Singapore to India and concurrently Singapore’s Ambassador to Nepal from 1996 to 1998.

Mr Ong served as the 11^th Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), based in Jakarta, Indonesia, for 5 years from January 2003.

Mr Ong started his diplomatic career in 1979 and was posted to the Singapore Embassies in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and the United States of America between 1984 and 1994. From September 1998 to December 2002, he was Press Secretary to the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong, while holding senior appointments in the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts, and the People’s Association in Singapore. From 2008 to 2011, he served as Director of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) in the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mr Ong was the Chairman of the Singapore International Foundation (SIF) from 2015 to 2023.

Mr Ong graduated from the then University of Singapore with a LLB (Hons). He studied at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., USA, and graduated with a MA in Arab Studies.