Dr Stefan Huebner

President

Dr. Stefan Huebner (Hübner) is a Senior Research Fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Asia Research Institute. He is working on the history, present, and future of ocean industrialization and new forms of urbanization.  During the spring semester 2019, he served as a U.S. SSRC Transregional Research Fellow at Harvard University, where he has previously been a Fulbright scholar during the spring semester 2018. Earlier, he was a History and Public Policy Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC.

Publications (selections):

AsiaGlobal Online: “Floating Future: A Sustainable City Project in South Korea is a Model of Affordable Climate Adaptation”

Channelnews Asia: “Could the Next Hotspot for Offshore Rocket Launches Be off the Singapore and Malaysia Coast?”

Journal of Global History: “Asia’s Oceanic Anthropocene: How Political Elites and Global Offshore Oil Development Moved Asian Marine Spaces into the New Epoch”

Modern Asian Studies: “Earth’s Amphibious Transformation: Tange Kenzo, Buckminster Fuller, and Marine Urbanization in Global Environmental Thought (1950s-Present)

AsiaGlobal Online: “Earth’s Amphibious Transformation: Urbanizing Asia’s Seas”

Environmental History: “Tackling Climate Change, Air Pollution, and Ecosystem Destruction: How US-Japanese Ocean Industrialization and the Metabolist Movement’s Global Legacy Shaped Environmental Thought (c. 1950s–Present)”

Email: president@floatingsolutions.org

Prof. Wang Chien Ming

1st Vice-President

Professor in Structural Engineering, School of Civil Engineering University of Queensland, Australia. He holds PhD (Monash U 1982) as well as the following fellow memberships FTSE, FSEng, FIES, FIStructE and FSFSS. He is passionate about advancing very large floating structures (VLFS) for creation of cities, farms, energy plants and infrastructure on seas and oceans.

Mr Anil Thapar

2nd Vice-President

Managing Director at Paaras Marine Solutions Pte Ltd, Mr. Anil is a Naval Architect with over 30 years’ experience in leading and delivering multi-disciplinary marine infrastructure projects to owners, developers, contractors, and consulting engineers. These include specialised floating structures for industrial and high-end commercial applications such as Float@Marina Bay and Semakau Floating Platform, marina improvements, shipyard development projects and independent ship design reviews. He holds Bachelors in Naval Architecture and Masters in Marine Technology from IIT Kharagpur. He is keen on promoting development of nearshore floating structures for multiple applications.

Mr Charles Lim

3rd Vice-President & Honorary Secretary

Mr. Charles Lim is a floating solution enthusiast with experience with coastal and floating infrastructure having spent time in the commodity, logistic, vessel design and renewable industry. He’s currently now with an independent power producer and private capital firm as a consultant looking to promote the development of floating solutions such as solar, wind, LNG to power, hotel and integrated agri-aquaculture farm with the adoption of sustainable construction materials and technology.
He is a Mechanical Engineering graduate from Monash University and holds a Master of Project Management from the University of Adelaide in addition to being certified as a Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.

Email: admin@floatingsolutions.org

Mr Larry Lim

Honorary Treasurer

Mr. Larry Lim started his career as an Electronic Engineer, he went into the marina industry in 2010 perusing his childhood dream to be an active water sports enthusiast. He was trained by The Yacht Harbour Association (TYHA) in Marina Management.
Larry is currently the Business Development Director (Asia) in Poralu Marine, he has extensive experience in offering floating pontoons to marinas, and had built Shimei Bay Marina – Hainan, Macau Fishermen’s Wharf, Ocean Marina in Pattaya, Luxelake Marina – Chengdu.
An avid proponent of floating solutions, his mission is to create high quality space on the water by maximizing the use of modern technology, to regenerate and upcycle previously inaccessible sites into usable space.

Dr Tay Zhi Yung

Council member (Technical Chair)

Dr. Zhi Yung Tay serves as an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT), specialising in offshore engineering and floating structures designs as well as hydrodynamics and hydroelastic. Previously, from 2014 to 2016, he held a prestigious position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Energy System (IES), University of Edinburgh. During this tenure, Dr. Tay spearheaded the hydrodynamic modeling efforts within the EPSRC EcoWatt2050 Project, showcasing his expertise and leadership skills. Prior to his role at IES, Dr. Tay garnered extensive industry experience, notably as a Senior Research Engineer at the Keppel Offshore and Marine Technology Centre. Additionally, he served as a Research Fellow at the esteemed National University of Singapore (NUS). Dr. Tay’s academic journey culminated in the attainment of his Ph.D. from NUS, with a specialization in the hydroelastic response of very large floating structures. Dr. Tay’s research endeavors focus on hydroelastic and hydrodynamic analysis, with particular interests in offshore engineering, coastal protection and flood management, marine engineering, marine digitalisation and AI, renewable energy, ocean space utilization, and the dynamics of very large floating structures.

Mr Ivan Stoytchev

Council member (Social Chair)

With extensive experience in the maritime industry, Mr. Ivan Stoytchev has held several key positions throughout his career. He served as a Consultant at Keppel FELS Ltd, Singapore, from December 2019 to May 2020, and prior to that, at QUEST Global Services Pte Ltd, Singapore, from May 2019 to December 2019. His long-standing tenure at Keppel FELS Ltd includes a role as a Senior Naval Architect in the Engineering Department / Naval Architecture Section from May 1994 to February 2018.

Before joining Keppel FELS, Mr. Stoytchev was the General Manager of the Engineering Department at a Bulgarian Shipyard until May 1994. His 16-year experience from 1978 to 1994 involved working on numerous steel hull vessel projects and the design and construction of approximately 150 floating ferro-concrete workshops. The shipyard’s portfolio of ferroconcrete hulls included a 3000-ton self-propelled tanker, a 500-ton non self-propelled barge, a fish-processing plant and a floating hostel vessel. There were also design options for floating hotels, hospitals, and car parks based on similar ferroconcrete hulls.

In addition to his professional work, Mr. Stoytchev is actively involved in volunteer activities. He serves as a Council Member and Chairman of the Publication Committee for the Technical Journal at SNAMES. He is also a Council Member of the Society of Floating Solutions — Singapore (SFSS) and has been a Committee Member and Social Chairman of IMarEST Singapore — JB of RINA since 2015.

Dr Zhang Chi

Council member (Lead Floating Energy)

Dr. ZHANG Chi is a naval architect and research scientist at TCOMS, with more than 10 years of experience in research and development of marine and offshore engineering. His expertise includes hydrodynamics and hydro-elasticity, model testing, and dynamics and analysis of marine and offshore structures. He has extensive experience in the design and development of novel floating systems for ocean space utilization (floating cities, floating piers, etc.) and renewable energies solar farms, wind turbines, and tidal energy). He is also interested in applying digitalization techniques to these novel floating structures. He has published more than 30 papers in these research areas.
Dr. Zhang has Bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree (full scholarship) from Wuhan University of Technology. He received a few featured awards from the university, including the Valedictorian honour. His PhD study was completed at NUS where he focused on the hydrodynamics of Multi-Purpose Modular Floating Structures. After graduation, he joined TCOMS, a national platform dedicated to the Marine and Offshore sector, as a scientist and participated in several major research projects. He is currently PI/co-PI/co-I of three studies on floating renewable energies. Dr Zhang is also a technical lead in a few key industry projects to provide his scientific insights for real-world problems.
Senior Scientist, Project Lead
Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore (TCOMS)

Prof Qian Xu Dong

Council member

Dr. QIAN Xudong is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) at the National University of Singapore (NUS), Deputy Head (Administration) of CEE at NUS, Group Head of the Structural and Offshore Engineering, Director for Centre for Offshore Research and Engineering (CORE), and Director for Centre for Advanced Materials and Structures (CAMS) NUS. He received his Bachelor (1st Class Honors) and PhD in Civil Engineering from NUS in 2000 and 2005, respectively. Prior to joining NUS as a faculty member, he worked as a post-doctoral research associate in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign (UIUC). Prof Qian’s research interest focuses on experimental fracture mechanics, data driven digital twins for welded structures, fracture, fatigue and integrity assessment for large-scale structures, welded connections, steel-concrete-steel composite structures, and polymer composite materials. Prof Qian is a member of the editorial board in a number of premier journals including Engineering Fracture Mechanics, Fatigue and Fracture of Engineering Materials and Structures, etc.

Mr Lim Soon Heng

Founder President / Senior Advisor and Honorary Auditor

In a world threatened by global warming, rising sea levels, unprecedented floods and wildfires and biodiversity loss, the advent of floating space at sea is increasingly more attractive for human abodes, economic activities, food and recreation.

With this in mind, Mr. Lim Soon Heng founded the Society of Floating Solutions (Singapore) in 2018. He initiated a highly successful series of World Conference on Floating Solutions (WCFS) that were held in Singapore, Rotterdam, Tokyo with a fourth to be held in 2024 in Hong Kong and the upcoming fifth in 2025 in Helsinki, Finland. An expression of interest to host the sixth is in the pipeline.

The WCFS with its protected trade mark has become the platform for global exchange of knowledge of innovating sustainable space at sea.

Through a series of international lectures and publications he promulgates concepts where the principles of floatation and gravity-based structures may be applied to resolve challenges as varied barrage-protected floating nuclear power plants and drought and flood resilient floating rice fields.

In a 2016 op-ed piece he sought to interest the Singapore government to relocate the well-loved East Coast Park with an equal size floating version offshore and thereby to unlock the value of existing seafront for residential use. The opportunity to revitalise the concept has presented itself. At the OMAE 2024 to be held in June 2024 Singapore he will deliver an alternative solution to the government’s proposal to reclaim 800 hectares at the Long Island in the Singapore Strait.

He draws attention to the unappreciated fact that land reclamation destroys the biodiversity both on land and at sea and that alien invasive species could unwittingly be introduced in local waters producing toxins that damage coral reefs and kill fish.

A graduate of the National University of Singapore, and INSEAD, he is a Fellow of the IMarEST, Singapore Structural Steel Society (which he founded) and a Professional Engineer registered in Singapore.

As a member of the Keppel Offshore Marine team was extensively involved in the design of quays, piers, floating and graving docks for the building and conversion of tankers and oil rigs. 

Email: wcfs2019@gmail.com 
WhatsApp: 65 98187580