The Good Design Research (GDR) programme’s evaluation panel is chaired by Dawn Lim, Executive Director, DesignSingapore Council and made up of panel members with business, technology, and design expertise recognised by the design industry. They will select projects that could be supported with funding until the Proof of Concept stage, for a maximum period of 12 months.
(L-R bottom): Pann Lim, Sarah Mineko Ichioka, Wendy Chua
Debra Langley
Partner, Lyra Ventures
Panel Member since 2023
Debra is a Partner with Lyra Ventures, a Singapore-based VC fund investing globally in B2B solutions and new commerce models that are transforming fashion/retail. In addition, she advises innovative companies that bring unique technology to fashion and popular culture.
She is a Board Director at WRAP, a non-profit based in Arlington, VA, USA that is dedicated to ensuring social compliance and integrity in global manufacturing, and she serves on the Advisory Board for DesignSingapore Council. Debra is also a member of the Advisory Council for Vogue Singapore, and a mentor in the FarFetch X Outlier Ventures Dream Assembly Base Camp accelerator for Web3 luxury fashion and commerce.
Ong Ker-Shing
Co-founder, Lekker Architects
Panel Member since 2023
Ong Ker-Shing is a designer and educator, co-founder of Lekker Architects, and Associate Professor (Practice) and BA Architecture Programme Director at NUS Department of Architecture. She is a registered Architect, with Masters degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture from Harvard GSD. Shing was granted the prestigious Wheelwright Traveling Fellowship, included in the third edition of the “20 Under 45” series organised by URA, and at Lekker, won the President’s Design Award of the Year in 2015. Shing sits on the Advisory Board of PSM, Singapore, and the Council of Singapore Institute of Architects.
Pann Lim
Co-founder, Kinetic Singapore
Panel Member since 2022
Pann Lim is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Kinetic Singapore, Holycrap.sg and Rubbish Famzine. He has won over 500 industry awards including the President’s Design Award in 2013, 2015 and 2020, Gold Pencils at the New York One Show, Cannes Lions and a Yellow Pencil at the 2016 D&AD. Recently, Kinetic won two Graphite Pencils and was ranked the fifth design agency in the world at the 2022 D&AD.
Sarah Mineko Ichioka
Founding Director, Desire Lines
Panel Member since 2022
Sarah Mineko Ichioka is a strategist, urbanist, curator and writer. She is Founding Director of Desire Lines, a Singapore-based consultancy for environmental, cultural, and social-impact organisations and initiatives. In previous roles, she has explored the intersections of cities, society and ecology within leading international institutions of culture, policy and research, including Singapore’s National Parks Board, LSE Cities, and as Director of The Architecture Foundation (UK). She has also been recognized as a World Cities Summit Young Leader, one of the Global Public Interest Design 100, a British Council / Clore Duffield Cultural Leadership International Fellow, and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.
Wendy Chua
Co-founder, Forest & Whale
Panel Member since 2023
Based in Singapore and Berlin, Wendy Chua is an interdisciplinary designer and educator. Her practice Forest & Whale envisages design as an agent of change for social and environmental care. She creates products and services that redefine the way we live, from daily objects to new models of ageing. Her work has won accolades such as the P*DA award and was exhibited in the Milan Triennale Museum and the Museum of Craft and Design of San Francisco, among others.
Past Panel Members
Low Cheaw Hwei
Head of Design, Philips ASEAN Pacific and Design Consulting, Asia
Head of Government and Public Affairs, Philips Singapore
Panel Member, 2020–2023
Tai Lee Siang
Head of Pillar, Architecture and Sustainable Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design
Panel Member, 2020–2023
Duleesha Kulasooriya
Executive Director, Deloitte Center for the Edge, Asia Pacific
Panel Member, 2020–2023
Cristina Ventura
General Partner and Chief Catalyst Officer, White Star Capital
Panel Member, 2020–2023
Maaike Doyer
Founder, Epic Angels
Adjunct Professor, Singapore Management University
Specialist Panel Member, 2023
Yang Yeo
Creative Officer, Hakuhodo Inc.
Panel Member, 2020
Chris Lee
Founder and Creative Director, Asylum
Specialist Panel Member, 2021–2022
Semun Ho
CEO, Singapore Fashion Council
Specialist Panel Member, 2020–2022
Kelley Cheng
Founder and Creative Director, The Press Room
Specialist Panel Member, 2022
Interested in the Good Design Research Initiative?
Find out how you can be empowered from the initiative support to find your unique value proposition in designing for impact through research and experimentation
