Prof Paul Teng is Dean and Managing Director, National Institute of Education International (NIEI), the education consultancy/outreach arm of NIE.  He assumed this position on 1 January 2018 after serving as NIE Principal Officer from 1 July 2014. Prof Teng served as NIE’s Dean, Office of Graduate Studies & Professional Learning from 1 November 2006 to 2014.  He was Head, Natural Sciences and Science Education (NSSE) Academic Group from 2004 to 2006. Under his leadership, NSSE has an increased student enrolment, expanded staff strength and significantly increased its research grantsmanship and teaching contributions. He has also increased NSSE’s local and regional visibility.   

Prof Teng received his PhD from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand in 1978. He pursued his Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Lincoln College, University of Canterbury and in 1973, graduated with First Class Honours. He did post-doctoral work at the Agricultural University, Wageningen, The Netherlands.  Prof Teng has held leadership positions at the WorldFish Centre, the International Rice Research Institute, in U.S. universities (Minnesota and Hawaii) and in the private sector. His pro bono positions include being a Senior Fellow at the South-East Asian Centre for Graduate Studies and Research in Agriculture in the Philippines, Adjunct Professor in Murdoch University, Australia, and as Senior Adviser to several startup enterprises in agtech and urban farming. 

Prof Teng has extensively researched food security generally, and specifically on the role of plant diseases in causing epidemics and crop losses in several continents, working cooperatively with a network of national programme scientists. The work has led to over 250 journal papers, eight books and numerous conference papers, and recognition by peer organisations. His pioneering work on using system analysis and computer modelling techniques to quantify and predict biological phenomena, and conduct risk assessments, is still having impact today in the USA and Asian rice growing countries. More recently, he has devoted his time to researching science communication and science entrepreneurship to meet the needs of new economies. He is a regular invited speaker on agricultural biotechnology, other disruptive technologies and their roles in transforming agriculture and rural economies.  

Prof Teng has served on many national and international committees, and is currently Chair, Board of Directors, International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications and non-Executive Chair, Asia Biobusiness Pte Ltd. He was previously a member of the Board of Directors of the International Consortium for Agricultural Systems Applications, the International Advisory Board of the C T de Wit Graduate School of Production Ecology in Wageningen University, and the Editorial Board of Agricultural Systems and Philippines Phytopathology, and also President of the Board of the Asia-Pacific Regional Technology Centre, Thailand. He is a past Chairman of the Epidemiology Committee of the International Society of Plant Pathology and is Associate Editor of Food Security. Prof Teng has also been a regular consultant for FAO, the World Bank and several other international and regional organisations. He has started and divested two small businesses on technology brokerage. 

Prof Teng has won awards such as the Eriksson Prize in Plant Pathology in 1987, given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences every five years to a scientist who has made significant contributions to solving plant disease problems affecting developing countries. He is a Fellow of the Third World Academy of Sciences, the American Phytopathological Society, the International Society of Plant Pathology, and was co-recipient of the 2001 CGIAR Excellence in Science Award for Outstanding Scientific Article. He has also been cited in the 1996-97 Marquis Who’s Who in Science and Engineering. In 2021 he was admitted as a Fellow, ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology. For his contributions to food security, Prof Teng was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science by Murdoch University, Australia. 

• Food security influencer, policies and technology
• Climate change and agricultural production
• Commercialisation and biosafety of crop biotechnology
• Bioentrepreneurship
• Urban agriculture and aquaculture

• Teng was previously Deputy Director General – Research of the World Fish Center (a CGIAR center based in Malaysia) (2002-2004)
• an Asian region senior executive for Monsanto Company (2000-2002)
• Program Leader for Cross-ecosystems Research at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), Philippines (1987 – 1999)
• Professor at the University of Minnesota (1978-1987), and University of Hawaii (1999-2000).
• Member, Board of Singapore Science Centre (www.science.edu.sg)
• Professor Teng currently also serves as:
  Chair of the Board, the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotechnology applications (www.isaaa.org )
• Senior Fellow, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Agriculture (SEARCA), Los Banos, Philippines
• Member, Genetic Modification Advisory Committee (www.gmac.gov.sg), Ministry of Trade & Industry, Singapore
• Member, Board of Malaysian Biotechnology Information Centre, Malaysia
• Associate Editor, Pest Management Science journal (Wiley, U.K.)
• Associate Editor, World Food Policy journal (Policy Studies Organization, Washington D.C.
• Non-Executive Chair, Asia Biobusiness Pte. Ltd., Singapore (www.asiabiobusiness.com) and Director and partner in GTT Ecofarm Pte. Ltd., a marine aquaculture fish farm in Singapore.
• Between 1984 to the present, Professor Teng has visited more than 35 countries in support of development projects through consultancies with the World Bank, the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Asian Productivity Organization, and the Food & Agriculture Organization, U.N.

Working Papers

• Food (In)Security in Urban Populations (MacArthur ASI WP No. 5)

  16 August, 2010

Policy Reports

• Community Gardens: A "Fourth Basket" in Singapore's Food Story?

  24 August, 2021

• Supporting Singapore’s "30-by-30" Food Security Target: Finding the "Sweet Spot" in Property Taxation

  02 December, 2019

• Scaling Up Commercial Urban Agriculture to Meet Food Demand in Singapore

  21 February, 2018

• High-Tech Plant Factories: Challenges and Way Forward

  15 November, 2017

• Subsistence Urban Agriculture: Key Externalities and Way Forward

  15 November, 2017

• The Future of Rice Security Under Climate Change

  14 July, 2016

• Public Stockpiling of Rice in Asia Pacific

  11 April, 2016

• Public Stockpiling and Food Security

  03 June, 2015

• Impact of Climate Change on Food Production: Options for Importing Countries

  29 May, 2015

• Food Security Robustness: A Driver of Enhanced Regional Cooperation?

  07 April, 2014

• NTS Policy Brief (No. PO13-05) | A New Paradigm for Food Security: Robustness as an End Goal

  30 July, 2013

• NTS Policy Brief (No. PO13-04) | ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015: Opportunities and Challenges for Food Security

  25 July, 2013

• NTS Policy Brief (No. 17) | Tackling Urban and Rural Food Wastage in Southeast Asia: Issues and Interventions

  04 October, 2012

• NTS Policy Brief (No. 2) | Ensuring Urban Food Security in ASEAN

  05 August, 2010

Commentaries

• Southeast Asian Food Security One Year Into the Ukraine War

  21 March, 2023

• China’s “Catchup” on Growing Genetically Modified Crops

  06 March, 2023

• Global Food Insecurity - The Danger of Misguided Food Production Policies: The Case of Sri Lanka

  28 October, 2022

• Global Food Insecurity - Food Import: Reducing ASEAN’s Dependency

  05 July, 2022

• Growing Food Insecurity - Global Water Crisis: Options for Food Security

  21 June, 2022

• Growing Food Insecurity - Asia’s Huge Appetite for Fish: Can It Be Met?

  09 June, 2022

• Global Food Insecurity - Animal Feed and Meat: Asia’s Looming Food Crisis

  06 June, 2022

• Invasion of Ukraine - Asia’s Food Security in Trouble?

  05 April, 2022

• COP26: Sustaining the Global Food System

  12 November, 2021

• Community Gardens: Singapore’s “Fourth Food Basket”?

  02 November, 2021

• Climate Change and Food Security - Golden Rice: Triumph for Science

  27 July, 2021

• Vertical Farms: Are They Sustainable?

  08 June, 2021

• Global Health Security - COVID-19: Its Impact on Food Sufficiency

  25 March, 2020

• Singapore’s ’30 by 30’ Strategy: Can Food Self-Production Be Achieved?

  25 March, 2019

• Singapore’s Nascent Urban Farming: Potential Future Regional Centre?

  23 November, 2018

• Transforming the Rice Value Chain: A Whole-of-Society Approach?

  24 October, 2018

• CO18154 | Food Insecurity - Overcoming Fragmented Food Systems and Trade Wars

  24 September, 2018

• CO17124 | Knowledge Intensive Agriculture: The New Disruptor in World Food?

  23 June, 2017

• CO17072 | Sustainability: Beware of Greenwashing

  19 April, 2017

• CO17048 | Future of Food - Securing the Feeding of Asia: Policy Recalibration Needed

  21 March, 2017

• CO17047 | Feeding Asia: How Should the Region Respond to Production Challenges?

  20 March, 2017

• CO16127 | Agriculture and ASEAN Economies: Still Key for Growth

  26 May, 2016

• CO16120 | Less is More: Untapped Role of Small Farmers in Asia

  20 May, 2016

• CO15147 | AEC2015: Implications for Investment in ASEAN Agriculture

  02 July, 2015

• CO14022 | Food Security Post-Calamity: A Chronic Dilemma

  04 February, 2014

• CO14022 | Food Security Post-Calamity: A Chronic Dilemma

  04 February, 2014

• CO13222 | Food Security: What It Means for a Food-Importing Country

  04 December, 2013

• CO13111 | Rethinking Food Security: Robustness as a Paradigm for Stability

  19 June, 2013

• CO12142 | FOOD SECURITY: Cities as part of the solution and not the problem

  03 August, 2012

• CO12026 | The Rio+20 Summit and ASEAN: Towards a Green Economy

  16 February, 2012

• CO11106 | Resolving Asia’s Food Conundrum: Dual Strategy Needed

  18 July, 2011

• CO11086 | Asia’s Food Security Conundrum

  01 June, 2011

• CO11011 | Food Price Spiral: Causes and Consequences

  02 February, 2011

Bulletins and Newsletters

• NTS Alert (Jul 2011 - Issue 2)

  22 July, 2011

• NTS Perspectives (Issue No. 4 - Dec 2010) | The Case for Urban Food Security: A Singapore Perspective

  31 December, 2010

• NTS Insight (Oct 2010) | Can Asia Learn from Brazil's Agricultural Success?

  31 October, 2010

• NTS Insight (Oct 2010) | Can Asia Learn from Brazil's Agricultural Success?

  31 October, 2010

NTS Insight

• COVID-19 and Food Security in Asia: How Prepared are We?

  09 June, 2020

• The Evolving Singapore Agrifood Ecosystem

  19 August, 2019

• Ensuring a Successful Singapore Urban Food Cluster

  28 February, 2018

• NTS Insight (Jun 2011) | 'Mind the Gap': Reducing Waste and Losses in the Food Supply Chain

  22 June, 2011

• NTS Insight (Jun 2011) | 'Mind the Gap': Reducing Waste and Losses in the Food Supply Chain

  22 June, 2011

Journal Articles

• “Revisiting Emergency Food Reserve Policy and Practice under Disaaster and Extreme Weather Events” (with Mely Caballero-Anthony, Jonatan Lassa, and Maxim Shresta) in International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, 10, No. 1, 2019. pp.1-13
• “Is Singapore’s Decades-long Shift Away from Agriculture About to Take a U-turn?” in Is Singapore’s decades-long shift away from agriculture about to take a U-turn? , , , 2019,
• Teng, Paul P.S., Aik-Ling Tan, and Shirley S.L. Lim. "Re-examining the Role of Institutes of Education in Science Teacher's Continuing Professional Development: A Singapore Perspective." Asia Pacific of Educational Development 1, no. 2 (December 2012): 1-9.
• Teng, Paul P.S., Mercedita A. Sombilla, J. Jackson Ewing, and Margarita Escaler. "Feeding Asia in the 21st Century: Building Urban-Rural Alliances." Food Security 4 (2012): 141-146.
• Teng, Paul P.S. and Margarita Escaler, and A.D. Powell. "Challenges of Harmonization of Agricultural Biotechnology Regulatory Systems across APEC Economies." Biosafety 1, no. 3 (2012).
• Teng, Paul P.S. and A.D. Powell. "The Need for New Agriculture, Biotechnology and Bioscience Entrepreneurship in the Asia-Pacific Region." Asia-Pacific Tech Monitor, (Mar-Apr 2011): 15-20.
• Teng, Paul P.S., Margarita Escaler, and Mely Caballero-Anthony. "Urban Food Security." Significance, (June 2011): 57-60.
• Teng, Paul P.S., Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Margarita Escaler. "Ensuring Urban Food Security in ASEAN: Summary of the Findings of the Food Security Expert Group Meeting held in Singapore 4-5 August 2010." Food Security 2, no. 4 (2010): 407-408.

Chapters in Edited Books

• “ASEAN Responses to COVID-19 for Assuring Food Security” (with Mely Caballero-Anthony, and Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros) in Marc J. Cohen (Ed.), Advances in Food Security and Sustainability. : Elsevier, 2021, pp. 83-118
• “Agriculture and Food Security in Asia” (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros) in Juan M. Pulhin, Makoto Inoue and Rajib Shaw (Eds.), Climate Change, Disaster Risks, and Human Security, Disaster Risk Reduction Book Series. Singapore: Springer, 2021, pp. 137-168
• Teng, Paul P.S. and Margarita Escaler. “Food Security in Asia.” In Food Security: The Role of Asia and Europe in Production, Trade and Regionalism, edited by W. Hofmeister, P. Rueppel and J. Wong, 11-36. Belgium: European Policy Centre, 2014.
• Teng, Paul P.S. “Crop Loss Assessment.” In Encyclopedia of Pest Management, edited by D. Pimental. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2013. Accessed October 17, 2013. doi: 10.1081/E-EPM-120048582.
• Teng, Paul P.S. “Linking Education to Socially-Relevant Bioentrepreneurship for Sustainable Development.” In Biology Education for Social and Sustainable Development, edited by Mijung Kim and C H Diong, 5-18. Netherlands: Sense Publishers, 2012.
• Teng, Paul P.S. and Margarita Escaler. “Food Security in Asia: The Changing Landscape.” In CSCAP Regional Security Outlook 2012, edited by Brian Job, 40-45. Canada: University of British Columbia, 2012.
• Teng, Paul P.S. “Biotechnology Applications to Ensure Food Security.” In Proceedings of International Conference on Biodiversity and Biotechnology, 342-346. Malaysia: Sarawak Biodiversity Centre, 2010.

Working Papers

• IoT-enabled farms and climate-adaptive agriculture technologies: Investment lessons from Singapore (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros, and Suresh Chandra Babu), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC, 21 February 2019
• Teng, Paul P.S. “A Food Security Framework for Collaboration.” Discussion Paper, Agriculture & Development Discussion Paper Series 2014-1, Los Banos: SEARCA, SEAMEO, 2014.

Op-Eds

• “With a Growing Appetite for Meat and Disruption in Production, Asia has a Looming Food Crisis” (with Genevieve Donnellon-May), TODAY , 8 June 2022
• “Singapore’s approval of lab-grown meat helps sustain food security”, China Daily Hong Kong, 16 December 2020
• “新加坡须灵活应对粮食安全问题(Singapore must respond flexibly to food security issues)” (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros, and Mely Caballero-Anthony), Zaobao, 29 July 2020
• “The ‘egg-onomics’ of food security” (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros, and Mely Caballero-Anthony), The Straits Times, 24 July 2020
• “COVID-19: Maintaining Food Security in Asia Pacific”, IPS-Inter Press Service, 20 April 2020
• “Swine fever, climate change, Armyworm: a perfect storm for Asia’s food prices”, This Week in Asia, 10 January 2020
• “Singapore’s Imports of Thai Rice ‘Easily Met’ by Alternative Sources but Climate Change Could Affect Food Security”, Channel News Asia (CNA), 11 September 2019
• “Commentary: Clean meat – the next big thing in Singapore’s push towards agriculture?”, CNA Commentary, 26 May 2019
• “Commentary: Singapore’s ‘30 by 30’ food production target: Is it feasible?” (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros), Today Online, 9 April 2019
• “Transforming The Rice Value Chain: A Whole-Of-Society Approach?” (with Jose Ma. Luis P. Montesclaros), Eurasia Review, 2 June 2017
• Caballero-Anthony, Mely, Paul Teng and Margarita Escaler. “Urban Food Security: Feeding Tomorrow’s Cities,” Significance, The Royal Statistical Society, June 2011.