COUNTRY SPEAKERS

The Republic of the Philippines

• Professor Dr Alvin Ang
• Ateneo de Manila University

In 1999, he joined the academe as full-time Faculty member after completing his Master in Public Policy at the National University of Singapore as a Scholar of the Singapore Government.  He went on to complete his Ph.D. in Applied Economics at Osaka University in 2006 as a Japanese Government Scholar.  He has published in renowned journals such as the Review of Development Economics, Asian Social Science, Asia Pacific Social Science Review, among others.

His research fields are in Labor and Development Economics and his research interests include Competition, Privatization and Public Finance.  His researches on Remittances and Economic Growth in the Philippines have been widely circulated. He won first prize (together with Jeremaiah Opiniano) in the Outstanding Research for Development in the 2011 Global Development Awards (besting 400 entries worldwide)  held in Bogota, Colombia.  His work on the indicators of economic development in localities has been used by the National Competitiveness Council (NCC) as basis for the Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index (CMCI) rankings of cities and municipalities in the Philippines. He is the present chair of the Asian Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) Network and has been active in sharing its idea in many places in the Philippines and in Asia.  He has also done research on social protection and has worked with Dr Fernando Aldaba in preparing the Philippine Social Protection Framework and the Social Protection Handbook for the Philippines.  He is a lifetime member of the Philippine Economics Society where he was elected President in 2013.

He is currently Professor at the Economics Department and Director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) of Ateneo de Manila University where he is also Senior Fellow of Eagle Watch, the School’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Unit.  He was Director of Research at the University of Santo Tomas and Professor of Economics prior to joining Ateneo.

Dr. Ang is an advocate of Personal Finance and has shared his passion on this topic in many fora together with his wife Jo.  He is a sought after economic analyst in radio and television and has appeared in many top rating shows on talk on economic and policy matters.  He is also a favorite speaker on Economic Briefings by various academic and company planning fora.  He is a Christ follower.  

Thailand

• Dr Sinad Treewanchai
• Dean, Faculty of Economics, Prince Songkhla University

Dr.Sinad Treewanchai is currently the dean of Faculty of Economics, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. He graduated with a Ph.D. in economics from The University of Adelaide, Australia. His research areas are urban economics, sustainable development, environmental economics, and behavioral economics. His recent studies, among others, are the impact of community-led marine conservation on fishery resources, behavioral economics and urban policy, and the resources for urban development of Songkhla City.

Malaysia

• Dr Cheong Kee Cheok
• Senior Research Fellow, Institute of China Studies, University of Malaya

Kee-Cheok Cheong is currently Senior Research Fellow, Institute of China Studies, and Senior Advisor, Asia Europe Institute, University of Malaya. A graduate of the University of Malaya, he obtained his PhD at the London School of Economics.  Upon his return from studies, he joined the Faculty of Economics and Administration, University of Malaya, where he held the positions of Deputy Dean and Dean of Faculty.  After a decade at UM, he spent 16 years at the World Bank in the capacity of Economist and subsequently Senior Economist.  At the Bank, he was Coordinator for China and Vietnam in the Economic Development Institute, now the World Bank Institute. After returning to Malaysia in 2000, he has continued as consultant for the Bank and UN agencies.  Back with the University of Malaya since 2010, he has coauthored books, book chapters, and published numerous papers in top-tier academic journals as well as successfully supervised PhD students, both international and local.

Singapore

• Dr Wang Wei Siang
• School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University

Dr. Wang Wei Siang is the Deputy Director of the Applied Economics Master’s program in the School of Social Sciences of Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. He received his PhD in Economics from Michigan State University, USA.

Dr. Wang’s main research interests are Econometrics, Applied Economics and Finance. He has published papers in Journal of Econometrics, Journal of Productivity Analysis and his papers were presented in Singapore Economics Review Conference, USA Red Cider River Conference (US), European Workshop on Efficiency and Productivity Analysis, Taiwan Academic Sinica, etc.

He was teaching at Michigan State University and Kettering University in the USA and has taught various courses including Macroeconomics, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, and Econometrics at various levels. He was nominated for Humanities and Social Sciences Excellence in Teaching Award in 2017 and the recipient of Excellence in Teaching Award in 2019 from Applied Economics master’s Program in NTU.

Republic of Indonesia

• Dr Muhammad Dian Revindo
• Head of Study of Investment Climate and Global Value Chains, Fakultas Ekonomi dan Bisnis, Universitas Indonesia

Revindo has been appointed as the head of Business Climate and Global Value Chain Research Group at LPEM FEB UI since 2017. He joined LPEM-FEBUI in 2009 and has since been a research associate with the institute, after previously worked as a survey coordinator and a quality auditor at PT. Surveyor Indonesia, a state-owned enterprise specializing in survey, inspection and certification services.

Revindo has an extensive experience in research, survey and consulting projects for various national and international client organizations. His national client organizations include, amongst others, Ministry of Industry, Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of National Development Planning (Bappenas), Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Ministry of Finance, Creative Economy Agency (Bekraf), National Agency of Drug and Food Control (BPOM), PT Telkom, PT Krakatau Steel, PT ASDP, PT Sucofindo and Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI). He has also been involved in multiple projects with international organizations including APEC Secretariat, JICA, Australian DFAT, British Prosperity Funds and European Development Fund.

In addition to research, Revindo is a lecturer at the Graduate School of Strategic and Global Studies (Sekolah Pasca Sarjana Kajian Stratejik dan Global) Universitas Indonesia, and a facilitator at LPEM FEB UI’s training of National Planner (FPP) and Regional Development Planning. He previously held teaching position at Prasetiya Mulya University and teaching assistant at Lincoln University, New Zealand. He teaches a broad range of subjects including Introduction to Economics, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Economic Development, International Trade, European Economy and Economic Indicators.

Revindo earned his Ph.D. in Economics from Lincoln University, New Zealand and a recipient of New Zealand-ASEAN Scholar Awards (2013-2017). His Ph.D. thesis is titled “Internationalisation of Indonesian SMEs”. He also holds a M.A. in European Studies from KU Leuven, Belgium (2008), a M.Sc. in Economics from KU Leuven, Belgium (2007) and a B.A. in Economics and Development Studies from University of Indonesia (2000).