Ernest, a 25 year veteran in the education industry, has been a teacher and education leader in the School of Design Temasek Polytechnic for the last 15 years. Ernest received his basic degree with Honours in Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand and a Masters in Southeast Asian Studies from the National University of Singapore. In addition to his Diploma in Education from the National Institute of Education, in 2009 he completed a Professional Certificate in New Media from Ngee Anh Polytechnic and the Civil Service College of Singapore. Not long after he qualified as an consultant for the renowned Trompenaars Hampton-Turner 7 Dimensions of Culture Program. Since 2011 he has headed the Contextual Studies department in the School of Design. This encompasses Communications and Marketing for aspiring designers. In this capacity he has introduced digital and new media elements to help young designers profile and promote themselves on the world stage. His passion is for media design and in particular emerging platforms and technologies to leverage on social media. In this area he has researched enterprise development and technologies which make citizen journalism possible. He is avid blogger and regular contributor to Singapore social media sites. Married and with two young children Ernest believes that education must be responsive to the realities of the global era. His personal philosophy is that learning is life-long and that family and community are the true motivation for work.