Research For Impact
Interdisciplinary | Independent | Inclusive
Social, behavioural, & systems research
OUR RESEARCH TEAM
Dr Joanne Yoong, Principal Economist & Behavioural Scientist
Joanne Yoong, PhD, is an applied micro-economist and interdisciplinary researcher working on consumer and household decision-making in vulnerable populations. Dr Yoong holds multiple faculty appointments and is the author of over eighty peer-reviewed articles in leading economics, medical and public health journals. She has worked on projects around the world including Singapore, the United States, India, China, Ghana, Kenya, Cambodia, Indonesia and Iraqi Kurdistan. Dr Yoong received her PhD in Economics at Stanford University as an FSI Starr Foundation Fellow after an early career in financial services, and her AB summa cum laude in Economics and Applied and Computational Mathematics from Princeton University. You can find her scholarly work here.
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Behavioral economics
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Health, financial and social services research
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Socioeconomic development
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Program design and evaluation
Get in touch with Joanne at joanne@rforimpact.com
Dr Suan Ee Ong, Senior Health Systems Researcher
Suan studied political science and international relations in Australia and France, and obtained her graduate degrees in public health from the National University of Singapore. She is interested in health systems and policy research, with a focus on evidence synthesis, policy analysis, and qualitative methods. She is an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore and a Senior Fellow at the Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You can find her scholarly work here.
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Health systems and policy research
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Qualitative research methods
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Evidence synthesis
Get in touch with Suan at suan@rforimpact.com
Gayle Amul, Senior Policy Researcher
Gayle trained in political science and comparative politics in the Philippines and Singapore and is currently pursuing a PhD in Global Health at the University of Geneva. Her work focuses on commercial and political determinants of health, particularly alcohol and tobacco control in Southeast Asia. She is also a Research Fellow on tobacco governance at the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government. She is part of the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance and the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance. You can find her scholarly work here.
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Qualitative research
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Health policy and systems research
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Tobacco control and alcohol control policy research
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Monitoring and evaluation
Get in touch with Gayle at gayle@rforimpact.com
With a double PhD in medical anthropology and political sociology from Washington University and the University of Amsterdam, Sherria has almost two decades of experience in designing and leading research and monitoring and evaluation work in 18 different countries in Asia, The Middle East, Europe, and Africa. Previously, Sherria led the implementation of CO-CREATE, a EUR 10-million European Union-funded multi-country participatory action research project and The Bernard van Leer Foundation's monitoring and evaluation efforts as their global lead. Her experience as both grantee and funder provided Sherria with a comprehensive view of how to do meaningful monitoring evaluations that prioritise mutual learning and impact over compliance. You can find her scholarly work here.
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Cultural medical anthropology and political sociology
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People-centred, participatory and qualitative research
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Strategic framing for monitoring, evaluation and scaling
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Systems thinking and model building for public policy
Get in touch with Sherria at sherria@rforimpact.com
Dr Sherria Ayuandini, Principal Anthropologist and Participatory Impact Researcher
Oliver Yuen, Senior Economist
Oliver specialises in cost-benefit analysis and has contributed to economic research projects spanning urban, energy, health, and social policy. He also works with clients, in programme evaluation, to improve the process of accounting, measuring, and managing the social value of programmes. Oliver holds economics degrees from both Singapore Management University and National University of Singapore, and won the Ministry of Trade and Industry (Economist Service) Best Thesis Prize for his insights on commuter behaviour. You can find his scholarly work here.
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Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) including Health Technology Assessment (HTA)
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Social Value and Social Return on Investment
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Social policy
Get in touch with Oliver at oliver@rforimpact.com
Loh Wei Kok, Economist
Wei Kok obtained his degree from the University of London (UOL), majoring in Mathematics and Economics. He is passionate about teaching. While completing his degree, he co-founded Excel Through Tuition where he and his associates helped undergraduates better understand and appreciate economics modules. After teaching for 5 years, he decided to pursue a Master’s in Applied Economics at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), from which he graduated with distinction. He is highly quantitative in nature and is interested in data analysis and econometric modelling.
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Data analysis
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Econometric modelling
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Cost-benefit analysis
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Education
Get in touch with Wei Kok at weikok@rforimpact.com
Daniel Lin, Senior Researcher
Daniel is a qualitative researcher passionate about improving health and social outcomes of individuals and communities so that they may be better empowered to thrive and lead meaningful lives. He trained in the social sciences (majoring in geography) at the National University of Singapore and has previously worked in the areas of population health programme development, asset-based community development, health informatics, as well as health services and policy research. Daniel hopes to help organizations develop sound policy and practice through quality evidence-based research.
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Qualitative research
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Programme development and evaluation
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Health services research
Get in touch with Daniel at daniel@rforimpact.com
Michael Ang, Research Associate
Michael graduated from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor’s degree in Political Science (First Class Honours). His research experience spans from ethnography to policy analysis, as well as futures studies. Michael was also a Perdana Fellow on disaster risk reduction policy at the Prime Minister's Department in Malaysia. A strong advocate for the role of evidence in improving policy and decision-making, Michael supports the team’s work on research, evidence synthesis, and evaluation as a Research Associate.
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Qualitative research
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Monitoring and evaluation
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Public policy analysis
Get in touch with Michael at michael@rforimpact.com
OUR AFFILIATES
Sarah Elgazzar
Sarah's professional experience has seen her working internationally on community building projects as a negotiator, facilitator, and lead representative to government and media. She is a fantastic communicator and trainer: genuine, gregarious, and dynamic. She also brings creativity and incisiveness to addressing social problems. Sarah studied public policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore and psychology at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is currently based out of London, ON, Canada.
Harishan Rajendran
After graduating from Nanyang Junior College and completing his national service with the Singapore Police Force, Harishan worked with RFI as a Research Analyst on evidence synthesis and data analytics projects. He is currently a physiotherapy undergraduate at the Singapore Institute of Technology as a Ministry of Health Holdings Scholar. Harishan is a hard worker and a team player, always ready to contribute. Passionate about healthcare delivery, he dreams of making a positive impact on the healthcare sector in Singapore.
Dr Amanda Goh
Amanda began as a preclinical researcher in cancer biology before moving to
healthcare communications and consulting at Ogilvy. She then returned to academia to help drive education initiatives at Duke-NUS Medical School and NUS Medicine. She is excited to be able to apply her experience and skills to support the rest of the RFI team in enabling data-driven change. Amanda graduated from Princeton University with an AB cum laude in Molecular Biology and a Certificate in German Language and Culture, then obtained a PhD in Medical Sciences (Virology) from Harvard University.