Tamas MAKANY
Full-time Faculty
Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning Innovation) and; Director, Centre for Teaching Excellence; Associate Professor of Communication Management (Education)
Lee Kong Chian School of Business
LKCSB
Research Interests
- Human-AI Communication
- Design Education
Education
| 2009 | Ph.D. in Cognitive Psychology, University of Southampton, UK |
| 2005 | M.Sc. In Research Methods, University of Southampton, UK |
| 2004 | M.A. in Psychology, University of Pecs, Hungary |
Experience
| July 2025 - Now | Associate Provost (Teaching and Learning Innovation) Director, Centre for Teaching Excellence (CTE) Associate Professor of Communication Management (Education) |
| Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) Singapore Management University (SMU) |
|
| July 2020 - July 2025 | Associate Professor of Communication Management (Practice) |
| Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) Singapore Management University (SMU) |
|
| 2017 - 2019 | Senior Design Researcher, Netflix, Los Gatos, CA |
| 2015 - 2017 | Design Research Manager, Microsoft, Palo Alto, CA |
| 2014 - 2015 | Games Design Researcher, LeapFrog, Emeryville, CA |
| 2013 - 2014 | Learning Designer, GlassLab, Redwood Shores, CA |
| 2011 - 2013 | Principal Analyst, Pacific Gas and Electric, San Francisco, CA |
| 2007 - 2011 | Research Consultant, London & San Francisco, CA |
Awards, Recognition and Honors
- SMU-X Academic Champion & Mentor, 2024
- Most Promising Teacher Award, SMU, 2023
- Dean's Teaching Honour List (Undergraduate), SMU LKCSB, 2020–Present
- Dean’s Teaching Honour List (Postgraduate), SMU LKCSB, 2021–Present
- Innovative Teacher Award (nominee), SMU, 2021
Committees
- Design Education Advisory Committee (DEAC), Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry, 2022 - Present
- Executive Committee, Design Business Chamber Singapore (DBCS), 2021- Present
Book & Book Chapters
- Lim, S. S., & Makany, T. (2024). Deploying chatbots to build students’ critical thinking skills: Leveraging generative AI effectively and purposefully in higher education. In: Peters, M. A., & Heraud, R. (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Educational Innovation (pp. 1-6). Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2262-4_299-1
- Chiyachantana, C.N., Makany, T., & Ding, D. (2023). Pioneering a Smart, Sustainable, and Resilient Future: Founder Stories and Business Models. World Scientific Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1142/13187
Selected Publications
- Silva, A., Makany, T., & Chiu, M. (2024). Assessing divergence and convergence in the design process: Results from two experiments. International Journal of Engineering Education, 40(6), 1531-1538. (Published)
- Makany, T., Abu Bakar, N.H., and Low, C.H. (2023) Design Education as a Catalyst for Innovation: A Case Study from Singapore, in Derek Jones, Naz Borekci, Violeta Clemente, James Corazzo, Nicole Lotz, Liv Merete Nielsen, Lesley-Ann Noel (eds.), The 7th International Conference for Design Education Researchers, 29 November - 1 December 2023, London, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drslxd.2024.062
- Makany, T., Roh, S., Hara, K., Hua, J.M., Goh, F.S.Y., & Teh, W.Y.J. (2023). Beyond anthropomorphism: Unraveling the true priorities of chatbot usage in SMEs. ACM Conversational User Interfaces (CUI23), July 19-21, 2023, Eindhoven, The Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1145/3571884.3604315
- Basu, A., Makany, T., Mandal, P., & Murti, A. (2023) Consumers’ Preferences for Ethical Entertainment Consumption: Conceptualization, Development, and Validation of a Scale, Journal of Promotion Management, https://doi.org/10.1080/10496491.2023.2184441 (Published)
- Makany, T., & Perera-Schulz, D. (2022) HCI Education and UX Practice: Highlights from Singapore. Asian HCI Symposium’22 (CHI22), April 29–May 05, 2022, New Orleans, LA. https://doi.org/10.1145/3516492.3558782
Case Study
- Speculand, R., Makany, T., & Ang, J. (2022). Strategy and implementation for the workplace of the future: The Raffles Quay Asset commercial real estate story. SMU-22-0020. Singapore Management University. https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/5476
- Makany, T., & Bhattacharya, L. (2022). Blackbox chatbot: Designing natural language conversations with data. SMU-21-0013. Singapore Management University. https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/case/5456
Media Coverage
- Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini - which AI personality suits you? (19 December 2024), The Straits Times, p. B3, (Commentary). https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/claude-chatgpt-or-gemini-which-ai-personality-suits-you
- Makany, T. & Goh, F. (2024, March 26). The Chatbot Challenge: How SMEs can Leverage AI for Growth and Engagement. Asian Management Insights, 11(1), 58-64. https://cmp.smu.edu.sg/ami/article/20240326/chatbot-challenge-how-smes-can-leverage-ai-growth-and-engagement
- Playing the Learning Game, TEDxSingaporeManagementUniversity, 18/Oct/2023, https://youtu.be/WjAj41-Oj4g
- How ChatGPT is changing the way industries do business, SMU City Perspectives, Online, 22/May/2023, https://cityperspectives.smu.edu.sg/article/how-chatgpt-changing-way-industries-do-business
tamasmakany@smu.edu.sg
