I was born and raised in Serangoon, Singapore. I recently completed my dual MA in energy policy between Columbia University and Sciences Po Paris.

My academic interests include energy and environmental history, Singaporean heritage, and urbanism. I am keen to explore macrohistories of global economic, energy-based and infrastructural transformation, and expanding conversations in energy history beyond the European and American contexts where they have been often discussed.

In 2021, I graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, topping my cohort in History & Politics. My thesis concerned the history of housing, the built environment, and disease in post-war Singapore (1955-75). I was the founding chairperson of Oxford-based Broad Street Humanities Review, which was the university’s only undergraduate humanities journal – but has sadly gone the path of many student publications.

Other publications I am involved with that are alive include Serangoon Energy Analysis, a blog initiated with my friend Nick which discusses energy developments in Southeast Asia and beyond. I am also a commissioning editor over at E-International Relations, the world’s largest open-access website for IR studies, primarily looking for pieces on environmental and energy politics, and a founding editor of the Sciences Po Energy Review. My other experiences encompass heritage documentation & education, geopolitical analysis of Southeast Asia, and human security policy.

I enjoy watching films, listening to various genres of music that evolved out of dub, and occasionally, writing about these two topics. On Saturdays: a slightly flagellant hobby of watching Crystal Palace and Red Star FC lose a game of football. My distant travel goals include visiting all the ancient lakes in the world (except that really frozen one) and experiencing both their natural environments and living communities.

Do get in touch with me via adverbernest [ at ] gmail.com if there’s anything you’d like to talk about.

(All opinions expressed here are strictly mine.)

Photo credits: Vivien F., and a typically beautiful Port Meadow in Oxford.