Tay has an academic background in geography and economics with emphasis on sustainable aviation and travel management. His research interest involves the study of aviation consumers, air route development and spatial measurement methods. More recently, Tay has been collaborating with safety scientists and human factors experts at UNSW Aviation on research investigating remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) technology and their applications. In addition to the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching portfolio in the area of sustainable aviation management, he has end-user focused research project funding from industry and government covering cognizant fields.