In his report on the future workforce, Dr Faizal Yahya, Senior Research Fellow from the Institute of Policy Studies at NUS proposed that the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Education be combined to ensure that Singaporean workers have the skills the economy needs. Dr Faizal also proposed the establishment of a new ministry of ageing that coordinates closely with the manpower and education ministries.
 

NUS Commencement 2019 will be held over 24 ceremonies from 11 to 18 July 2019. Some 11,127 NUS graduates would be conferred degrees – 6,663 receiving bachelor’s degrees and 4,464 receiving postgraduate degrees. Mr Chua Thian Poh, Founder of Ho Bee Group was conferred an Honorary Doctor of Letters, the University’s highest honour, at the Main Ceremony on 11 July 2019.

Assoc Prof Nitin Pangarkar from the Dept of Strategy and Policy at NUS Business School discussed the arguments for continued government support for Malaysia Airlines, and pointed out that its value as a national carrier may be overstated.

Rayner Tan Kay Jin, researcher on the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health; Assoc Prof David Lye Chien Boon, President of the Society of Infectious Disease (Singapore); and Prof Roy Chan Kum Wah, President of Action for Aids Singapore, noted that laws governing those with HIV are outdated and out of touch with the latest scientific evidence.

Asst Prof Tan Swee Ching from the Dept of Materials Science and Engineering at NUS Faculty of Engineering, together with doctoral students Dilip Krishna Nandakumar and Zhang Yaoxin, have developed a zinc-based hydrogel that can, with natural sunlight, harvest clean water from humid air. The gel’s optimal absorption cycle of 15 minutes and desorption of five minutes, allows it to collect up to 14 times its weight in water a day and be reused more than 1,000 times. With funding from Temasek Foundation Ecosperity, the team is now working on producing the hydrogel for industrial use. They are also working on developing variants of the hydrogel that will use other minerals apart from zinc oxide.

The NUS ‘Masala Bay’ team clinched third prize in the Vanigavettai Entrepreneurship Programme, jointly organised by the NTU Tamil Literary Society and Tamil Representatives Council Youth Wing. The project centred around Indian cuisines with the aim to promote Indian culture.

Assoc Prof Tan Soo Jiuan from the Dept of Marketing at NUS Business School discussed the return of online businesses to brick and mortar stores, affirming that location is key to their success.

A research team from NUS School of Computing and the Singapore National Eye Centre’s Singapore Eye Research Institute have jointly developed Singapore Eye Lesion Analyser Plus (Selena+), a state-of-the art artificial intelligence (AI) software system. The deep learning system is trained to analyse retinal photographs for signs of diabetic eye diseases in a fraction of the time it currently takes humans.

Assoc Prof Daniel Friess, from the Dept of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, discussed the importance of sharing knowledge on mangrove conservation and restoration, as mangrove forests in South-east Asia continue to be threatened by aquaculture, agriculture and urban development.

The newly opened National University Centre for Oral Health Singapore will  accommodate the relocated NUS Faculty of Dentistry and an increased annual undergraduate student intake – from the current 60 to 80 by 2021. The Faculty will also start a two-year part-time graduate diploma in geriatric dentistry this year to train dentists to deliver evidence-informed care to treat the elderly.