Project Initiator and Leader

Leong Kwok Peng

“I felt that our marine heritage is generally neglected and there is a need to document it for the people.”

Kwok Peng is a chemical engineer who has turned towards eco-education and tourism in the last two years. He’s been with the Nature Society for 15 years, and behind many public awareness activities of the Marine Conservation Group. He has dived extensively in the Indo-Pacific region over the last 13 years. Underwater photography has been part of his scuba passion for 10 years. He is currently Director of EDU Outdoor Activities Pte Ltd.

Primary Underwater Photographer

David Wong

David earned his Open Water diver certification in 1991. He now holds multiple level dive certifications and is accredited in several specialty diving areas, including underwater photography that he picked up in 1993. He has contributed images to local dive magazines and to the book, 24 hours Beneath a Rainbow Sea, Maldives. It is David’s personal collection of images shot in Singapore’s waters that are the visual core of SINGAPORE WATERS. He now runs his own PADI Dive Centre, Diver’s Dreams .

Researcher/Writer

Chua Sek Chuan

Sek Chuan graduated from University of Miami, Florida, USA, with a Master of Arts in Marine Affairs and a Bachelor's in Marine Biology. He began scuba diving in the late 1970s. He has been involved in a two-month informal study on the sea gypsies in Wakatobi, Indonesia for Operation Wallacea in 1997; assisting in the MCG Reef Rescue; and an assistant instructor in the Rainforest to Reef educational programme.

Researcher/Writer/Sponsor

Lisa Gouw-Iwata

Lisa Gouw-Iwata has been diving in Singapore waters and all over Asia since 1979. She has a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University of Hawai'i and also a Master of Arts in Finance and Economics. She has spent countless days at sea with the University of Hawai'i and the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology doing marine research and now lives in Honolulu, Hawai'i with her husband and 3 children.

L-R: Leong Kwok Peng, Kim Lee, Lisa Gouw-Iwata, Chua Sek Chuan,

David Wong.Not in picture: Jeffrey Low and Shawn Lum.

Editor/ Writer

Kim Lee

Kim began her writing career in 1981 with five years as a photojournalist with magazines with the SPH group. Leaving that led to her first 10-year freelance stint, an unplanned one that took her into writing for books, advertising, corporate publications and scripting for documentaries and training videos. She has also been an editor for over three years on eight magazine titles at a local publishing house. She returned to the freelance life in 1999. She has been a diver since 1982.

Researcher/Writer

Jeffrey Low

Jeff’s experience with the marine environment began at the National University of Singapore in 1986, as a student assistant with the Reef Ecology Study Team. He eventually worked as a Research Assistant in NUS, where he spent 10 years conducting coral reef research in the southern islands of Singapore. Earning his Master of Science degree in 1999, he has worked as a dive instructor, a writer and underwater photographer and even ran a business for a short time. He currently works for the National Parks Board as a Senior Biodiversity Officer.

Researcher/Writer

Shawn Lum

Shawn grew up in Honolulu, Hawaii, and spent every weekend of his childhood at the beach and tidal pools near his grandmother’s house in the town of Waimanalo. Despite this long association with the sea, today he seeks mainly tropical rainforests when on field trips!  A botanist by training, Shawn teaches biology, conservation and environmental studies at the National Institute of Education.  He is also a volunteer with the Nature Society (Singapore).