Oon-Seng Tan is a professor and the director of the National Institute of Education in Singapore. He was previously dean of teacher education at NIE, where he spearheaded the Teacher Education for the 21st Century initiative as a major milestone innovation for teacher education both nationally and internationally.

Professor Tan was president of the Asia-Pacific Educational Research Association (2008–2010) and the vice president (Asia and Pacific Rim) of the International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology (2008–2011). He is currently editor-in-chief of the Educational Research for Policy and Practice journal and lead editor of the Asia Pacific Journal of Education. Professor Tan was a winner of The Enterprise Challenge (TEC) Innovator Award in Singapore for co-pioneering a project on innovation for the knowledge-based economy. In 2014, he was conferred the Public Administration Medal (Silver) by the president of the Republic of Singapore for his dedication and achievement in the field of education.