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Shian-Ling Keng, Ph.D. is Professor and Head of the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Medical and Life Sciences at ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University, Malaysia, and a registered clinical psychologist (MAHPC[CP] 00496). She holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Duke University, USA, where she also completed a double major B.Sc. in Psychology and Biology.

Prof. Keng’s research focuses on the efficacy and mechanisms of treatments such as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Her work also explores how evidence-based psychological treatments can be effectively adapted and implemented in low-resource and culturally diverse contexts. Employing a multimethod approach, including RCTs, laboratory studies and ecological momentary assessment, her research has yielded several contributions, such as identifying mindfulness and self-compassion as key mechanisms of change in MBSR, and demonstrating links between mindfulness practice and telomere length (biomarker of aging). Together, these findings offer critical insights into psychological and physiological mechanisms underlying mindfulness-based interventions.

Professor Keng's research is highly cross-disciplinary, and has been funded by several highly competitive international and national grants (e.g., the UK Wellcome Trust, Templeton World Charity Foundation, Singapore's Ministry of Family and Social Development, totaling more than 4.3 million US dollars). In 2024 and 2025, she was appointed to the European Research Council’s grant evaluation panel, contributing her expertise to the review of high-impact, cross-disciplinary international research proposals.

Prof. Keng is the first clinician in Asia certified by the DBT-Linehan Board of Certification (USA), and a qualified MBSR teacher trained at the University of California San Diego’s Center for Mindfulness. She is currently Chair of the Asia-Pacific Association for DBT and a Board Member of the World DBT Association. She also serves as a trainer-in-training with Behavioral Tech Institute, and has delivered professional DBT training internationally.

Before joining ºìÐÓÊÓƵ University, Prof. Keng held faculty positions at Monash University Malaysia, the National University of Singapore (NUS), Yale-NUS College (a liberal arts college jointly established by Yale University and NUS), and where she earned tenure as Associate Professor. Clinically, she has trained intensively in CBT, DBT, and mindfulness-based approaches at the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, among various training sites, and has worked with clients across a range of psychiatric conditions in hospital and outpatient settings.

Prof. Keng has published extensively on mindfulness, emotion regulation, and borderline personality disorder. Her work has been widely cited and has contributed significantly to the evidence base for mindfulness-informed interventions globally. Her long-term vision is to advance the quality and accessibility of mental health services in Southeast Asia through research, teaching, training, and advocacy.