Clara Shen • Student Research Assistant

Clara is a third-year Political Science undergraduate at NUS, contributing to the Centre for Music and Health’s (CMH) Arts & Heritage for Health Evaluation Toolkit. With a minor in Psychology, she is passionate about the intersection of mental health and the arts.

Her involvement in a consulting project involving mental wellness practitioners strengthened her commitment to improving public mental well-being. Demonstrating aptitude for research, she has previously supported projects on sustainability, maritime law, workplace diversity, and more. Clara looks forward to making meaningful contributions to CMH, developing her research skills, and expanding her knowledge of mental health and the arts

Claudia Kahrs • Student Research Assistant

Claudia is a bachelor's student pursuing Cognitive Science at Technical University Darmstadt in Germany. She is an exchange student at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and contributes to the Center for Music and Health's (CMH) NOURISH project.

With her passion for music, nurtured via piano studies at the Music Academy Darmstadt (Tonkunstakademie), she blends technical and artistic pursuits. In Germany, she is writing her bachelor's thesis on music cognition at the Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. Her efforts to enhance her musical and technical proficiency have been recognized by the Friedrich-Naumann Foundation, a distinguished scholarship awarded by the German government for outstanding academic achievement and community involvement.

Being half-Chinese and half-German, Claudia enjoys embracing both facets of her heritage in Singapore's culturally diverse environment.

Jovyn Lee • VOLUNTEER

Jovyn is a music educator who is passionate about the potential of the arts to impact and transform lives. Her research interest lies in the intersection of arts and social good. She joined Blue Dot as a Research Associate to look at transformative arts for the less privileged youths with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) through a curated arts programme. While working as a Manager of Creative Arts with the Singapore Prisons Service, she was one of the forerunners to develop the prisons arts programme. One of the programmes, Project Unity, was presented during the InSEA in Osaka following the success of the project.

Jovyn was a recipient of the LASALLE scholarship when she pursued her Masters in Arts. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Besides teaching piano, she also volunteers at the NUS (Centre for music and health) for the “Arts & Heritage for Health Evaluation Toolkit (AHET)” project.

Lauren sim • Student Research Assistant

Lauren is a third-year Sociology undergraduate at NUS, delving into the profound question of "what does it mean to be well?" Her passion for the area of health ignited during an internship with the Ministry of Health, which exposed her to the intricacies of health and policy. An exchange semester with the University of Pennsylvania, particularly a course on Indigenous concepts of health and healing, further expanded her perspective on well-being.

Personally finding solace in the arts, Lauren aims to harness its unique healing capacity for the broader community. Integrating these interests, she envisions a world where the arts serve as a powerful conduit for wellness, touching lives and nurturing holistic health

Lauren is thrilled to bring this vision to life with CMH, and she eagerly anticipates to learning and growing through this meaningful journey.

Raeanne Wong • Volunteer

A recent soprano graduate from School of the Arts, Raeanne enjoys singing both as a soloist and chorister. She sings actively with the Singapore Symphony Youth Choir, and lent her voice to the re-recording of Singapore’s National Anthem (2019), 33rd ASEAN Gala Dinner, and the Cultural Medallion.

She made her solo debut when she performed in Prague’s St Martin in the Wall Church at the age of 14. Raeanne finds it particularly meaningful to use her voice to bring hope to those in need, and she is deeply humbled to have been able to sing for a worthy cause on several occasions such as the national fundraiser ChildAid in 2021 and 2022.

Having conducted research in A*STAR’s Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Raeanne understands the importance and promise of research. She hopes to harness the power of research to push boundaries and understand more about the world around us.

Music is a balm to the soul, and Raeanne seeks to increase awareness of the impact that the arts has on health. She is currently researching ways to evaluate this impact through the “Arts & Heritage for Health Evaluation Toolkit” project, and is immensely excited to meld both her interests in music and health in CMH.

Amanda Lee • student Intern