Professor Pey Kin Leong
Honorary Professor
Senior Deputy Director (Temasek Laboratories)
Singapore University of Technology and Design
About
Kin-Leong PEY is currently the honorary professor and the senior deputy director of the Temasek Laboratories of the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD). He served as the Founding Senior Vice Provost for Student Success at NEOM University, Saudi Arabia, between February 2024 and January 2026. In 2010, he was appointed by the Singapore’s Ministry of Education as the Founding Associate Provost of Education at the Singapore University of Technology and Design, where he led the development of its undergraduate program. He also held the Kwan Im Thong Hood Cho Temple Chair Professorship in Healthcare Engineering at SUTD (2019–2023) and was formerly Head of the Microelectronics Division at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years in the semiconductor industry.
Dr. Pey earned his B.Eng. (First Class Honors, 1989) and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (1994) from the National University of Singapore. He is a Senior Member of IEEE and a Fellow of both the ASEAN Academy of Engineering & Technology and the Institution of Engineers, Singapore.
He has published over 289 peer-reviewed papers, 351 conference papers, six book chapters, and holds 44 U.S. patents. His contributions include fifteen keynote addresses, 122 invited talks, and 28 foresight and academic reports on higher education innovation. He has one company trade secret in self-aligned silicide cleaning technology in wafer fabrication. He has supervised 42 Ph.D. and 23 Master’s theses and secured over S$11.5 million in research funding.
Dr. Pey chairs the Governing Board of Singapore’s National Synchrotron Programme and serves as President of the Higher Education Planning in Asia (HEPA) Association.
His honors include the Singapore Public Administration Medal (Silver, 2016), the COVID-19 Resilience Medal (2023), and the Service to Education Award (2023). He was conferred the title of Honorary Professor by SUTD in recognition of his extraordinary contributions in setting up the innovative education programs at SUTD.
Strand: Learning Across Boundaries
Reimaging New University Education for a Rapidly-Changing Uncertain World
In a world of rapid technological and social change, higher education must do more than prepare students for new technologies and evolving modes of learning. It must foster a forward-looking culture in which students learn to think critically, connect with others, exercise sound judgment, and contribute meaningfully to society. This presentation proposes a new model of university education for an AI-accelerated and uncertain future, grounded in a graduate attributes framework and a pioneering foundational residential core centred on a new concept: digital thinking.
This residential core integrates digital thinking, design thinking (D2T), and innovation to cultivate key graduate attributes: an adaptable digital and innovative mindset, collective intelligence, lifelong learning, and responsible global citizenship.
As AI increasingly risks displacing human interaction, judgment, and creativity, the residential core re-centres education on human intelligence. Its immersive co-living and co-learning environment enables students to live, study, and solve real-world problems together, strengthening essential social skills and competencies.
Through team- and project-based learning, students develop distinctly human capacities that AI cannot replicate: empathy, collaboration, ethical reasoning, resilience, and creativity. Combined with a student-centred success framework, this rigorous and adaptable academic architecture offers a progressive blueprint for transforming higher education. It restores human connection in an increasingly fragmented environment while preparing graduates to thrive alongside AI and other emerging technologies.