Colonel Rico O Amaro PA (GSC) is currently the Deputy Brigade Commander of the 802^nd Infantry Brigade under the 8^th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army where he is tasked to assist the Brigade Commander in the planning, direction, and supervision of all operations of Army tactical units in its area of responsibility in Central Philippines.

COL Amaro is a seasoned combat officer and experienced Army staff at the tactical, operational and strategic levels of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) that is heavily engaged in internal security, humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations. He has been deeply involved in the AFP’s responses to disasters, such as Typhoon Rai in December 2021 and the COVID-19 pandemic since 2020. In particular, he was the commander of the battalion which was awarded the prestigious “Gawad Kalasag” plaque – a national award for successful conduct of HADR operations for their outstanding performance in the aftermath of the 6.7 magnitude earthquake in February 2017 in Southern Philippines.

COL Amaro started his military career as a graduate of the Philippine Military Academy in 1994 and he finished his Masters in Public Management major in Development and Security at the Development Academy of the Philippines and also completed his National Security Studies Program at the National Defense College of the Philippines.

Dr Alistair D. B. Cook is Coordinator of the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme and Senior Fellow at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. His research interests focus on the Asia-Pacific, and Myanmar in particular, on humanitarian affairs, disaster governance, foreign policy and regional cooperation. He currently serves as the President of the Asia-Pacific Region of the International Studies Association 2018 – 2021. He has recently published Knowledge Management and Humanitarian Organisations in the Asia-Pacific: Practices, Challenges, and Future Pathways (with Mely Caballero-Anthony and Christopher Chen in International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, First view 2020), Disaster governance and prospects of inter-regional partnership in the Asia-Pacific (with Christopher Chen in The Pacific Review, 2020), and Conceptualising humanitarian civil-military partnerships in the Asia-Pacific: (Re-)ordering cooperation (with Sangeetha Yogendran in Australian Journal of International Affairs, 2020). His forthcoming publications include Non-Traditional Security in the Asia-Pacific: A Decade of Perspectives (with Tamara Nair by World Scientific Press, in press) and Humanitarianism in the Asia-Pacific: Engaging the Debate in Policy and Practice (with Lina Gong by Springer, in press). | Email: [email protected] | Twitter: @beancook

Ms Moana Kioa is the Principal Assistant Secretary for Disaster Risk Management of the National Emergency Management Office (NEMO) at the Ministry of Meteorology Energy Information Disaster Management Environment Climate Change and Communication of Tonga.

She joined NEMO started in 2016 as an Assistant Secretary. Prior to that she spent more than a decade working for a humanitarian NGO. In NEMO, she leads the work on policy engagement and donor relation, and coordinate humanitarian response during disasters. She supported the development of the Tonga National Disaster Risk Management Bill, which has recently been endorsed by Tongan Parliament and is now awaiting the Royal assent. The Bill along with the Tonga Strategic Road map for Emergency and Disaster Risk Management are significant policy milestones.

Dr Lina Gong is a Research Fellow with the Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Programme at the Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Her research interests include humanitarian studies, global governance, and non-traditional security studies in East Asia. She has published various journal articles, book chapters and edited books related to these areas. Her recent publications include two special journal issues “Humanitarian Diplomacy in the Asia-Pacific, one edited book Humanitarianism in the Asia-Pacific: Humanitarianism in the Asia-Pacific, and one special journal issue “Southeast Asian Non-traditional Security Engagement”.

Associate Professor Natasha Howard is an interdisciplinary health policy and systems researcher, focused primarily on low and middle-income countries. She draws primarily from sociology, social psychology, and global health/development to engage in policy-relevant research in infectious disease control in Asia and strengthening health system responses during protracted adversity (e.g., fragility, complex emergencies, displacement). Her teaching has included developing and managing a postgraduate course and modules, editing and writing textbooks, supervising doctoral and masters-level student research, and mentoring students and professionals.

Dr Ibanez’s experience has spanned academic, military, and government entities with an emphasis on evidenced-based policy and interagency collaboration. Ibanez is currently the Program Manager in the Applied Research and Information Sharing branch at the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DM), a direct reporting unit to United States Indo-Pacific Command, with an important global mandate to support civil-military coordination and training.  Her portfolio includes applied research, academic partnerships, and information sharing programs focused on disaster management capacity building for 36 partner nations in the Indo-Pacific region.

Prior to joining CFE-DM, Ibanez worked as the Senior Communications Advisor at the Data Analytics Engine at the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate, leading work to strengthen research and analysis on open-source and social media exploitation and providing big data solutions to the Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Ibanez served in the United States Army as a Signal Officer and Public Affairs Officer. She led a 50-person detachment team in Afghanistan, overseeing the establishment and maintenance of a secure communications network at a Forward Operating Base. After her active duty service, Dr. Ibanez worked as a civilian for the Marine Forces Pacific as a Communications Network Operations Planner and as a defense contractor for General Dynamics developing training exercises for pre-deployment certification.

Ibanez received her Doctorate in Communication and Information Sciences from the University of Hawai‘i, and a Master of Science in Public Administration from Central Michigan University.

Mr Kwoh Leong Keong is the Director of the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP) of National University of Singapore.  He joined CRISP in 1992 as an Assistant Director and assumed the position of Director in 2000.  Prior to that, he was Head of the Photogrammetric Section of the Singapore Mapping Unit from 1982 to 1992.

Mr Kwoh played a key role in the establishment of the CRISP ground station and was deeply involved in the negotiations for all its satellite data reception programmes for CRISP.  He is also responsible for the continued upgrading of the facilities of the ground station and improving its operational effectiveness.  He led the development of TeLEOS-1 satellite image reception and processing system, which is an in-house development of CRISP. For this contribution, CRISP, together with DSO, SARC and ST engineering was given the President’s Technology Award in 2016.

Mr Kwoh is also heavily committed to CRISP research work.  His current research interests include very high resolution optical and SAR data processing, especially in Geospatial data AI, and their applications.

Professor Jeff Obbard is Head of the Climate Science Research Office at the Centre for Climate Research Singapore, and a Visiting Professor to the School of Water, Energy & Environment at Cranfield University in the UK. Prior to this, Jeff was a professor & director at the Faculty of Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS) where he also held a joint appointment with the Agency for Science Technology & Research (A*STAR) as the Principal Scientist of its Bioenergy Programme. Whilst at NUS, Jeff led a team that received the UN Mondialogo Engineering Award for work on sustainable development in Southeast Asia. Jeff has also served as the Vice President for Science & Technology on a Royal Dutch Shell Petroleum joint-venture project in Hawaii, USA on renewable biofuels & carbon capture. He has worked in the UK and Hong Kong as a private-sector environmental consultant, and in the Middle East as Director of the Environmental Science Centre at Qatar University. Jeff is an Expert Reviewer to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and Climate Change Advisor to National Youth Achievement Award Council in Singapore.

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 High Commissioner to Pakistan and Non-Resident Ambassador to Iran.

Mr Ong was High Commissioner of Singapore to Malaysia from July 2011 to October 2014. He served as Secretary-General of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations), based in Jakarta, Indonesia, for five years from January 2003.

He was Singapore’s High Commissioner to India and concurrently Ambassador to Nepal from 1996 to 1998. From September 1998 to December 2002, he was Press Secretary to the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Goh Chok Tong. 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.

Dr David Lallemant is Assistant Professor at Asian School of the Environment of Nanyang Technological University. His research interests are in hazard, vulnerability and risk modeling for all natural hazards, with a particular focus on understanding the impact of disasters on cities. He is also interested in the modeling and communication of uncertainty as it relates to disaster risk, and the translation of science into policy. He uses tools and methods from structural engineering, probabilistic hazard analysis, predictive modeling, geostatistics and other statistical methods to attempt novel and impactful research to promote resilient societies. I also work on the use of novel technologies for post-disaster damage assessment aimed at informing rapid, effective and equitable response and recovery. The multi-disciplinary and policy-oriented nature of his work has led him to build collaborations with the World Bank, the Red Cross, Google, USGS and others.

Mr Duncan McArthur is the Myanmar Programme Director of The Border Consortium. Duncan has a Masters in Development from Deakin University and 25 years of experience in humanitarian relief and rights-based development on the Thailand / Myanmar border. He currently manages a portfolio of over 30 civil society organisations and ethnic service providers coordinating food security, agriculture, natural resource management, nutrition, health care, WASH and civilian protection interventions in conflict-affected communities.

Former lawyer and diplomat, Kirsten Sayers, is CEO of RedR Australia, the only United Nations Standby Partner in the Asia Pacific and southern hemisphere. RedR Australia works with communities, governments and the United Nations before, during and after crises and conflict.

Kirsten has previously held senior diplomatic appointments in Paris, Bangkok, Taipei, Singapore and ASEAN. As Australia’s first Investment Commissioner to ASEAN she was appointed Australia’s Chief Negotiator and Delegation Leader to the Asia Pacific Economic Corporation (APEC) Women Leaders’ Network meeting.

With deep experience in international, environmental and social governance, Kirsten is a current member of the Sphere Global Board and President of RedR USA. She was Vice President of AustCham Singapore, a board member of the Australia China Business Council, and a thought leader for Australian Business in Asia.

An Asia Literary Ambassador, Kirsten is specialised in Chinese and Indonesian law, and speaks English, Chinese, French, Swedish, Norwegian and Vietnamese to various degrees.

Prior to joining OCHA ROAP in February 2022 as the new Humanitarian Affairs Officer (Civil-Military Coordination and Access), Helene worked for the OCHA Country Office in Myanmar, leading work to strengthen humanitarian access monitoring, analysis and advocacy with a focus on Rakhine State. Prior to this, as the Head of Sub-Office for UNICEF, she was managing humanitarian programmes and emergency response in northern Rakhine, overseeing the implementation of WASH, health and nutrition, education and protection programmes. Much of this work was centered on negotiating humanitarian access and enabling the delivery of humanitarian response to conflict-affected and displaced persons, in particular the stateless Rohingya population remaining in northern Rakhine.

In her previous roles in Lebanon and Gaza in the occupied Palestinian territories, Helene was responsible for the management of a number of protection programmes and the incorporation of humanitarian principles and standards across the health, education, camp management and relief programmes of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). She worked for more than four years on the Syria crisis response.

More recently, Helene has deployed to Ukraine and Myanmar to support access and civil-military coordination.

Helene holds a Master’s degree in International Studies and Diplomacy from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and a Bachelor in International Relations from the University of Leeds, UK.

Dr Valerie Sticher is a research fellow at AI Singapore. She combines academic research with ten years’ practitioner experience to support conflict parties’ transition from war to negotiated peace. In her postdoctoral research, she investigates how artificial intelligence affects the onset and settlement of armed conflicts. She also co-leads the Remote Monitoring of Armed Conflicts research conflict, in collaboration with the EcoVision Lab and partners from the humanitarian sector.

COL Tan Eng Han Fredie is presently the Deputy Chief Guards Officer in the Guards Formation, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He is also concurrently the Director of Changi Regional Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Coordination Centre (Changi RHCC).

Enlisted into the SAF on 27 September 1996, COL Tan was commissioned as an Infantry Officer on 26 September 1997, and completed the Guards Officers Conversion Course in 1998. He has served in numerous command and staff appointments in the SAF over the last 26 years.

COL Tan’s key command appointments included Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion Singapore Guards, and Commander of a NS Infantry Brigade. His staff appointments included Head Plans & Doctrine, and Head General Staff in the Guards Formation. He was also Head of Overseas Training Policy and Plans in the Singapore Army General Staff, and Head of Doctrine Development Group in HQ Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). Prior to his present appointment, COL Tan was the Head of SAF Centre for Leadership Development in SAFTI Military Institute.

COL Tan attained a Bachelor of Commerce (Management) from the University of Adelaide, Australia. He also completed a Master of Arts (Instructional Design and
Technology) from the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He is a Fellow of the Australian War College, and graduated from the Defence and Strategic Studies Course with a Master of International Relations from Deakin University, Australia.

COL Tan was awarded the SAF Tsunami Relief Operation medal for his role as the Deputy Ops Officer in Operation FLYING EAGLE, the SAF’s largest HADR deployment in the aftermath of the Boxing Day Tsunami in 2004. As Director RHCC, COL Tan looks forward to strengthen the regional and global HADR networks, as well as the disaster relief preparedness of the SAF with its partners..

COL Tan is happily married to Chin Chin, with three children Adelaide, Aden and Ancel.

Lynette is the Chief Executive and board member of the Singapore Space and Technology Limited (SSTL). With 20 years of management and business development experience, Lynette identifies new opportunities and develops effective ways for government, companies, and individuals to partake in the growing space industry. She is managing Partner of the Space-Based Accelerator based out of Singapore, an exclusive programme with the Singapore government that assists early stage, deep tech, space start-ups.

She is the founder of Space Faculty, a space education training provider for all ages, especially from emerging countries and lower income family. She is also a founding member of Women In Aerospace.

Her work experience includes a management position in the M&A division in a global pharmaceutical company. She was awarded the Asia Pacific President Award and the GSK Spirit award.  She worked in the Singapore government service as centre director in the Asia Pacific team and was actively involved a variety of industry sectors including the automotive, mining, digital media and pharmaceutical.

Lynette received her Master of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Stanford.