Evelyn Tan, PhD, is a psychologist and researcher specialising in child development and responsive caregiving. She has more than a decade of experience working with vulnerable families and conducting research in developmental psychology, with a focus on how responsive caregiving and early childhood education shape children’s outcomes. Evelyn is particularly committed to translating research into practical approaches that strengthen prevention and intervention services.
At CEI, Evelyn plays a key role in supporting the work of the Centre for Holistic Initiatives for Learning and Development (CHILD) at the National University of Singapore. Evelyn has led the development and evaluation of the EASEL (Enhancing And Supporting Early development to better children’s Lives) Approach, which equips early childhood educators to strengthen educator–child interactions to promote children’s social-emotional development.
Evelyn works closely with government and community partners to synthesise evidence, design interventions, evaluate, and support implementation to improve outcomes for target populations. She has led projects including evidence synthesis, program evaluation and the development of practice guides, including using a common elements approach to identify practices shared across effective interventions. She holds a PhD in Developmental Psychology from Deakin University (Australia) and a Master of Counselling Psychology from La Trobe University (Australia).
