Biography
Prof. Andy Hor is the Deputy Chief Executive (Research) of A*STAR. He oversees the scientific vision and strategy of A*STAR, and his role is to develop a framework to ensure quality, excellence and impact, as well as review policy and measures to safeguard research ethics, integrity, compliance and responsible conduct. He manages the horizontal thematic research programmes, and develops collaborative links with public and private sectors in Singapore and strategic international partners.
Prior to this, Prof. Hor was the Vice President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) and Chair Professor of Metallic Chemistry & Materials in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) from 2015 to early 2020; Board Member of its business arm Versitech Ltd, chaired the University Research Committee, and Director of its Knowledge Exchange Office. His portfolio covered research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology transfer of the University, crossing ten faculties. Among his responsibilities were management of the University’s competitive grants and performance in the Research Assessment Exercise in Hong Kong. He established the first university-level student-centric innovation and incubation centre, fostered a dual quality-first and impact-driven culture, as well as strengthened the global collaborations of HKU. He was a Board Member of the Singapore International School in Hong Kong.
Prof. Hor graduated from Imperial College (B.Sc.(Hon)) and University of Oxford (D.Phil.), after which he was a postdoctoral associate at Yale University before he joined the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 1984, and developed his academic career therein. He spent five years as the Executive Director of A*STAR’s Institute of Materials Research & Engineering (IMRE) before his move to HKU. In NUS, he was Head of Chemistry for almost a decade and won numerous research and teaching awards, including the Educator Award of NUS and Outstanding Scientist Award of its Faculty of Science.
Among his accolades are the NSTB Young Scientist Award, ASEAN Achievement Award, the first SNIC Distinguished Chemistry Service Award, and numerous fellowship such as Humboldt, Commonwealth and ASAIHL. For his achievements and contributions, he was conferred D.Sc. by the University of London, and numerous academy fellowships, including the European Academy of Sciences, Royal Society of Chemistry, Singapore National Academy of Science, Singapore National Institute of Chemistry and NUS Teaching Academy, among others. His services included being the President of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies, President of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry (SNIC), President of Jury of L’Oréal for Women in Science, Founding Chair of the Young Scientist Award, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances and Toxic Wastes of the National Environment Agency, and Chair of numerous international conferences. He is on the advisory boards of a number of international journals and conferences, and has served on many grant and award review panels in Australia, Japan and Hong Kong as well as NRF and A*STAR, among others.
In research, he specializes in organometallic materials and heterometallic catalysis and has published over 430 international papers with more than 1,000 annual citations in recent years, and filed patents in areas like nanostructures and battery materials. He has delivered numerous plenary, keynote and invited lectures in major conferences and seminars, and trained over 100 doctorate and Master’s students apart from many more research students in NUS and schools in Singapore. He is Concurrent Professor of Fudan University.