Dr Er Meng Hwa
Emeritus Professor
Nanyang Technological University
Professor Er Meng Hwa is an Emeritus Professor at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, with over 38 years of distinguished service in higher education, research, and leadership. He has held key leadership roles, including Deputy President, Acting Provost, Vice President (International Affairs), Founding Dean of the College of Engineering, and Dean of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at NTU. He founded the Centre for Signal Processing and the NTU Satellite Engineering Programme, playing a pivotal role in the launch of Singapore’s first micro-satellite, X-Sat in 2011.
A globally recognised engineering educator and innovator, Professor Er has published over 266 research papers, led S$49 million in funded research, and holds five patents. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and IES, and an Honorary Fellow of IEE (UK) and AFEO. His numerous honours include the Public Administration Medal (Gold), the IES-IEEE Joint Medal of Excellence, and the Nanyang Award for Meritorious Achievement. In 2016, he was named one of the world’s most influential engineers by the UK’s Institution of Engineering and Technology.
Internationally, he has served on advisory boards for top institutions such as Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, and the University of Oman Project. He continues to contribute to education and policy through roles with the Academy of Engineering Singapore and NUS High School of Mathematics and Science.
Professor Er’s career represents a master class in the integration of leadership, vision and pedagogical innovation. His enduring contribution is not a single teaching method or educational theory but a holistic, system-level approach to transforming engineering education. He can best be understood as a “Pedagogical Systems Engineer”.
Keynote
Topic: Brain-Based Learning for a BANI World: Designing Adaptive, Human-Centred Learning in the Age of AI
As artificial intelligence reshapes how knowledge is accessed, generated and applied, educators are increasingly teaching in what many describe as a BANI world—one that is brittle, anxious, nonlinear and incomprehensible. In such a context, the role of education can no longer be limited to content delivery or routine performance. Schools must instead design learning that enables students to remain engaged amid uncertainty, think deeply across complexity, adapt to change, and apply knowledge meaningfully to real-world problems.
This keynote argues that Brain-Based Learning (BBL) offers a powerful pedagogical foundation for such a world. Informed by insights from the Science of Learning and the broader Learning Sciences, BBL aligns teaching with how the brain naturally learns through attention, emotion, memory, meaning-making, patterning and social interaction. These principles are especially relevant in a BANI context, where learners require not only knowledge, but also resilience, cognitive flexibility, metacognition, creativity, collaboration and ethical judgment.
The keynote will examine how educators can design brain-compatible learning environments that combine psychological safety with intellectual challenge, while using AI as a tool to enrich inquiry, feedback, personalisation and reflection. Rather than competing with AI in information processing, learners must be prepared to question, direct and work wisely with it.
By linking brain-based learning to the demands of a BANI world, this keynote proposes a human-centred approach to education that prepares students not merely to cope with complexity, but to respond with adaptability, confidence, empathy and purpose.