Signatures of the Anthropocene:
Tracing Environmental Transformations

Edward Park is an Associate Professor in Physical Geography at NIE and ASE. He serves as Principal Investigator at the Earth Observatory of Singapore (EOS) where he is developing a river research program entitled ‘Tropical Rivers in the Anthropocene’. He also serves as a PI for Research Cluster 1: Climate Processes and Extremes, on the Climate Transformation Programme led by EOS, NTU. His research investigates the tropical rivers processes along the Mekong Delta and how they interact with human activities, such as sand mining, as well as natural disasters. Edward’s work is strongly based on geospatial technologies, hydrological modeling, in addition to traditional field surveys. He received his PhD from the University of Texas, Austin and BA from the Ohio State University.    

Wang Ruobing is an artist, curator and educator at LASALLE, University of the Arts Singapore. Committed to exploring new ways of seeing and methods of knowledge production, Dr Wang’s artistic practice stretches from drawing to photography, sculpture, kinetic art, and installation. Her body of work explores our position with our environment, with works such as “Tide” (2023) addressing the issue of travelling trash and its impacts on marine ecosystems. As an academic, her research concentrates on identity, hybridity and transcultural discourses, particularly on contemporary art in China and Southeast Asia. She received her PhD from the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, and previously a curator at the National Gallery Singapore. 

Franca Cole is an archaeologist and conservator whose research focuses on the way humans interact with material culture. Her projects include the deliberate fragmentation of handmade ceramics at Niah Caves, Sarawak; trans-Saharan trade of beads and textiles; and sustainable alternatives to air-conditioning for collections storage in extreme climates. Currently she is a Research Fellow on the Climate Transformation Programme and lectures on Material Culture and Collections Care at NTU. Franca was educated at UCL and University of Cambridge. Before her PhD, she was a freelance archaeological conservator, working at sites and museums in Turkey, Libya, Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Peru, Chile, India, Norway, Greece, UAE, Qatar and Malaysia. She has held academic posts at UCL Qatar and the University of Leicester, has lead conservation training programmes at UNESCO Bangkok and HCC Singapore, and was State consultant in conservation and archaeology to Sarawak Museum Department 2020-2026.