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I received my PhD from the Cultural Studies Graduate Group in the University of California, Davis, with a Designated Emphasis in Critical Theory.

I am currently looking at global ‘island’ energy landscapes as planetary urban futures, particularly at Semakau Island in Singapore and the proposed Danish energy islands (energiøer) as case studies. My dissertation project, titled Models of Growth: Imagining Complexity in Sustaining the Urban, analyses the aesthetics, epistemologies and ideologies of the global sustainable city in the context of global ecological risk. I trace the development of the notion of city as a metabolic laboratory from 1960s onwards in articulations of the city as an organism that are seen in urban design theories, spaces and practices to do with emergent urban forms such as the ‘smart city’, ‘eco-city’ and the ‘future city.’ I am currently working on my book manuscript based on my dissertation research, which is tentatively titled Planetary Urban Futurisms.

My broader research interests include critical conceptions of the urban and urban space, architectural and design history and culture, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and history of technology/ environment, critical theory, cultural politics, visual and media culture and aesthetics. I am a postdoctoral researcher for the “Design and Aesthetics for Environmental Data” project headed by Jussi Parikka together with Paolo Patelli under the Digital Design and Information Studies department in Aarhus University. Until June 2022, I was part of the Asian Urbanisms Cluster at the Asia Research Institute as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

I have worked with various research organisations and projects, which include The Centre For Liveable Cities (2016), the Feminist Research Institute at UC Davis (2019), the Cities Research Cluster at SMU (2020 – 2021) as well as the “Longitudinal Study to Quantify and Qualify the Impact of the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework For E-Waste in Singapore” Project (2021, SMU, PI Dr Aidan Wong, in collaboration with Singapore Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment).

I was a member of the Global Cities and STS research clusters during my Masters in Literary Studies in the National University of Singapore (supervised by Ryan Bishop). At UC Davis, I was affiliated with the STS program, the Militarization, Policing, and Security Studies working group,  and the Reimagining Indian Ocean Worlds Research Cluster.

A member of the Singapore chapter of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA), I have collaborated on projects such as The Venice Biennale Ideological Guide 2013  and have contributed to publications such as Reflect/Refract: Essays on Photography in Singapore  and CONTEMPORARY VISUAL ARTS+CULTURE Broadsheet.