Jia Yi graduated from the School of Physical Education (SPE) with Honors in 1999 and was awarded the Gold medal from Singapore Sports Council for being the top Honors student in Physical Education. He subsequently taught for a few years in a Singapore school before returning to Physical Education and Sports Science (PESS) as a lecturer. Jia Yi undertook further postgraduate study and obtained his PhD in the area of Motor Control and Learning with the University of Otago, New Zealand from an Overseas Graduate Scholarship (OGS) awarded by NIE. His research interests includes examining multi-articular coordination from a Dynamical Systems Theoretical perspective, visual perception in sports expertise and in a pedagogical approach (Nonlinear Pedagogy) where key pedagogical principles underpinned by representative learning design, manipulation of task constraints, functional variability, relevant focus of attention and perception-action couplings can support nonlinearity in learning.
Jia Yi is currently the Associate Dean, Programme Planning & Management and Assistant-Dean for Degree & Student Life with the Office of Teacher Education (OTE). At present, Jia Yi is also the Co-Editor for International Journal of Sport Psychology.