Dr May Lim is an Associate Professor at the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and Assistant Provost (Applied Learning). In 2025, she also served as a visiting researcher at UNESCO Institute for Lifelong Learning. May looks after the SIT Teaching and Learning Academy that advances competency-based education, and recognition of prior learning and coaching practices. From 2017 to 2022, May served as the Director of Centre for Learning Environment and Assessment Development (CoLEAD) that looks after the faculty development programmes at the university level. She was awarded the National Day Honours: Public Administration Medal (Bronze) in 2022, the SIT Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, 2019 and 2020 and Education 2.0 Outstanding Leadership Award in 2022.
May has received several teaching and learning research grants from the Ministry of Education to investigate the effects of experiential learning, gamification and improving metacognition. She actively collaborates with experts in different fields to advance learning practices. With funding totalling approximately S$6 million from sources like the Ministry of Education Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF) across multiple years and most recently from the Workforce Development Applied Research Fund in 2023, she leads numerous research projects and capability building initiative.
May plays a key role in shaping education policies such as the Teaching & Learning policy, Assessment Policy, Academic Integrity Policy. She sits in the SIT Board of Studies. In term of educational research, she has experience in research projects on experiential learning, learning space, use of gamification in teaching, work-integrated study and cohort study of students’ traits and development. She pioneered the university-wide Freshmen survey that seeks to understand students’ expectations as well as traits such as grit, growth mindset, resilience, and learning approaches. She leads a team that investigates the effect of traits on learning outcomes and the development of work-related skills for large cohorts of students. In 2019, she received the Ministry of Education Tertiary Education Research Fund (TRF) for the project – Gamified micro-learning platform: An early intervention for at-risk freshmen.
May is also an experienced occupational therapist by profession, having worked with children with developmental delays and disorders in both Singapore and Australia, and previously led the Bachelor of Science (with Honours) in Occupational Therapy degree at SIT while contributing to national projects such as consultancy for early intervention centres. As a certified Solution-Focused Coach, she is passionate about fostering a coaching culture among educators to support students holistically, actively seeking coachable moments to enhance student development beyond the classroom. May is the lead editor of the new book, "Coaching Students in Higher Education: A Solution-Focused Approach to Retention, Performance, and Wellbeing."