ABOUT US

Manu Kapur is the Director of the Singapore-ETH Centre and Professor of Learning Sciences and Higher Education at ETH Zürich, where he also leads the Future Learning Initiative and co-founded the ETH Zürich–EPFL partnership. Trained as an engineer and statistician, he is internationally recognised for pioneering the theory of Productive Failure, which has transformed approaches to STEM education and informed large-scale curriculum reform in Singapore and beyond.

His research bridges science, policy, and practice, attracting significant international recognition, media coverage, and funding, and he is a sought-after keynote speaker at leading conferences worldwide.

Alfred Aloysius is a seasoned executive with experience across government, multinational corporations, SMEs, and startups. Over the last four years, he has been deeply engaged in the startup ecosystem, partnering with founders to drive growth and forge strategic partnerships.

Alfred has held senior leadership roles in ComfortDelGro, SMRT, and SATS, where he delivered transformation, cost optimization, and operational excellence. Prior to that, Alfred's passion to do good led him to work for the United Nations, where he served in supply chain functions for missions in Africa.

Jakub Macina, an ETH AI Center PhD researcher, specialises in Artificial Intelligence. He is an expert in the reasoning and teaching abilities of large language models, focusing on NLP, dialogue tutoring, question answering/generation, and recommender systems. Previously, he was lead ML engineer at a fast-growing European startup (later acquired by Bloomreach). He is also recognised in Forbes 30 Under 30 for Science and Education.

Jakub brings deep knowledge in AI—and specifically how learning in AI can be developed—for the LearnPF business.

Kian Heong is a senior executive with over three decades of experience transforming major organisations in the transportation, education, and human capital sectors. He excels at leading large-scale change, driving strategic growth, and building high-performance teams. As President of Strides Holdings and Managing Director of SMRT Buses, he led a team of 3,000 and managed an S$800M business portfolio. Previously, as Group CHRO of SMRT, he orchestrated the full organisational transformation of its 10,000-strong workforce.

Earlier, Kian Heong served as Director of Corporate Planning & Development at the National Institute of Education (NIE), where he is involved in the strategic masterplanning for TE21—the Singapore Teacher Education for the 21st century.