Prof. Koh brings 16 years of international research experience in the field of sustainability and environmental science, having worked in institutions across Switzerland, Australia and the United States.

He was formerly a Swiss National Science Foundation Professor at ETH Zurich, the Chair of Applied Ecology and Conservation at the University of Adelaide, and Vice President of Science Partnerships and Innovation at Conservation International Foundation.

In 2020, Prof. Koh returned to Singapore under the National Research Foundation’s Returning Singaporean Scientists scheme to join the Department of Biological Sciences at the National University of Singapore.

He is also Director of the University’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, which seeks to produce cutting-edge science to inform climate policies, strategies and actions in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region.

Prof. Koh is one of the most highly cited conservation scientists in Asia, a TED-Global speaker, Founding Director of ConservationDrones.org and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

His research areas include Conservation science, technology and policy; nature-based climate solutions; applied ecology; sustainability science. Prof. Koh focuses on developing policy-relevant science and science-based decision support tools to help reconcile humanity’s needs with environmental protection. I am particularly interested in environmental issues in the developing tropics, a region where population growth is most rapid, yet the people are poorest, and where biodiversity is the richest, yet most threatened globally.