Professor Weber is Professor of Finance at the Mitch Daniels School of Business, Purdue University, and at ESMT Berlin, where he serves as Academic Director of the European Expectations Center. He is an academic consultant to several central banks and policy institutions, including the Deutsche Bundesbank, the Bank for International Settlements, and the Federal Reserve Banks of Cleveland and Dallas. He is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR).

His research spans macroeconomics, household finance, asset pricing and international finance, with a particular focus on how economic expectations shape the decisions of households and firms. His work has appeared in leading economics and finance journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica and the Journal of Political Economy. In 2026, he received the Alexander von Humboldt Professorship, Germany’s most highly endowed research prize.

Professor Teo Chung Piaw, Dean of NUS Business School, said, “Professor Weber’s research deepens our understanding of how people make economic decisions—how everyday price experiences shape their expectations, and how uncertainty influences their spending. By combining rich data with carefully designed experiments, his work connects fundamental economic questions with issues that matter to businesses and society. We look forward to the fresh perspectives and opportunities for collaboration that his visit will bring to our faculty and students at NUS Business School.”

Mr Edward Robinson, Deputy Managing Director (Economic Policy) and Chief Economist, MAS, said, “Professor Weber’s research offers important insights into how households perceive inflation, form expectations and make everyday economic decisions. His work is particularly relevant to central banks which seek deeper understanding into expectation formations and effective communications with the public. We are pleased to engage with Professor Weber again following his participation in the 10th Asian Monetary Policy Forum[1] in 2023, and look forward to further exchanges on the implications of his research for monetary policy. It is our great privilege to welcome him as the 27th MAS Term Professor.”

Professor Weber will deliver a public lecture at NUS on 17 November 2026 titled, "Subjective Expectations: Models meet Reality”. He will also give a seminar at MAS and engage senior policymakers and economists on issues in household inflation expectations, monetary policy and central bank communication.

About the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance

First established in 2009, the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance is awarded to distinguished scholars, who are appointed as Visiting Professors at the Department of Economics at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the NUS Business School, or the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. It aims to strengthen Singapore’s financial and economics research infrastructure and contribute to a vibrant research community and culture at local universities. Since its inception, the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance has been awarded to 27 distinguished scholars over the last 17 years

[1] The Asian Monetary Policy Forum (AMPF) is an annual flagship policy research event jointly organised by the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER), NUS Business School, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Name: Nicholas Chua
Faculty: College of Design and Engineering
Host Country/University: Scotland, The University of Edinburgh

What was your first week in Scotland like?

The week was mostly about settling in, with many trips to IKEA to purchase household essentials like kitchen utensils and bedding.

I also attended the University of Edinburgh's orientation for exchange students and met my student advisor and other NUS exchangers. We gradually got to know one another better over meals and outings. It was nice having a familiar community around while adjusting to life in a completely new city.

Why did you choose the University of Edinburgh for your exchange?

It was recommended to me by an Electrical Engineering senior from Ridge View Residential College. Through our conversation, I learnt that many Electrical Engineering courses at the University of Edinburgh could be mapped back to NUS, which was a big deciding factor for me.

Apart from academics, I chose Scotland for its abundance of nature and beautiful landscapes. I’ve always enjoyed spending time outdoors, so Edinburgh was an excellent choice because the Scottish Highlands were accessible by train.

I eventually made several trips to the Highlands, including two bikepacking adventures along the Great Glen Way, which became some of the highlights of my exchange.

What were some of your key learning experiences during your exchange?

Living in an unfamiliar environment was refreshing, but I also learnt that the grass is not necessarily greener on the other side!

Being away made me appreciate things I had taken for granted in Singapore, like our familiar culture, safety and efficient public transport. I realised that while I love travelling, I would still prefer to live in Singapore.

But exchange also strengthened my love for adventure and the outdoors. After watching the Spanish YouTuber Ramilla de Aventura’s videos, I started toying with the idea of travelling all the way back to Singapore by train. What initially seemed like a far-fetched dream eventually became a reality — and one of my most memorable adventures!

Spanning 21,445km, my 46-day rail journey took me across 14 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, China, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia.

Throughout the journey, I learnt to be adaptable and embrace uncertainty. Unexpected train cancellations and miscommunications often disrupted my plans, and I realised that planning too far ahead was not always practical. Instead, I learnt to approach challenges with an open mind and figure things out along the way.

What are some of your fondest memories from your time there?

Travelling to Iceland with three other exchange students for a week, where we embarked on an unforgettable winter road trip exploring its breathtaking landscapes, from snow-covered mountains to vast glaciers.

A key highlight of the trip was witnessing the magical northern lights dancing across the night sky, a truly surreal and once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will always treasure.

Back in Edinburgh, I made many wonderful memories with the international student community, like playing volleyball on Calton Hill, hiking up Arthur's Seat at 1am and staying until sunrise, and visiting nearby Scottish cities like Glasgow and Dundee.

What did you learn from interacting with students from different cultures?

It was not always easy. In Edinburgh, I shared a flat with two Americans and one Scottish student. We got along well, though I found it challenging to develop deeper connections because of our diverse backgrounds and life experiences. Nevertheless, these interactions taught me to keep an open mind and appreciate different perspectives.

I also participated in a recreational badminton club try-out, where I bonded with undergraduate and postgraduate students from various countries over a shared interest.

What tips would you give NUS students interested in participating in global education programmes?

JUST DO IT! There are not many opportunities in life where you get to spend five months living abroad, with the support of fellow NUS exchangers and a host university to help you settle in.

Be open to new experiences, take risks and embrace the unknown. It might feel overwhelming at first, but it’s all part of the experience. You will be surprised by what you are capable of, and how much you grow along the way!

The world is your oyster, so make the most of it!

Held on 25 October and graced by NUS Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost Professor Aaron Thean, the ceremony presented 11 Distinctions, 24 Merits, 57 Commendations and six Recognitions across seven categories, reflecting the diverse ways students have made a difference to campus life and the wider community.

Innovation with purpose

To improve the residential experience, Isaac Chin, a final-year Data Science & Analytics student and past President of Sheares Hall's Junior Common Room Committee (JCRC), worked with his vice president to develop an AI-powered co-curricular activity (CCA) points calculator for more than 500 residents across over 70 CCAs, and a simulator to assess how proposed policy changes would affect residents before implementation.

“I'm most grateful to the 45^th JCRC and to Master Vini (Associate Professor Vinicius Rosa) for daring to challenge the status quo. Not every idea worked, but they never wavered so that we could build a better community for Sheares,” he said.

The spirit of innovation also secured Bumblebee Autonomous Systems’ victory at RoboSub 2025, an international competition in autonomous underwater vehicle design.

The 23-member team used AI and machine learning to help its underwater robots identify and respond to targets more reliably in challenging conditions. Following its win, the team open-sourced its software stack for the wider robotics community to build on.

Forging community connections

Other recipients channelled their knowledge and talents towards serving others.

Led by Duke-NUS Medical School students, Project Healthy to Thrive (HTT) provided free health screenings and health education materials to over 450 migrant workers, partnering with the Ministry of Manpower’s Assurance, Care and Engagement Group, fellow Duke-NUS initiative Project Brother Bear, and local doctors.

“Many migrant workers face barriers to preventive healthcare because of demanding work schedules, language differences, financial constraints and limited access to health information,” explained Doctor of Medicine student Gini Wong Wei Wen, who served as Project Director in 2025 and 2026.

“HTT not only detects disease, but also empowers them to take ownership of their health through education, partnership and sustained engagement.”

Students also found ways to bridge generations and cultures through the arts.

Over 12 weeks, Tan Yu Hao (Year 2, Computing) taught choreography to pre-frail older adults at Lions Befrienders’ Active Ageing Centres through the intergenerational NUS Community Dance Programme, adapting movements to accommodate different mobility levels.

“Their growing confidence showed me how dance can support health, dignity and connection,” said the AY2024/2025 President of NUS Dance Blast!.

Meanwhile, NUS Indian Dance and NUS Dikir Barat joined forces for Antara Dua, a cross-cultural production at NUS Arts Festival 2026 that combined Indian and Malay artistic traditions, fostering mutual understanding by consulting faculty from the Departments of English, Sociology and Malay Studies.

NUS Indian Dance President Sridevi Vasanthakumar Reshmika (Year 3, Economics) said the production affirmed the value of intercultural collaboration in Singapore’s arts landscape.

Celebrating sporting excellence

The spirit of teamwork was equally evident in NUS Table Tennis, which received the President’s Sports Award of the Year in recognition of its sustained sporting excellence.

Over three consecutive years, the team secured 10 of 12 titles at the Singapore University Games and Institute-Varsity-Polytechnic (IVP) Games, including twin victories by its men’s and women’s teams at IVP 2024 and 2025.

It also contributed to campus life through initiatives including its Learn-to-Play programme, the Inter-College Games and NUS120 Homecoming.

“Receiving the President’s Sports Award of the Year motivates us to continue working hard and striving for even greater achievements in the future,” said former Captain of the Women’s Team Jade Ng (Year 3, Business Analytics).

Together, the recipients' achievements reflect how NUS students are stepping up to pursue their passions and make a difference to society.

By NUS Office of Student Affairs (OSA)

Read more about the NUS Achievement Awards 2026 and the full list of recipients on the OSA website.

But what if its future could look different?

At the inaugural ASEAN Symposium for Youth Leaders, 91 young leaders from all 11 ASEAN countries came together to imagine new possibilities for the region, from creating blue economies to green education hubs. The participants, comprising undergraduate and postgraduate university students, were selected based on their interest in governance, public policy and international affairs. The event was organised by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) at NUS from 10 to 12 September 2026.

What if communities could turn floodwaters into opportunity?

In Hagonoy, Bulacan, a coastal municipality in the Philippines, rising tides and strong typhoons bring frequent flooding, affecting residents' lives and livelihoods.

Winning team SEAblings’s 2050 Flooding Mitigation and Adaptation Masterplan envisions transforming Hagonoy into the Philippines’ “Blue Economy Capital”, combining flood-resilient infrastructure and mangrove restoration with aquaculture and water-based tourism.

Mr Qjiel Giuliano Mikhl Zamora Mariano from the Philippines, who is pursuing a Master of Science in Sustainable Healthcare at NUS, explored how mangrove restoration could protect coastal communities while supporting livelihoods.

“This project reminded me that sustainability is not just about designing solutions that look good on paper. It’s about understanding what communities go through and creating solutions that work for them,” he said, explaining how flooding affects healthcare as families may require sea ambulances to reach hospitals during major typhoons.

Could Metro Manila harness its coastal waters for a cleaner, more resilient energy future?

In the Philippines’ densely populated capital, growing electricity demand, limited land and extreme weather make reliable, affordable power a challenge.

First runner-up team RICE FAM’s proposed Manila Urban Renewable Energy Network includes floating solar panels, wind turbines and technologies that harness wave energy. Electricity would be stored locally to support homes, schools and hospitals during power disruptions. When typhoons approach, a system that monitors weather conditions will automatically pull floating equipment into a protective structure onshore.

Besides cleaner electricity, the team also proposed making electricity more affordable for underserved communities, creating jobs and giving residents a say in how the project develops.

“It is not enough to develop an innovative solution or introduce new technology; we must also approach policymaking with open-mindedness, curiosity and empathy to understand the realities and needs of stakeholders and communities on the ground,” said Ms Valerie Wong, a Singaporean team member.

What if young people could build their futures closer to home?

For second runner-up team Sixth Sense, the challenge was personal. Their proposal began with a Lao teammate sharing experiences from his hometown of Ngoi in northern Laos, where many young people leave school early to work due to limited local opportunities.

Across Laos, nearly four in ten young people aged 15 to 24 are not in education, employment or training, according to 2022 figures cited in the team’s proposal.

They envisioned transforming Ngoi into a green education hub by 2050, connecting young people with careers in sustainable industries such as ecotourism, clean energy, and green transportation through vocational training, business partnerships and internships.

“Natural wealth becomes lasting development only when local people are equipped to build on it,” said team member Ms Yang ZhenZhen, who is from Singapore.

Imagining the future, together

Despite addressing different challenges, the three proposals share an ambition to help communities overcome barriers and realise their potential.

“What is common is that everyone is passionate about co-creating meaningful solutions to contemporary governance challenges,” said Ms Ong Toon Hui, Vice Dean and Executive Director of the Institute for Governance and Leadership at LKYSPP.

These ideas may remain visions for now, but they are an important starting point for a brighter future in Southeast Asia.

Addressing rising flood risks, for instance, requires an understanding of environmental science and public policy, while tackling AI-enabled scams demands insights into technology, human behaviour and criminal justice.

To enable students to venture beyond their primary fields of study and gain interdisciplinary perspectives, the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences has introduced two programmes under the NUS College of Humanities and Sciences (CHS): the Second Major in Environmental Science for Sustainability and Minor in Criminal Justice.

Environmental expertise across disciplines

As climate challenges and sustainability priorities evolve, demand is growing for graduates who can turn environmental science into practical solutions.

Combining geography, biology, chemistry and more, the Environmental Science for Sustainability programme equips students to tackle challenges ranging from climate adaptation and flood resilience to biodiversity conservation.

Students gain a grounding in earth systems and natural resource management, while developing technical skills in areas such as Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing and environmental modelling.

Together with a compulsory internship, field trips — including to Malaysia and Kenya —  will allow students to investigate issues such as water quality and mangrove ecosystems, and understand how local communities interact with their natural environments.

“By going into the field, they will learn about how these solutions can be applied and what other kinds of indigenous and local solutions may already be in place,” said Associate Professor Kamalini Ramdas, Deputy Head of the NUS Department of Geography.

Graduates can pursue careers in conservation, biodiversity management, environmental consulting, geospatial analytics and environmental policy.

From individual courses to structured minor

The new Minor in Criminal Justice applies a similarly interdisciplinary approach to understanding crime and the justice system.

Drawing on perspectives from sociology, psychology, law, geography and the sciences, students examine issues from cybercrime and online fraud to the causes of offending, victimisation, punishment and rehabilitation.

“The idea for the Minor grew out of our experience in Love that Kills, where we saw how different disciplines could come together to illuminate a complex social problem. We wanted to extend this approach to the wider study of crime and criminal justice,” explained Assoc Prof Narayanan Ganapathy from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Minor’s academic convenor.

Love That Kills: A Criminal Justice Perspective, a CHS interdisciplinary course on gender-based violence, is now one of the Minor’s core courses, alongside Sociology of Deviance, which examines the social and structural roots of criminal behaviour.

The new Minor also enables students to use GIS and spatial analysis to study how environments influence crime patterns, with experiential learning opportunities such as visits to halfway houses that connect sociological theories with practical insights on offender rehabilitation and reintegration.

“What makes the Minor exciting is the opportunity for students from different academic backgrounds to learn from one another, challenge conventional assumptions and engage with real-world issues,” said Assoc Prof Ganapathy.

“Ultimately, we want students not just to understand crime and justice, but to contribute towards building a safer, fairer and more inclusive society.”

Balancing depth and breadth

Reflecting CHS’s push for interdisciplinary education, FASS has led a series of new offerings in collaboration with the Faculty of Science and other schools across NUS, including the recently launched Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geospatial Intelligence Cross-Disciplinary Programme (GI-XDP), offered jointly with the School of Computing.

“These programmes reflect our commitment to leverage the deep insights about humanity and society that FASS disciplines offer,” said Professor Joseph Park, Vice Dean of Undergraduate Matters at FASS.

“The widespread impact of AI calls for graduates who can respond to the demands of the workplace with a human edge. We will continue to develop programmes that make our students indispensable in today’s workplace.”

Click on the links for more information on the Environmental Science for Sustainability programme and Minor in Criminal Justice.
 

An NUS alumna (Arts & Social Sciences '92, MA '96, Public Policy PhD '13), she was the NUSS Professor in Behavioural Public Policy at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP).

A pioneer in establishing behavioural economics as an important research area at NUS, Prof Leong devoted her academic career to studying water policy, environmental management and public sector reform in Singapore and Asia.

Her research examining how emotions, narratives and perceptions influence policy decisions has advanced understanding of complex issues such as public resistance to recycled drinking water and hesitancy toward the novel mRNA vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings from her research on the latter were cited by the World Health Organization on the importance of behavioural intervention. Her scholarship has appeared in reputable publications such as Global Environmental Change, the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, and ASEAN Development Outlook reports, among others.

Over the course of her academic career, Prof Leong transformed the research paradigm in behavioural water policy. The evolution of her research – from early descriptive studies to the large-scale field experiments she designed that directly tested policy “nudges” in communities – has been lauded by external reviewers as exemplary. Her appointment to the editorial board of the Behavioural Public Policy journal cemented her reputation as a custodian of rigour in the field. A forthcoming Oxford University Press monograph further established her role as the go-to authority on water behaviour, extending her influence from regional specialist to global policy expert.

Prof Leong joined LKYSPP in 2014. She taught courses on governance, policy communications and behavioural economics, and held visiting appointments at the London School of Economics and the University of Cambridge. As a testament to her intellectual leadership, she was most recently named the NUSS Professor in Behavioural Public Policy.

Reflecting the breadth of her commitment to the University, Prof Leong was a passionate advocate for students’ personal development in her role as Vice Provost of Student Life and, before that, Dean of Students and Resident Advisor at College Green. A thought leader in humanistic experiential learning, she championed initiatives such as NUSOne, which formalised the concept of student life and the value of out-of-classroom experiences; through NUSOne, students gained a smoother transition in their first year, more avenues to explore interests beyond the classroom, and expanded opportunities for campus living.

In recognition of her distinguished service, Prof Leong was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Silver) at the 2025 National Day Awards.

You are invited to share your memories of Ching or leave a message of tribute or condolence in her honour on this tribute wall.

Prof Lanza and group members from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering (CDE) at NUS, are exploring new materials and device concepts that could help overcome the physical limits of conventional electronics. His recent studies and startup company show the breadth of this work — from understanding materials at the smallest one-atom limit to deploying them into tiny switches that make future wireless technologies more compact and energy-efficient.

At the heart of both is a deceptively simple idea: when electronics become extremely small, details that once seemed insignificant can transform how a device behaves.

Advanced nanoelectronic metrology

Understanding charge transport in novel materials with nanometric spatial resolution is critical in many branches of science, technology and engineering, and it has become a fundamental pillar in the field of semiconductors. This is a domain in which Prof Lanza’s team has been producing cutting-edge knowledge over the past decade.

For example, in a study published in Nature Materials on 1 July 2026, Prof Lanza’s team uncovers new fundamental physics that could shape how future electronics are designed. The paper’s first author is Dr Yue Yuan, who worked with Prof Lanza and the research team to investigate how atomically thin materials behave inside electronic devices.

His team has been investigating two-dimensional (2D) materials, which can be only a single atomic layer thick. Their extraordinary thinness offers the possibility of building electronic components with performance and functionalities superior to those used today.

But shrinking electronics to this scale introduces new problems. Electrons can pass through barriers intended to stop them — a phenomenon called quantum tunneling that unnecessarily increases energy consumption and usually accelerates device failure.

Using a technique called conductive atomic force microscopy (or CAFM), the researchers clarified a long debate related to the magnitude of quantum tunneling through various 2D materials deposited on diverse substrates. They discovered that the material itself is only part of the story. Tiny gaps between an atom-thin material and its electrodes can change the distance electrons must travel and, in turn, dramatically affect charge transport.

“At this extremely small scale, we’ve shown that tiny physical gaps between electrodes can matter more than the material’s own ability to block electrical current,” Prof Lanza said.

This finding, which was only possible thanks to the high lateral resolution of CAFM, gives engineers critical information for designing more reliable atomically thin devices and could ultimately inform the development of smaller and more energy-efficient chips, memory technologies and other advanced electronics.

Read more about this study here.

Memristive microchips

Another pillar of Prof Lanza’s research is the design, fabrication, characterisation and simulation of memristive devices. Memristors can be understood as “resistors with memory”, that is, they can be programmed at different values depending on the history of electrical stresses applied. These devices are called to play a key role for applications related to information storage, computation, encryption, and telecommunication.

For example, in a study published in Nature on 8 July 2026, Prof Lanza’s team deployed 2D materials to mitigate a growing challenge in wireless technology: how to pack more functionality into chips without making them larger or more power-hungry. The paper’s first author is Dr Sebastian Pazos, a senior device engineer working with Prof Lanza.

Modern wireless systems need growing numbers of radio-frequency switches to direct and control signals. While a 2G system used about four such switches in its signal-sending and receiving unit, 5G and future 6G systems may require 50 to more than 100 — potentially increasing the size, cost and power consumption of wireless hardware.

Prof Lanza’s team developed a radically smaller alternative using memristors. Based on hexagonal boron nitride (or hBN), an insulating 2D layered material, each switching element measures just two by two micrometres. Unlike conventional switches that typically require continuous power to maintain their state, these “memristive” switches retain their state after power is removed.

Crucially, the researchers did not demonstrate the technology only as a standalone laboratory device. They integrated the switches directly onto commercially manufactured gallium nitride (GaN) microchips and used them in working circuits that could adjust signal strength, redirect signals and select different frequencies.

The potential impact extends from smartphones and mobile networks to self-driving cars — technologies that will increasingly need to handle more wireless functions without simply becoming larger or consuming more power.

Read more about this study here.

Reinventing the transistor for AI

The third direction in which Prof Lanza’s team is making impact is on the design of hardware for artificial intelligence (AI). In another Nature article published in 2025, his team demonstrated that with only one standard silicon transistor, one can emulate both neural and synaptic behaviours. This is something that was thought to be impossible: engineers normally need dozens of transistors and bulky capacitors for each neural and synaptic block.

This groundbreaking discovery could be used to build high-performance spiking neural networks (SNN), a novel computing architecture that is particularly interesting to deploy AI on battery-powered and energy-harvesting devices, such as drones, robots, and wearables (a field often referred to as “Edge AI”).

Building on this breakthrough, Prof Lanza and Dr Pazos founded Newmorphic, a startup company located at one-north, a 6.5-hectare startup site often referred to as Singapore’s "Silicon Valley". On 28 and 29 October, Newmorphic went on to compete in SLINGSHOT 2026, Singapore’s flagship deep-tech startup competition held during the Singapore Week of Innovation and Technology (SWITCH) 2026, and emerged as winner in the “Advanced Manufacturing and Industrial Systems” domain.

Selected from a global pool of over 5,100 applications across 148 countries and placing among the top 10 finalists overall, Newmorphic’s victory underscores the commercial impact of its cutting-edge technology.

Reliable innovation in semiconductors

Together, these achievements capture Prof Lanza’s approach to innovation: understand what happens when materials are pushed to their physical limits, then turn those insights into new ways of building electronics.

A characteristic feature of Prof Lanza’s approach to nanoelectronics research is his emphasis not only on innovation, but also reliability. “We always try to repeat the experiments multiple times, using biasing protocols as close as possible as those required by industrial applications. We also usually report yield, variability, reliability and stability,” Prof Lanza said.

Furthermore, in most studies, his team employs manufacturing processes compatible with semiconductor wafer production lines, meaning that what they fabricate in the lab can be relatively easily transferred to the commercial manufacturing process. “We want to take advantage of the rich semiconductor and start-up ecosystem of Singapore and contribute to the development of new technologies, especially in the field of artificial intelligence.”

By understanding, controlling and ultimately exploiting phenomena at the atomic scale, his work is helping lay the foundations for electronic technologies that could be smaller, smarter and more energy efficient.

Read more information about his team here.

Professor Chor is the Michael G. Fisch 1983 Professor and Globalisation Chair at the Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). A Singaporean economist, he received his PhD in Economics from Harvard University. He is widely recognised as a leading scholar in international trade and political economy and currently serves as Associate Editor of the Journal of International Economics.

Professor Chor's work focuses on international trade and political economy. His recent research examines the economic and political effects of US-China tariffs and the reallocation of US supply chain trade. Notably, a paper he co-authored, examining the shift in direct US sourcing from China towards other countries was presented at the 2023 Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium. He has published in leading journals including Econometrica, and the Journal of International Economics and co-authored the chapter on global value chains in the Handbook of International Economics.

Professor Joseph Liow, Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, said, “Professor Davin Chor is widely recognised for his groundbreaking contributions to the study of global value chains and international trade. His research has provided the field with foundational tools and insights that have transformed how scholars and policymakers understand the dynamics of global production and the forces shaping today’s shifting trade landscape. We are delighted to welcome him to LKYSPP, where his insights will enrich our faculty’s research and our students’ understanding of these critical issues.”

Mr Edward Robinson, Deputy Managing Director (Economic Policy) and Chief Economist, MAS, said, “Professor Chor’s research has advanced our understanding of how global production networks shape trade and economic activity. His expertise is especially valuable as trade tensions and geopolitical developments prompt firms to reassess their supply chains. As an open economy deeply integrated into global supply chains, Singapore stands to benefit from his insights into the risks and opportunities of shifts to the global trading system. It is our great privilege to welcome him as the 26th MAS Term Professor.”

Professor Chor will deliver a public lecture at NUS on 6 November 2026 titled, "US-China Trade at a Crossroads: Reflections on the Outlook for China’s Growth”. In his lecture, he will offer a glimpse at how China has been doubling down on exports as a growth engine, even though this may ultimately not be a sustainable strategy. In addition, Professor Chor will engage in dialogue sessions with NUS faculty members to discuss his latest research findings.

Professor Chor will also give a talk at MAS and engage senior policymakers and economists on issues in international trade, global supply chains and the impact of globalisation.

About the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance

First established in 2009, the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance is awarded to distinguished scholars, who are appointed as Visiting Professors at the Department of Economics at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, the NUS Business School, or the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. It aims to strengthen Singapore’s financial and economics research infrastructure and contribute to a vibrant research community and culture at local universities. Since its inception, the MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance has been awarded to 26 distinguished scholars over the last 17 years.

But these linguistic differences may not always be fully understood by AI, which begs the question: Is technology adapting to the way we communicate — or the other way round?

This question took centre stage at “Lost in Translation”, a panel discussion organised by The Mandala Club on 20 October 2026, featuring Professor Lionel Wee, Dean of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and a linguist specialising in sociolinguistics and pragmatics.

He was joined by Ms Rahat Kapur, Co-founder and Editorial Director of Beyond The Boardroom, and public policy practitioner Ms Chathuni Uduwela, to explore how AI shapes the way people use language and interact with each other.

When AI favours one way of speaking

While much of the discussion centred on differences between Asian and Western communication styles, Prof Wee cautioned against treating them as distinct categories, highlighting a less obvious concern: that AI may inadvertently disadvantage people who speak different varieties of the same language.

Much of the data used to train AI language models is based on American English. As a result, users in India have reported instances where AI corrects commonly used expressions in Indian English, treating them as grammatical mistakes rather than legitimate variations of the language.

“Access on its own is not really meaningful if you don’t take into account the kinds of friction that people encounter,” Prof Wee said.

Can AI understand what we really mean?

Another challenge lies in AI’s ability to interpret the nuances of human communication. Understanding language is not just about recognising the literal meaning of words, but also interpreting what people mean when they do not say things directly.

Prof Wee illustrated this with everyday examples. When a waiter says, “Table number five wants their check”, everyone understands that it is the customer, not the table, asking for the bill. Likewise, when someone responds to a dinner invitation with “I've got to wash my hair”, most people recognise it as a polite refusal.

Such exchanges rely on shared understanding and social context. The question is whether AI can consistently interpret these subtleties, particularly as languages continue to evolve.

When chatbots become companions

The discussion also examined how AI could reshape relationships, particularly as more people turn to chatbots for companionship and emotional support.

Prof Wee shared anecdotes about how a colleague’s niece, following a difficult breakup, turned to a chatbot for comfort, while another student relied on a religious chatbot app for reassurance long after exams were over.

“Are we creating generations that are less resilient, less able to deal with setbacks and difficulties because all we get are cooing noises from some technology?” Prof Wee asked, raising concerns over how this could affect how people respond to disagreement and setbacks in real life.

What human skills should we preserve?

Finally, as AI takes on an expanding range of cognitive tasks, another pressing question arises: What human skills and abilities should we continue to cultivate?

Writing, for example, has reduced the need to memorise information, while calculators have made manual calculations less necessary.

Describing himself as an “AI agnostic”, Prof Wee stressed the importance of maintaining “a healthy dose of scepticism towards AI” – an acknowledgement that its technological potential should not come at the expense of humanity’s ability to think independently, cope with challenges and build meaningful human connections.

The family, whom she had earlier befriended through an NUS service-learning course offered in partnership with the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF), had taken the initiative to seek professional support after she shared about available resources with them. It was a reminder that making a difference sometimes begins with helping others find the support they need.

Since 2022, more than 1,100 NUS students have contributed over 20,000 volunteer hours through GEN2070 Community Link (ComLink) Befrienders, making NUS the largest single organisational contributor to the national initiative.

For its sustained efforts to support lower-income families and promote social inclusion, NUS was recognised with the MSF Outstanding Partner Award 2026, becoming the first Institute of Higher Learning (IHL) in Singapore to receive the award.

“Through our strategic partnership with MSF, we mobilise our vibrant community of students, staff, and alumni to drive social mobility for ComLink+ families and champion the aspirations of persons with disabilities,” said Ms Ong Mui Hong, NUS Cares Director, at the Office of the Provost.

Relationships that make a difference

Launched in August 2022 under NUS’ Communities & Engagement General Education pillar, GEN2070 was the first service-learning collaboration of its kind between MSF and an IHL.

Through year-long befriending relationships, students support lower-income families, from helping children with their studies to encouraging parents as they work towards their goals. More than 340 students enrolled as befrienders in 2025.

For Leticia, a Psychology undergraduate who had learnt basic sign language at NUS, the course offered a valuable opportunity to support a family comprising deaf parents and a teenage child.

Despite initial communication challenges, she persevered, improving her signing skills and understanding of the Deaf community. Later, she interned at SADeaf and connected the family with a social worker there.

Today, she keeps in contact with them even after completing the course.

“I treasured the opportunity to walk with these families in the various journeys that they were on, and it was a privilege to be welcomed into their lives and be with them throughout their ups and downs,” she shared.

Making community engagement part of university life

The course is part of the larger NUS Cares movement, through which the University mobilises staff, alumni and student groups to champion and volunteer in meaningful initiatives that benefit society.

Building on GEN2070, NUS also introduced GEN2072 Enable Inclusive Communities SG in August 2026, in collaboration with SG Enable — bringing students and persons with disabilities together to co-create activities that develop practical living skills and encourage social participation at Enabling Service Hubs and Day Activity Centres.

Other initiatives include career-readiness and life-skills programmes for youth at the Singapore Boys' Home and Singapore Girls' Home, and disability inclusion efforts under Project Dolphin.

“Our service-learning model transforms the community into a classroom,” said Ms Sim Qin Ying, Director (Service Learning), from the Office of the Provost.

“It provides families and persons with disabilities with immediate, meaningful support while equipping our students with the empathy, resilience and civic responsibility to drive enduring, positive change in our society.”

NUS continues to strengthen its community partnerships and explore ways to provide sustained support to those in need.

"Together, we help cultivate a transformative ecosystem that delivers innovative, sustainable solutions for family stability and community empowerment,” said NUS Cares Director Ms Ong.

Having witnessed first-hand how business education has evolved, he is acutely aware that while finance, economics and management once provided a strong foundation for graduates, today's business environment also increasingly demands knowledge of areas like technology, data science, sustainability and AI.

It is why, since taking the helm in July 2026, Prof Teo has spent his first few months meeting faculty, students and staff to better understand their challenges and share his vision and priorities: building an AI-native business school, strengthening connections with industry, and translating academic research into real-world impact.

Building an AI-native business school

Prof Teo envisions NUS Business School to have AI embedded not only in the curriculum, but also in teaching and operations.

“We want to build an AI-native business school, going beyond just launching new modules and programmes in AI,” he said.

Central to this ambition is NUS’ X+AI education strategy, which embeds AI into existing disciplines to reflect changing professional practices. At NUS Business School, the approach is being implemented across its nine business majors, helping students understand how AI is applied in their chosen fields.

As AI makes specialised knowledge more accessible, Prof Teo believes broad-based education will become increasingly important and welcomes students’ growing interest in pursuing second majors and minors, which allows them to acquire knowledge in multiple domains.

“What we need are people who can tell a good solution from a bad solution, and a good recommendation from a bad recommendation,” he said.

For faculty, Prof Teo is encouraging greater use of AI in teaching, including a project to develop multi-agent simulations that could change how case studies are taught.

Strengthening industry connections

Prof Teo also hopes to build a more externally engaged School by strengthening industry partnerships, enabling faculty to collaborate with companies to address real-world business challenges and bring these insights back into teaching and research.

As AI increasingly takes on entry-level work, graduates entering the workforce have fewer opportunities to gain experience through foundational tasks. Universities thus have an important role to play in helping students develop these skills before graduation.

A key strength Prof Teo hopes to draw on is the School's network of more than 50,000 alumni worldwide, which he sees as a differentiating factor. The School also taps on industry practitioners as adjunct faculty, who bring real-world business challenges into the classroom.

“I want the School to work more closely with alumni and companies to solve important problems. I believe this will benefit both our faculty and students,” said Prof Teo.

Building on these connections, Prof Teo hopes to expand field service projects, giving students more opportunities to work with companies to solve real business problems, gain practical experience and develop the judgement and skills needed to take on more complex responsibilities.

Translating research into impact

Finally, Prof Teo's third priority is to help faculty translate their cutting-edge research into practical solutions that solve real business challenges and inform government policy.

Building on NUS Business School's established strengths as a research-intensive institution, Prof Teo hopes to strengthen its translational impact by deepening connections between academic research and industry.

“The most interesting business challenges often inspire the best research. We want to create a virtuous cycle where academic discoveries improve practice, and real-world problems drive new discoveries,” said Prof Teo.

He believes advances in AI will create new opportunities for researchers to tackle complex problems, while also changing how the value of research is perceived. As AI makes it easier to build on existing knowledge, he anticipates greater emphasis on how research findings are applied and who benefits from them.

“For me, the exciting opportunity is to turn research ideas into solutions that organisations can actually use. A breakthrough in optimisation or AI should not remain confined to an academic paper. It could help companies and policymakers make better decisions,” he said.

Building people and shaping futures

Ultimately, Prof Teo's three priorities share a common purpose: to help students and faculty grow and realise their potential.

Yet beyond curriculum reforms, industry partnerships and research achievements, his aspirations are also deeply personal. When asked what he hopes to achieve during his tenure, Prof Teo said: “I want to build bridges to companies, and I want to build people up.”

In a few years, he hopes to have collected a list of student success stories that demonstrates what NUS Business School has helped them achieve.

“The beauty of education is the impact we have on students’ lives,” he said.

Election to NAM is among the highest honours in health and medicine, recognising individuals for their professional achievements and service to medical sciences, healthcare and public health.

Prof Ong, who also directs Duke-NUS’ Prehospital and Emergency Research Centre and is a Senior Consultant and Distinguished Senior Clinician at Singapore General Hospital, has contributed to improving emergency care in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region. His research combines data science, medical innovation and artificial intelligence to improve outcomes for patients who experience cardiac arrest outside hospital, alongside work on ambulance deployment and heart attack care.

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This scale of impact, coinciding with a profound shift in global economic and technological power towards Asia, makes it likely that the region will become the epicentre of new ideas and visions of a sustainable future, said Professor Sunil Amrith, Director of the Whitney and Betty MacMillan Center for International and Area Studies at Yale University.

He was delivering a Distinguished Lecture on Asia’s climate future as part of NUS Asia Research Institute’s (ARI) 25^th anniversary celebrations. Held at the Asian Civilisations Museum on 14 October 2026, the lecture drew an audience of about 130 policymakers, academics, NUS alumni and members of the public.

Looking beyond short-term fixes

Many governments in Asia still take the climate pragmatism approach, investing in practical measures to protect communities from the immediate impact of climate change. For instance, storm shelters in Bangladesh are being redesigned to be more gender-sensitive and accommodating of evacuated families’ livestock.

But such measures, while essential, cannot address the underlying causes of the climate crisis: the continued dependence on fossil fuels and unsustainable economic development.

“Climate pragmatism alone may resemble the use of sticking plasters to stop a haemorrhage,” Prof Amrith noted. “Without rapid progress towards addressing the root causes of the climate disasters we're living through, we face a future of escalation in which piecemeal solutions are always one step behind.”

A second approach lies in accelerating the transition to clean energy. Though decarbonisation across the Asia-Pacific has progressed faster than expected, coal, oil and gas remain central to the region’s energy mix even as renewables expand.

The transition, cautioned Prof Amrith, cannot rely on market forces alone. Government action, public investment and infrastructure are indispensable.

A third approach calls for what Prof Amrith described as a “non-dualistic” perspective which recognises that human wellbeing is entwined with the health of our ecosystems. In India and Bangladesh, courts have recognised rivers as legal persons, reflecting a willingness to incorporate non-human-centric perspectives into climate policy.

Prof Amrith argued that the way forward is to bring these three approaches together: protecting vulnerable communities, accelerating the clean energy transition and recognising our interdependency with the natural world.

The law as a tool for change

The lecture was followed by a panel discussion, where speakers shared concrete examples of how citizens across Asia are responding to the climate crisis, from legal action to grassroots initiatives.

In the Philippines, climate justice is being pursued through the courts, as affected communities seek to make their voices heard and hold powerful corporations accountable.

Associate Professor Jolene Lin, Director of the Asia-Pacific Centre for Environmental Law at NUS, cited how Filipino communities are banding against Shell for materially contributing to the harm they suffered following Super Typhoon Rai in 2021, which was reported to have killed over 400 people and caused billions of dollars in property damage.

Despite significant legal obstacles, the survivors are determined to pursue their claim. “This is a group of people suffering the brunt of climate change through super typhoons almost two or three times a year, and they are not willing to concede defeat,” said Assoc Prof Lin.

She noted that legal reform is also taking a quieter but no less significant form through social forestry, which empowers local and indigenous communities across Southeast Asia to manage forests themselves rather than leaving conservation solely to the state.

Empowering communities to take charge

Beyond state-led interventions and legal challenges, community initiatives offer another avenue for climate action. In Bali, Indonesia, digital waste management start-up Griya Luhu educates communities on waste segregation while encouraging residents to take control of environmental initiatives in their neighbourhoods.

“We don’t want to view the community as an object of the solution, who just receive or follow the intervention… We want them to take ownership of the solution,” said its co-founder Ms Ida Ayu Sri Suya Patni.

This sense of ownership, she noted, often draws on existing cultural resources, including the Hindu-Balinese philosophy of Tri Hita Karana, which emphasises balance between people, nature and the spiritual realm, and the annual tradition of Nyepi (Day of Silence), during which the island goes without electricity, vehicles or noise for 24 hours.

Towards a more just climate future

Ultimately, protecting Asia’s most vulnerable communities requires rethinking how development is pursued, how responsibility for climate change is assigned, and how communities participate in shaping their own futures.

Responding to a question from Assoc Prof Chang Jiat-Hwee, Research Leader of ARI’s Science, Technology and Society cluster, on whether governments in Asia are taking on a stronger role in protecting citizens from climate change, Prof Amrith acknowledged that while state-led, top-down development has often caused serious ecological and social harm, without government involvement, the alternative is vulnerable populations being left with no protection at all.

This tension points to a larger truth: none of the approaches discussed can succeed in isolation. As the region confronts an increasingly uncertain climate, the task is to build responses that are not only pragmatic but also culturally grounded, inclusive and just.

In this series, NUS News explores how NUS is accelerating sustainability research and education in response to climate change challenges, and harnessing the knowledge and creativity of our people to pave the way to a greener future for all.

From a card game about Singapore’s biodiversity to a farm-to-table project encouraging people to grow and cook their own vegetables, NUS students are putting sustainability into action.

These efforts are made possible by the NUS SAVE Sustainability Fund (SusFund) and the Maybank Green Fund (MGF).

Led by the NUS Students’ Association for Visions of the Earth (NUS SAVE) and supported by University Campus Infrastructure, SusFund supports ground-up environmental initiatives within NUS, offering different grant tiers of up to S$3,000.

Established with the support of Maybank Singapore, MGF provides funding for student-initiated sustainability projects and programmes that benefit the local community in Singapore, covering up to 100 per cent of a project’s total deficit cost, capped at S$5,000 per application.

Bringing Singapore’s biodiversity to life

Bonded by a shared passion for nature photography, Year 4 Computer Science major Zyon Wee and his co-founder Cheong Wai Lun wondered: how could they get more Singaporeans, especially those with little interest in nature, to appreciate the biodiversity around them?

Their answer was ByeO Barelands (pronounced “bio balance”), an educational card game that introduces players to food chains, ecosystems and the behaviours of different plant and animal species in Singapore.

Drawing on their observations and photographs from nature excursions, the pair spent nearly three years developing the game. Zyon illustrated the cards himself, while educators and wildlife experts ensured the ecological information was accurate.

In 2025, SusFund's Sprout Grant helped the team print its first 1,000 sets. A second grant in 2026 supported materials for biodiversity workshops and nature walks, where participants used the cards to identify and learn about local wildlife.

Over the past year, the initiative has directly engaged more than 9,000 participants through over 80 outreach programmes and even garnered national recognition, with Zyon named a finalist in the People of Good (Youth) category at the President’s Volunteerism and Philanthropy Awards 2026.

“ByeO Barelands is more of an outreach programme than an organisation. Through our card game and nature walks, we hope to introduce people who are less familiar with nature to Singapore’s biodiversity, and connect them with communities that share their interests — be it plants, animals, birds or even reptiles,” said Zyon, who is reinvesting all proceeds from the card game into the initiative.

Growing an appreciation for sustainable food

At NUS Temasek Hall, sustainability takes a hands-on approach, with students growing kangkong before turning their harvest into creative dishes.

Organised by the Hall's sustainability committee, TGreen, the hydroponics gardening initiative saw 36 committee members working in six groups to grow kangkong using hydroponic setups, learning to nurture seedlings and manage challenges such as pests and overgrowth. Funding from MGF covered 90 per cent of the project's eligible costs, including equipment, seeds and nutrients, easing the financial burden of organising the activity.

The project culminated in a Kangkong Cookoff, where students transformed their harvest into dishes ranging from kangkong carbonara to Korean-style pancakes and pork belly wraps.

Beyond introducing residents to Singapore's food security challenges, the project showed how sustainable food production need not be complicated.

“It's really about educating yourself that you can play a part in promoting food security also in Singapore,” former TGreen head Tan En, a Year 3 Business student specialising in Real Estate and Marketing, shared.

Making green technology accessible

Founded in 2024, the NUS Climate Analytics and Technology (CAT) club is introducing green technologies to students from different disciplines by organising workshops, industry visits and dialogues.

“You can't implement a solution with technology if you don't have sufficient data and knowledge about the situation at hand,” explained NUS CAT President Beverley Yeo, a Year 4 Infrastructure and Project Management undergraduate specialising in Sustainable Green Buildings.

In a visit to Sembcorp's Battery Energy Storage System on Jurong Island, 38 students gained insights into energy storage technologies, industry developments and potential career pathways. Transport costs for the visit were supported by a $500 Seed Grant from SusFund.

The club also tapped into the MGF to organise a visit to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s Singapore City Gallery, allowing students to learn about urban planning and connect with others interested in sustainability.

In August 2026, NUS CAT established a Special Projects Cell for students to explore potential technological solutions to environmental challenges, including a biofiltration system for odour control and a data-driven approach to reducing energy consumption in data centres.

While still in their early stages, these projects reflect NUS CAT's ambition to move beyond awareness-building towards developing practical solutions.

Special Projects Director Christy Imanuela, a Year 4 Chemical Engineering student, said: “I hope that even after I graduate, more students will take up these projects to use their skills for sustainability-related purposes.”

The initiative supports research addressing challenges in climate, health and foundational science. Recipients also have the option to participate in a six-month Google.org Accelerator, which provides engineering support, technical mentorship and access to Google infrastructure to help transform their ideas into scaled solutions.

Asst Prof Liu and his team will use AI to map how genetic variations influence RNA splicing across populations, with the aim of predicting their effects on disease. RNA splicing is a process in which sections of an RNA molecule are removed, while the remaining sections are joined together. Understanding how genetic differences affect this process could help clarify their role in disease.

“We are at an inflection point where AI is changing the way science is done. We are incredibly excited to partner with Google to accelerate our AI-enabled genomics research,” said Asst Prof Liu.

The three new Trustees bring extensive experience spanning AI and emerging technologies, finance and investment, and law.

As part of board renewal, three members will retire from the Board. Ms Chew Gek Khim, Executive Chairman of The Straits Trading Company Limited, will step down on 31 December 2026. Two other members – Mr Chaly Mah, Chairman of the National Environment Agency, NetLink NBN Management Pte Ltd and Surbana Jurong Private Limited; and Mr Ng Wai King, Chairman and Senior Partner of WongPartnership LLP – will step down on 31 March 2027.

Mr Hsieh Fu Hua, Chairman of the NUS Board, said, “We warmly welcome Lily, Lim Hock and Cavinder to our Board. Their expertise in their respective fields and international experience will be especially valuable amidst the many challenges in a complex global environment.”

“We also extend our deepest appreciation to Gek Khim, Chaly and Wai King for their dedicated service and many contributions. They have each brought valuable experience to the Board and outstanding support to the University. We are grateful for their unwavering commitment over the years,” Mr Hsieh added.

Members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Minister for Education. The Board is made up of eminent leaders from the public sector, academia, business and various professions. The Board works closely with the management and stakeholders of the University to shape its vision, chart major directions, and guide significant initiatives.

More information on the new Trustees can be found in Annexe 1. The full list of Trustees can be found in Annexe 2.

Marking the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Sweden, the collaborations come at a strategically significant moment amid a changing global order. The agreements were signed by Dean of LKYSPP Professor Joseph Liow and the respective Presidents of the two institutions, during the President of the Republic of Singapore Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s State Visit to Sweden. 

Speaking at SSE during the State Visit, President Tharman highlighted the importance of countries such as Singapore and Sweden serving as bridge-builders, bringing regions together and advancing international cooperation amid growing geopolitical divisions. 
 

Prof Liow added: “The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy has long believed that public policy education is enriched when it draws on a diversity of governance traditions and experiences. Singapore and Sweden are different in many respects, but both are open economies that have had to navigate a world shaped by larger powers, while maintaining our own agency and a strong commitment to international cooperation.”

Shared ambitions, complementary strengths

While NUS has maintained active student exchange programmes with SSE and KTH, the two agreements bring together LKYSPP’s expertise in public policy and governance across Asia with the distinct strengths of each Swedish institution.

The collaboration with SSE leverages a shared commitment to rigorous, applied scholarship in economics, finance and business. To address shared policy challenges, the two schools will explore closer cooperation across areas of mutual interest, including a recurring forum convening academic experts, public officials, industry leaders and civil society representatives from ASEAN and the Nordics.

On the other hand, the agreement with KTH reflects the growing need to equip officials with an understanding of how technology, innovation and industrial strategy intersect with public policy. The two institutions are developing a one-week overseas study visit to Stockholm as part of LKYSPP’s Senior Management Programme and exploring capability development programmes for public sector leaders.

A strategic collaboration

The new agreements build on years of bilateral engagements on both the state and institutional levels across trade, investment, transport, health, education and aviation, broadening them to include public policy and executive education.

Prof Liow noted: “There is much we can learn from each other, and we look forward to building lasting academic partnerships with SSE and KTH that benefit our students, our faculty and the broader public policy community.”

The value of academic partnership extends well beyond the campus. For Singapore, access to international expertise in frontier fields such as quantum technology, clean energy and healthcare can help inform policy development and strengthen innovation ecosystems. In clean energy, for example, the partnership could support efforts to realise the ASEAN power grid, bringing the potential benefits to Southeast Asia.

“That’s where I see the particular strategic angle of this partnership,” said LKYSPP Vice Dean (Executive Education) and Associate Professor in Practice Francesco Mancini.

“Not just economic ties on a year-to-year basis, but also something more of a long-term objective, especially in frontier technologies.”

Led by Professor Zhao Dan, Associate Professor Sibudjing Kawi and Associate Professor Zhang Sui from the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at NUS’ College of Design and Engineering, the projects are among five awarded a total of S$65 million by the Advanced Energy and Decarbonisation Office (AEDO). The grant provides follow-on support for projects that achieved promising outcomes under an earlier LCER programme.

The projects were announced at the inaugural Singapore Industry Decarbonisation Forum (SIDF) on 23 October 2026. Organised by the Singapore Economic Development Board and AEDO, the forum was graced by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Trade), Mr Gan Kim Yong, as Guest-of-Honour.

The three funded projects address complementary research challenges: capturing carbon dioxide using porous materials, producing hydrogen from methane, and developing membranes to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures. Their next phase will assess performance at larger scales, integration with industrial infrastructure and durability under operating conditions.

Advancing carbon capture and utilisation at scale

Prof Zhao’s project uses metal-organic frameworks and other advanced porous materials to capture carbon dioxide from flue gas, the exhaust gas released by industrial processes. It also explores how the captured carbon dioxide can be used in concrete applications.

In its earlier phase, the team demonstrated the technology using real flue gas at the Waste-to-Energy Research Facility. The system captured around 400 kilogrammes of carbon dioxide a day and achieved close to 100 per cent carbon dioxide recovery.

Under the scale-up grant, the researchers will develop a system designed to capture five tonnes of carbon dioxide a day from higher-concentration flue gas. A separate pilot at YTL PowerSeraya’s natural gas combined-cycle power plant will target the capture of two tonnes of carbon dioxide a day.

The project will also explore carbon dioxide mineralisation for concrete applications. This process converts captured carbon dioxide into minerals, providing a potential pathway for using the recovered gas.

Separately, the team is collaborating with Chevron to evaluate advanced capture materials and processes for industrial use. Chevron will contribute industrial specifications and evaluation criteria, together with advice on scale-up feasibility and integration into industrial processes.

Producing hydrogen at pilot scale

Assoc Prof Kawi’s project focuses on methane pyrolysis, a process that breaks methane down into hydrogen and solid carbon.

In Phase 1, the team designed and built a catalytic membrane reactor that operates at relatively low temperatures of around 500 to 600 degrees Celsius. The integrated system demonstrated hydrogen production of 500 litres per day, while a prototype was designed to produce up to one kilogramme of hydrogen and three kilogrammes of carbon nanotubes daily.

In Phase 2, the team aims to increase daily production to 100 kilogrammes of hydrogen and 300 kilogrammes of carbon nanotubes through a pilot-scale reactor system.

Working with Siemens and PacificLight Power, the researchers aim to demonstrate the larger system at PacificLight Power’s existing gas-fired power plant. The pilot will draw on the plant’s natural gas infrastructure, with potential applications for the hydrogen in electricity generation.

This next phase will test the technology at pilot scale under industrial conditions.

Testing membranes for carbon capture

Assoc Prof Zhang’s project uses hollow fibre membranes to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures. These membranes allow carbon dioxide to pass through more readily than nitrogen, enabling the gases to be separated.

In the earlier phase, the team developed next-generation membranes that achieved performance levels considered attractive for industrial deployment. and the membranes were incorporated into one-inch and four-inch modules, with the smaller modules tested at a waste-to-energy facility, capturing around four kilogrammes of carbon dioxide a day.

With the scale-up funding, the researchers aim to demonstrate a modular pilot system capable of processing up to 1 ton of flue gas per day. The team will also evaluate the membranes’ durability and performance when exposed to contaminants under real-world operating conditions.

The trials will help establish how well the membranes maintain their performance beyond controlled laboratory conditions, supporting their further development for industrial carbon capture.

Across the three projects, these larger-scale trials will help the researchers assess how their technologies perform under industrial conditions, informing the next steps towards wider deployment.

Officially opened on 22 October 2026, the YST Cube is a 254sqm flexible arts space where students and faculty can explore different ways of creating, performing and experiencing music — part of YST's broader efforts to keep up with changing approaches to music education and artistic practice.

“The YST Cube will create new and exciting possibilities for students and faculty to experiment and push the boundaries of artistic practice,” said NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye at the launch of the Cube during the opening ceremony of Performers(’) Present, YST's triennial international artistic research symposium.

“It will also be a convening space for visiting artists, educators and researchers from around the world to converge, create and showcase.”

Akin to black box performance spaces, the Cube can be reconfigured for different performance formats, including arrangements where audiences surround performers. Its integrated lighting, projection and acoustic systems also support multimedia performances and other artistic activities.

More room to create

For third-year Composition student Joel Tan, the Cube offers possibilities for exploring different ways of presenting music.

“Having the Cube would mean that the school has the capabilities to host much more ambitious projects and performances,” he said.

He is particularly interested in its lighting and projection capabilities, having had limited opportunities to explore these elements previously at YST.

Joel's interest in how audiences experience music is also reflected in a piece he is developing, which explores the individual components of sound, and how different parts of sound can come together as a whole. Using three speakers placed in separate rooms connected by a hallway, the piece allows listeners to experience the different sounds individually and how they merge, depending on how they move through the space.

For fourth-year student Chan Chen, who is pursuing Music, Collaboration and Production with a Second Major in Audio Arts & Sciences, the Cube has the potential to bridge the gap between developing artistic ideas and bringing them to life, while allowing him to further hone his technical skills.

Having previously experimented with audio-reactive visuals and soundscape installations in his first two years at YST, he is now developing an immersive multimedia concert experience that integrates live chamber music with real-time audio-reactive visuals for his final-year project.

Finding a suitable venue with the necessary technical infrastructure has been a challenge, particularly when multiple projectors are involved.

“The new YST Cube potentially addresses many of these challenges through its integrated projection capabilities and flexible performance configurations. It presents an exciting opportunity to explore ideas that might otherwise be difficult to realise within a traditional concert setting,” he shared.

Amplifying the arts

The Cube's opening coincided with the Performers(’) Present symposium, taking place from 22 to 25 October 2026. The symposium will occupy the main venue and its adjoining pre-function area, which can also function independently as a smaller event space.

Beyond music education, the Cube will broaden the range of artistic experiences available to students across different disciplines, in line with the university’s Arts for All framework.

It will also welcome arts organisations and external hirers for performances, rehearsals, creative residencies and collaborative projects, fostering artistic exchange and partnerships between YST and the local arts sector.

“The arts is a deeply fascinating and enriching discipline, and we want every student, whatever their discipline may be, to discover and learn about the arts,” said Prof Tan.

“They stretch our imagination, give us new lenses to see the world and deepen our understanding of the human experience.”

The sleeve displays images and video, responds to finger presses and connects wirelessly to other devices, yet stays as washable, breathable and flexible as ordinary clothing. The team’s invention enables the creation of garments that act as a direct interface to a wearer’s health data and their digital devices, with no rigid screen involved.

The screens that we are familiar with, such as those on phones and laptops, typically present graphical user interfaces (GUIs) on flat, rigid panels that display information and enable interaction. Textiles, woven from one-dimensional fibres, have never matched this capability. A full-colour, touch-sensitive display that can be threaded like yarn was, until now, out of reach.

“What made this possible was our ability to construct the GUI system from electronic building blocks in fibre form — similar to traditional yarn, but with the sophisticated electronic functionality built directly into the fibres,” said Asst Prof Khudiyev.

The team, led by Assistant Professor Tural Khudiyev from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at CDE, published their findings in Nature on 21 October 2026.

Interconnecting thousands of chips along a thread

To build a fibre-enabled garment display, the NUS team developed a programmable method that creates connection points along tiny, insulated wires exactly where each microchip needs them. A laser exposes these locations, while controlled surface wetting guides molten solder to bond only at the programmed points. This enabled the team to integrate more than 5,000 chips through over 20,000 electrical connections.

The strip of interconnected digital LEDs was then integrated into a multilayer fibre using a thermal drawing approach, which allows precise formation of the touch-sensitive and pixel layers within a thread just a millimetre thick and 10 metres long. A layer beneath the LEDs senses touch — pressing the fibre completes a circuit, and the signal reveals exactly where your finger landed so the nearest pixel lights up.

“A fibre has a one-dimensional, axially symmetric geometry, which makes it difficult to build complex circuitry using approaches developed for conventional two-dimensional electronics,” added Asst Prof Khudiyev. “We overcame this limitation through a new interconnection architecture, which enables thousands of microelectronic devices to be integrated and interconnected along a fibre.”

Beyond the touchscreen: Wear your apps on your sleeve

In the team’s prototype, 54 pixel fibres, each carrying 96 LEDs, were threaded into the forearm of a sleeve to form a 96 by 54-pixel display measuring 168 mm by 105 mm, refreshing 30 frames per second with 8-bit colour depth. Each fibre has its own control channel, so a fault in one line leaves its neighbours working normally, and the system can register several touches at once. Alongside the pixel fibres, the team integrated peripheral fibres made the same way, carrying a microphone, a speaker and sensors that track movement, find magnetic north, measure temperature and gauge how bright the surroundings are.

Together, the fibres support the functions early generations of smartphones could perform: run a calculator, show a photo gallery, play a video at 30 frames per second (25 frames per second with synchronised audio), work as a compass, respond to voice commands, and receive images over Bluetooth. They can even rotate the screen and adjust brightness automatically. When positioned under the arm, the temperature-sensing fibre lets the sleeve read and display body temperature.

Importantly, the garment still behaves like fabric. Light output and touch response were nearly unchanged after 50 detergent washes in a typical washing machine, and after 1,000 bends around a 5 mm radius. In addition, the built display is as breathable as cotton, polyester and denim, and stays within established safety limits for skin contact.

Clothing as an interface

Smaller microchips and thinner fibres, both compatible with the team’s method, offer a route to sharper and larger displays. Furthermore, as the display and sensing elements sit along the length of the fibre, the thinner fibres can be knitted, weaved and embroidered using standard industrial machines. The same technology could one day perform other functions such as tracking health signs and delivering touch-based feedback.

“Healthcare is one particularly promising application,” said Asst Prof Khudiyev. “A garment could continuously collect physiological information through fibre-based sensors and allow the wearer to access and interact with that information directly through their clothing. Combined with artificial intelligence (AI), this could enable personalised health monitoring, feedback and assistance. Just as smartphones enabled applications that were difficult to imagine when they first appeared, garment GUIs could ultimately enable entirely new applications that do not yet exist.”

What’s next

The research team’s next step is to push the textile touchscreen further—towards higher resolution, integrated sensing and on-device AI, bringing display, touch, sensing and intelligence together within the same textile platform. This convergence could take the technology far beyond a wearable screen, towards clothing that understands both the wearer and their surroundings, providing information or interaction when and where needed.

The researchers are now developing a new interface between people and digital intelligence—one that extends beyond a device users carry to become a natural part of what they wear.

Young Stephen guessed the ending: “Study more or read for another hour?” But his father revealed a different answer: “If you fail to learn, then I have failed to teach.”

That lesson has shaped Assoc Prof Tay’s approach to education at the NUS College of Design and Engineering, where he teaches in the Department of the Built Environment. He was one of two faculty members recognised as exemplary educators at the University Teaching Award Ceremony and Outstanding Educator Award (OEA) Public Lectures 2026 last month. In his lecture, he shared his Contextualised Learning via Enquiring, Answering, and Reflecting (CLEAR) pedagogical framework, which encourages curiosity and critical thinking and has since been adopted across Singapore and five other countries.

Learning by questioning

Early in his career, Assoc Prof Tay was troubled by students’ feedback that theoretical equations were difficult to follow.

“I began to question my efficacy as a teacher,” he told more than 100 participants.

Determined to improve, he acquired knowledge on pedagogy at the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology (then the Centre for Development of Teaching and Learning) to develop the CLEAR framework.

“Instead of giving students the tutorial questions, I guide them to generate the tutorial questions,” he explained. “Then we ask them to develop the answers to their tutorial questions using real-world examples before they teach their peers with the questions and answers developed.”

In one class, a group turned urban sustainability challenges into a game, casting classmates as adventurers solving real-world problems. The exercise helped students connect theory with practical applications.

CLEAR has since reached younger learners. Mr Ng Ee Noch, Head of Department of Information Communication and Technology at Boon Lay Garden Primary School, credited Assoc Prof Tay’s guidance in introducing the approach to primary school students.

“Assoc Prof Tay challenged me with thoughtful, critical questions as I explored using CLEAR with my students, and provided invaluable feedback on an application I developed to support the approach. I have learnt tremendously from the way he continually encourages me to reflect, question and improve,” said Mr Ng.

Teaching that changes you

Meanwhile, Associate Professor Robin Loon from the Department of English, Linguistics and Theatre Studies, NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, believes education should shape character, not just impart knowledge.

While skills can be forgotten, dispositions — the habits of mind that guide behaviour — take longer to develop but endure. And as AI makes information readily available, critical evaluation matters more than ever, though it also requires an open mind.

“You cannot make a wise critical judgement if your mindset is closed off,” Assoc Prof Loon said.

This philosophy underpins GEN2001 Theatre and Community Engagement, a course he co-designed. Through role play, process drama and community observation, students examine their assumptions and responses to everyday situations.

During a workshop exploring a moral dilemma, one student reflected on failing to offer a seat to a pregnant woman on a crowded train. “All I did was look and think: If neither she nor her partner asked for a seat, fine,” she wrote in a reflection. “That was what I convinced myself to think.”

That experience in Assoc Prof Loon’s class prompted her to question her response and consider whether she would act differently next time, demonstrating how this teaching approach can reshape how students engage with self and community.

After all, as Professor Peter Ho, Vice Provost (Undergraduate Studies & Technology-Enhanced Learning), said in his opening address, educators must place greater emphasis on nurturing critical thinking and character as AI increasingly takes on tasks from drafting syllabi to synthesising literature and generating content.

“What an algorithm cannot offer our students is judgement, resilience and character,” he said. “An algorithm does not care. It has syntax, but no stakes. Humans can care and we must care.”

This is the paradox of the age of AI and one reason why lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important, said NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye.

“AI can give us answers, but learning is actually more than just providing solutions,” he said. “It is about learning to learn. It is about the struggle of learning, asking questions, making detours, failing and then trying again, and the eureka moment when something finally clicks.”

The same applies to the workforce: as AI reshapes jobs, people need to embrace its capabilities while retaining the ability to understand and critique it, and apply good human judgement and sensing.

Prof Tan was speaking at the third NUS Lifelong Learning Festival on 28 September 2026. Themed “Human in the Age of AI”, the Festival brought together educators and industry leaders to explore how AI is reshaping work and learning, and what people need to do in response. It also marked the 10th anniversary of the NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE).

Across the discussions at the Festival, a broader shift emerged: as AI makes knowledge and certain capabilities more widely accessible, the advantage will increasingly lie not simply in what people know, but in how they think.

Raising the ceiling as AI raises the floor

AI has already raised the “floor” of what people can accomplish, said Professor Tulika Mitra, NUS Vice Provost (Special Projects), Dean of the School of Computing and Provost’s Chair Professor of Computer Science.

Knowledge, analysis, coding and content creation are now far more accessible — even to novices. But rather than lowering human expectations, Prof Mitra said that this should prompt people to raise the ceiling.

“When AI can answer questions, who asks the right question? Who frames the right question?” she asked, highlighting the growing importance of discernment and the ability to imagine new possibilities.

This also means moving beyond using AI simply to perform existing tasks faster. Prof Mitra described this as accelerating “yesterday’s work”: useful for productivity, but not necessarily transformational. The larger opportunity is to redesign workflows and ask what can now be achieved that was previously impractical or impossible.

The shift is already playing out in workplaces. Panellists from Singtel, Raffles Medical Group, ST Engineering and NUS-ISS described approaches ranging from workforce-wide AI training and experimentation to deploying AI agents and developing specialist capabilities. Mr Victor Chua, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of NUS-ISS, described AI as a “force multiplier” — a co-partner or co-pilot rather than an autopilot.

The next wave could take these capabilities from the digital into the physical world. Professor Jochen Wirtz, Vice Dean (MBA Programmes) at NUS Business School, highlighted how the convergence of large language models, large behavioural models and agentic AI could transform service robots, enabling them to converse more naturally, remember previous interactions, reason and plan, and autonomously execute service transactions.

No-code programming could also make it easier for employees to teach robots new ways of performing tasks, with that learning potentially shared across an entire fleet. Such technologies could help alleviate labour shortages while freeing employees for higher-value human interactions.

The question, then, is not simply which tasks AI can perform, but how work can be redesigned around new combinations of human and machine capabilities.

Accountability matters more, not less

Greater AI capability does not mean people can relinquish responsibility.

Professor Simon Chesterman, NUS Vice Provost (Educational Innovation), offered a colourful analogy: generative AI should be treated as a “very smart intern with a drinking problem” — capable of impressive work, but prone to hallucinations and requiring supervision. Humans remain responsible for deciding what to delegate, scrutinising the results and intervening when necessary.

Prof Mitra made a similar point about AI agents. Once tasks are delegated to them, she said, the ownership still belongs to the user: “We can delegate the actions to AI agents, but accountability needs to really stay with the people.”

These questions become even more consequential as AI moves into physical environments. Prof Wirtz highlighted risks involving ethics, fairness, privacy, agency, and health and safety. Managing increasingly autonomous systems would therefore still require human oversight, including for exceptions, auditing, errors and escalations.

This places an increasing premium on expertise and judgement.

While degrees will remain important, Prof Chesterman observed that as AI enables people to perform some cognitive tasks at a higher level, credentials and grades alone may become less effective differentiators. The “human edge” will increasingly encompass soft skills including creativity, empathy, teamwork and leadership.

This does not diminish the importance of disciplinary expertise. Prof Mitra stressed that strong foundations remain essential for evaluating AI’s outputs: “If you have zero foundation, you multiply it by AI, you still end up with zero foundation.”

Prof Chesterman described NUS’ approach as “X plus AI” rather than “AI plus X” — starting with a person’s expertise and asking how AI can enhance it, rather than treating AI as the starting point.

How workers can open up new career possibilities

If the capabilities required at work are changing more quickly, careers themselves may also become less linear.

Ms Aileen Tan, Group Chief People and Sustainability Officer at Singtel, suggested that workers with longer careers may need to pivot into different areas several times rather than expect to progress continuously up a single career ladder.

Instead of thinking only about promotion, employees should consider “career optionality” — building skills that allow them to move between different roles and domains. Curiosity, a growth mindset and the ability to keep learning will be crucial to navigating those transitions.

More fundamentally, Prof Mitra suggested that lifelong learning in the AI era should not be seen simply as reskilling or upskilling to catch up with technological change, but as continually “discovering new possibilities” as AI opens up new ways of working.

This changes the role of universities too.

“The idea that... a few years at university will give you everything you need for a career, that ship has sailed,” said Prof Chesterman. In an AI-mediated world, universities will increasingly need a “lifelong conversation” with their graduates, with stackable credentials and other opportunities enabling them to acquire new capabilities and reinvent themselves.

Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Education and National Development Dr Syed Harun Alhabsyi said Institutes of Higher Learning need to do more than simply offer more courses. They must help learners acquire deep and relevant skills that employers recognise and value, design flexible pathways for diverse adult learners, and partner with companies on workforce and enterprise transformation.

“New skills deliver their greatest value when companies are also ready to redesign jobs, adopt technology, and deploy workers differently,” he said. “The next frontier is to help individuals and businesses adapt and grow together.”

This closer partnership between learners, employers and universities has underpinned NUS’ approach to lifelong learning. Over the past decade, the number of NUS schools and institutes working with the Skills and Workforce Development Agency to offer courses has grown from two to 14, with some 550 courses and more than 130,000 training places offered today. Collaborations with employers have also strengthened. At this year’s Festival, NUS recognised four organisations through the inaugural NUS Lifelong Learning Industry Partner Award for their strong commitment to the learning and growth of their workforce, and for driving innovative approaches to workforce transformation.

Yet amid changing technologies, skills and careers, one constant remains.

“As AI grows more capable, our job is to keep growing ourselves alongside it. Education starts with something intrinsically human, which is curiosity. Technology will change. New skills will emerge. The way we learn must also evolve,” Prof Tan said.

“But our desire to learn — this has to stay with us always.”

These are common questions that NUS University Librarian Associate Professor Natalie Pang, from the Department of Communications and New Media at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, is used to fielding. To her, however, shelving books and collecting resources are merely functions of a library — not its fundamental purpose.

“Functions are not the same as purpose. The purpose of a library, like many other cultural institutions, is to connect communities and ensure equitable access to knowledge. By using research and library resources to catalyse community action, we play a part in heritage and cultural preservation,” she said at the Temasek Foundation-NUS Heritage Champions Showcase on 5 September 2026.

Held by NUS Libraries at the Temasek Shophouse, the event was the culmination of the year-long Temasek Foundation-National University of Singapore Heritage Champions Programme (TF–NUS Heritage Champions Programme), which drew over 100 students from various institutes of higher learning in Singapore.

The programme enabled youths to document and preserve Singapore’s diverse heritage through training workshops, a heritage ideathon to develop solutions to conservation challenges, and a project incubation phase where groups implemented their proposals with guidance from mentors. Ten of these student-led community heritage projects offering fresh perspectives on Singapore’s heritage and history were spotlighted at the showcase event.

The featured projects showcased Singapore’s diverse, lesser-known heritage, from hidden communities such as Southern Islanders and the Bras Basah Hainanese enclave, to food culture, biodiversity heritage and maritime histories. Through innovative approaches such as stamp rallies, walking trails, mobile games and hands-on workshops, the projects collectively engaged over a thousand members of the public.

For participant Totaan Aljean Choong, who recently graduated from Ngee Ann Polytechnic with a Diploma in Mass Communication, his project aimed to preserve the voices and memories of a disappearing trade. His group, “Scoops of Memory”, focused on the stories of ice cream uncles — the iconic pushcart hawkers who have been a fixture of Singapore's streets for decades.

“Interviewing ice-cream hawkers and working with my teammates taught me valuable lessons in research, collaboration and perseverance,” he recalled. “I learned to triangulate sources when documenting this vanishing trade, by combining interviews with vendors and suppliers, governmental records and quantitative data to paint a more holistic picture.”

Several groups are maintaining the momentum beyond the showcase. Rachel Lie, a Year 4 Global Studies student from the group “Shore to Shore”, which documented Singapore’s Southern Islands’ communities, shared, “The response to our tours and workshops encouraged us to continue building on the project. We are in the process of applying for a grant to continue our work with the community so that more people can experience the islands for themselves.”

One year in, the heart of the programme — to document and preserve Singapore’s history — remains unchanged, though discussions between NUS Libraries and potential partners on its future direction are underway.

As Assoc Prof Pang emphasised, "Singapore's heritage is not only found in monuments and historic buildings. It also lives in everyday experiences, memories, food, places and the stories of communities. When young people take ownership of these stories and find new ways to share them, they ensure that our heritage remains relevant and meaningful to future generations.”

NUS Psychology’s response to this growing demand is an accelerated training pathway that allows eligible undergraduates to qualify as clinical psychologists in five years – instead of the usual seven.

Launched in August 2026, NUS Psychology’s Concurrent Degree Programme in Clinical Psychology (CDP-CP) follows a “three-plus-two” structure: three years of undergraduate study tightly focused on clinical foundations, followed by the same two-year Master of Psychology (Clinical) programme that all NUS-trained clinical psychologists complete.

This new five-year track does not replace the standalone Master’s programme, which continues to train clinical psychologists who choose to pursue post-graduate studies after gaining relevant work experience. The latter is suitable for those who prefer to explore their interests before committing or who come to clinical psychology later in their careers.

Dr Lohsnah Jeevanandam, Director of the Clinical Psychology programme at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, who led the CDP-CP’s design, together with Dr Matthew Lim and the rest of the clinical psychology faculty, said the two cater to different groups of aspiring clinical psychologists.

“We’re not replacing one pathway with the other,” she said. “Rather, we’re giving more people more options to meet the same growing need.”

From freshman to clinical psychologist

The CDP-CP programme aims to train more clinical psychologists without compromising on the quality of preparation and training.

“There’s a significant national demand for clinical psychologists and we needed to think about how to make the whole pipeline more efficient, so that we can produce more qualified clinical psychologists, faster, without compromising on training,” said Dr Jeevanandam.

Apart from the shorter time needed to complete both degrees, the programme also brings clinical psychology learning and clinical internship into the undergraduate years.

Students who register interest in the CDP-CP get priority access to a focused set of clinical psychology courses, including Introduction to Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology and Psychological Assessment, giving them a stronger theoretical grounding earlier than most of their peers. The aim is to better prepare them for the Master’s coursework ahead.

Another key feature is a six-month supervised clinical internship that is also embedded into the undergraduate years — designed to fulfil the relevant work experience typically required for entry into the traditional Master’s programme. During this period, students gain exposure to real client work, conducting basic mental wellness screenings and helping to run group wellness programmes under close supervision.

Together, these enable students to connect psychological theories to the realities of practice early on and develop an early appreciation of the responsibilities involved in supporting people dealing with mental health challenges.

“The internship is a shorter, more concentrated experience than the year of work experience it replaces, but one deliberately designed to give students a meaningful first encounter with clinical practice,” said Dr Jeevanandam, adding that students must still complete the same advanced coursework and further clinical training for their Master’s.

A selective pathway

Entry into the programme is competitive. Of the more than 60 students majoring in Psychology who have registered their interest, only around 10 will ultimately be admitted.

Alongside academic performance, the selection process considers whether students have the aptitude for the demands of clinical psychology, which involves working ethically and responsibly with people facing difficult times.

“We’re talking about developing clinical psychologists who are going to be talking about life and death matters, so we need to make sure we pick the people who have the aptitude for it,” said Dr Jeevanandam.

She added that the Department plans to grow the cohort size as the programme matures, while keeping the same careful selection process.

For prospective students like Wu Tong, a first-year Psychology major who has registered her interest in the CDP-CP, the appeal lies in getting to real clinical work sooner.

“The traditional path works well for many, especially those who want time to gain experience before committing to a Master’s. But for me, I felt ready to commit early… It meant I could move through my training with a clear, structured timeline, and start practising sooner rather than waiting longer to get there,” she said.

Building capabilities across the mental healthcare system

CDP-CP builds on NUS’ longstanding efforts to strengthen Singapore’s mental healthcare workforce.

Since 2010, the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine has offered the Graduate Diploma in Mental Health (GDMH) in collaboration with the Institute of Mental Health to equip medical professionals with additional knowledge and skills to support people with mental health conditions.

The new NUS Psychology programme extends this work by developing a pipeline of future clinical psychologists to complement the capabilities of professionals already providing mental healthcare.

It also joins a small but growing group of CDP programmes at NUS built around national workforce priorities in areas such as healthcare, public policy, management, environmental management and digital transformation.

By shortening the runway into the profession without shortening the training itself, the CDP-CP is designed to get more qualified clinical psychologists into the workforce sooner — a step towards closing the gap between how many psychologists Singapore needs and how many it has.

More information on the CDP-CP programme can be found here.

Name: Long Wen Xi 
Faculty: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and NUS College 
Host Country/University: The Netherlands, University College Utrecht 

What was your first week like in the Netherlands?

It was both scary and exciting. I remember the journey from the airport to school feeling incredibly long. My friend and I were struggling with all our luggage on the trains and buses, and we even took the wrong bus. After such a long flight, we were completely exhausted by the time we reached our dorm.

The next few days were mostly settling in, meeting my unit and orientation mates, exploring the campus and city and buying everyday essentials I couldn’t bring from home. I also wandered around Utrecht’s quaint streets, shops, library and canals.

Everything felt quite surreal. I couldn’t believe I was so far from home and would be there for five months. I was definitely nervous, but I kept reminding myself to live in the present. As the week went by, the uncertainty slowly faded, and Utrecht started to feel a little more like home.

Why did you choose University College Utrecht for your exchange?

I was drawn to University College Utrecht (UCU) because it reminded me of NUS College. It has an interdisciplinary curriculum, small seminar-style classes and a close-knit student community living together on campus.

I also liked the variety of modules offered. One of the classes I took was on activism, which was something I had never explored before. The small class sizes were also great because I could interact more closely with my classmates and professors. As an exchange student, taking classes alone can feel intimidating, so having that intimate setting made things much more comfortable.

But one of the biggest reasons I chose UCU was the residential experience. I really wanted the chance to live with people from completely different cultures and backgrounds. It was scary, but I knew I might never get an opportunity like this again, so I decided to take the leap.

What are some of your key learning experiences during exchange?

I learnt to be more independent and adaptable. Living in a foreign country makes you realise how many things you take for granted at home.

Food was one example. In Singapore, getting a meal is so convenient, but eating out in the Netherlands was much more expensive. I ended up cooking almost every day and learnt to make the most of my groceries.

I also learnt how to cycle. I actually didn’t know how to before the exchange and cycling alongside so many people and vehicles was terrifying at first. I almost gave up, but I really wanted to embrace Dutch culture. Eventually, I got the hang of it, and cycling became such a big part of my daily life.

Exchange also taught me that conflicting emotions can exist at the same time. I could be excited but anxious, happy but homesick, and ready to go home yet not want to leave. I learnt that life can be full of contradictions, and that we can grow through them.

What are some of your fondest memories?

I have many and some of my favourite memories were the simplest ones.

One was a night bike ride with my unit mates early in the semester. I was still quite nervous about cycling, but it turned into such a beautiful night. The sky was clear, we could see the stars, and we cycled past fields and buildings with the wind in our faces, chatting and laughing along the way. My unit mates even made sure someone always cycled behind me to keep me safe.

Another was our final dinner together. We cooked a huge meal and had a Secret Santa exchange. One of my friends gave me an album by a singer we had bonded over and wrote me a letter in Chinese — even though he’s Italian-Thai! He had spent ages translating what he wanted to say and copying out the characters, which really touched me. It was bittersweet knowing it was our last night together, but I tried to stay present and appreciate how many memories we had created in just a few months.

What did you learn from interacting with students from different cultures?

I learnt that cultural differences aren’t something to be intimidated by. Even if we grew up in completely different environments, there are still so many ways to connect.

My unit mates were really open and curious about one another’s cultures. We loved exchanging stories about life back home. They were shocked when I told them Singapore is hot all year round, while I was equally shocked that some of them used to travel up to two hours by car just to get to school.

Those little conversations helped me understand what their lives were like back home and get to know them beyond just being my unit mates. My biggest takeaway was to approach people with openness, kindness and genuine curiosity. Our differences can give us more to talk about.

Any tips for NUS students interested in going on exchange?

My biggest tip is to live in the present and experience exchange on your own terms. There’s no single “ideal” exchange. Some people want to travel every weekend, while others care more about their classes, friendships, or simply experiencing everyday life in their host country. You don’t have to follow what everyone else is doing.

Think about what would make exchange meaningful to you. It’s such a unique experience, so make it your own and try to be fully present while you’re there.

NUS Health follows the year-long NUS1000 and NUS 1000 Staff Edition studies conducted by the Centre for Sleep and Cognition at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine). The studies found that undergraduate freshmen and staff are more sedentary and less physically active than participants in the SG70 Towards Healthy Longevity study, who are above 70 years old. This is a concern due to the national uptick in chronic conditions such as hypertension and type 2 diabetes, which are linked to modifiable lifestyle factors such as insufficient sleep and prolonged inactivity.

Turning data into healthy habits

Led by Professor Michael Chee, Assistant Professor June Lo and Assistant Professor Jocelyn Chew from NUS Medicine, NUS Health comprises a multidisciplinary team that includes members from NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, NUS Health and Wellbeing, and NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Drawing on different areas of expertise, the team will harness insights from the study to devise the right solutions. Among participants, substituting 30 minutes of physical inactivity with sleep or moderately vigorous physical activity was associated with significantly lower body mass index (BMI) and arterial stiffness, which are measures of vascular ageing.

“Many health programmes like to highlight panels of biomarkers and AI-driven advice,” noted Prof Chee. “While these tools are valuable, their effectiveness ultimately depends on tracking markers that are functionally meaningful and actionable, and providing guidance that is scientifically sound, practical and sustainable.”

NUS Health builds on years of research into sleep patterns, behavioural change and physical activity. It also draws from real-world experience with wearable health devices.

“Our goal is not simply to generate research, but to translate the best available science into meaningful improvements in everyday health for our staff,” he said.

How NUS Health works

From August to October 2026, NUS Health will recruit 2,000 staff members for a study that will run for 15 to 16 months across three phases.

In the first phase, participants will be fitted with an Oura Ring to track sleep patterns and daily physical activity, with daily stress and mental wellbeing ratings collected via smartphone. They will also undergo functional tests and provide information about their existing health values and habits.

In the second phase, participants will receive personalised prompts and goals set against the baseline data that has been collected. Those who hit their health goals will receive tickets for a monthly ballot to win cash prizes.

“The cumulative effect of modest sustainable choices may seem unremarkable in the moment, yet over years and decades they become profoundly meaningful,” explained Prof Chee.

In the final phase, participants will continue wearing their health trackers and attend regular screenings to assess habit retention. These assessments will evaluate the impact on their health markers, wellbeing and physical performance, demonstrating the intrinsic rewards of investing in health.

Focus on wellbeing at NUS

NUS Health is just one of many initiatives that support the mental, social and physical wellbeing of the NUS community. The NUS Health and Wellbeing (HWB) unit regularly shares educational posts on social media, spanning topics on mental wellness, emotional literacy and managing grief. NUS HWB also set up the Peer Staff Supporters (PSS) network, now in its fifth year, which trains peer volunteers to help fellow colleagues who may be going through a rough patch. According to the annual HWB Wellbeing Survey, staff who had been trained as PSS reported significantly higher levels of resilience, compassion and wellbeing at work than their non-PSS colleagues.

In addition to emotional support, NUS HWB is encouraging personal growth among staff. In partnership with the NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education, they are launching The Happiness Ripple in October 2026, a five-week masterclass aimed at helping participants grow and live well through understanding themselves better, strengthening relationships and building optimism. The programme, which takes place for three hours every week, is also open to members of the public, offering an opportunity for staff to learn alongside friends and loved ones.

Together, these initiatives show NUS’ commitment to empowering staff to build healthier, more fulfilling lives.

The integrated venture-building and research commercialisation platform aims to connect research, talent, industry, capital and global markets to turn discoveries into scalable ventures.

Its rebrand was unveiled on 24 September 2026 at the inaugural A5X, Asia's first global innovation and venture summit, which brought together investors, founders, researchers and policymakers. Also hosting the inaugural Singapore Defense Tech Hackathon (SDTH), the event was held at the NUS i³ building from 24 to 27 September.

The next decade, all in one room

In his welcome remarks, NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye reflected on 25 years of NUS Enterprise — from nurturing entrepreneurial talent through NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC), to building start-up communities such as B71 (formerly BLOCK71) and, more recently, a network of global outposts.

Looking ahead, he said, “We want NUS to be a place where students, faculty and researchers dare to dream and are willing to try. Where the path from discovery to impact is clear. Where founders can find the people, capital and markets they need.”

Referencing the event’s theme, Guest-of-Honour Mr Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Digital Development and Information, said that “the next decade is in this room”, highlighting A5X’s value in facilitating connections, which eventually translate to capability and impact. As AI makes intelligence more capable, accessible and abundant, Singapore's opportunity lies in being the bridge between intelligence and impact.

“We cannot compete with the largest economies on scale. Our opportunity is to become exceptionally good at connecting these strengths and turning new ideas into real-world impact,” he said.

Universities have an important role in making these connections and shortening the journey from discovery to application, enterprise and global scale. “A great university should not only produce knowledge. It should help knowledge travel, from the lab into products, from products into enterprises, and from enterprises into society,” he added.

A new name for a bigger ambition

NUS Enterprise’s rebrand as NUSX is part of its evolution into a global, integrated venture-building platform. Its work spans four innovation tracks: “Logic” (AI and software), “Pulse” (healthcare and biotech), “Matter” (physical sciences, materials and semiconductors) and “Resilience” (dual-use technologies).

Through 2035, NUSX aims to create at least one NUS venture; generate more than US$100 million (S$127.9 million) in annual revenue or create 1,000 jobs; US$1 billion in financial returns from NUS ventures; and build ventures that collectively improve the lives of one billion people.

“As the global race to commercialise deep tech accelerates, breakthrough research is only the starting point. The real challenge is translation,” said Dr Tan Sian Wee, NUS Senior Vice President (Innovation and Enterprise).

One initiative addressing that challenge is Nova, an AI-powered engine for research commercialisation jointly developed by NUSX and development partner Zima Labs.

Within minutes, Nova can analyse a granted patent, assess its licensing potential against live market evidence, rank potential licensees and draft tailored proposals, while flagging the patent's limitations. The platform draws on more than 20,000 NUS patents and invention disclosures, 9,000 research projects and 11,000 inventors.

By connecting these with external intelligence on companies, investors and industry needs, Nova can also surface licensing, co-development and partnership opportunities, as well as potential investors and team members.

Building bridges between Singapore and the world

Plans are in the works to expand NUSX’s global outpost network beyond Silicon Valley — it has since established a second outpost in Munich, with a third planned for Shanghai in the fourth quarter of 2026.

At A5X, NUSX also announced a new partnership with start-up incubator UnternehmerTUM spanning reciprocal outposts, investment and talent development, focusing initially on biotech, AI and semiconductors.

NUS is also in advanced discussions with a Munich-based venture capital firm closely affiliated with UnternehmerTUM to join the S$150 million NUS Venture Capital (VC) Programme as its fifth partner. Under the programme, NUS students will gain new opportunities to intern with the firm's portfolio companies and join UnternehmerTUM's venture creation programmes — building on NOC Munich, which has connected nearly 120 NUS students and more than 90 TUM students since 2017.

“Deep tech ventures need more than one home market to grow — they need access to research, capital and industry partners across continents,” said Professor Dr Helmut Schönenberger, Co-Founder and CEO of UnternehmerTUM and Vice President, Entrepreneurship, TUM.

From research to real-world impact

Beyond the new initiatives, a common thread running through the A5X Conference was how technological breakthroughs can be translated into enduring impact.

At the opening keynote dialogue, moderated by Dr Tan, three panellists with experience across academia, industry and venture building discussed how research, talent and capital can come together to drive national innovation.

The flagship event also honoured the researchers and ventures translating ideas into impact. The NUS Innovation and Venture Creation Awards recognised eight NUS faculty members and researchers, while Professor David Silver from Duke-NUS Medical School received the President's Venture Creation Chair Professor Award for research that could lead to new treatments for Type 2 diabetes.

At the Innovation Showcase, more than 40 NUS-affiliated ventures and teams presented emerging technologies across NUSX's four innovation tracks. They included Lightsage, which is helping developer-tool companies improve how their products are discovered and used by AI coding agents, and Ecovolt, whose AI-native system helps organisations monitor and optimise energy use across buildings. Lightsage and Ecovolt have been both supported through NOC and B71.

Strengthening defence innovation

The “Resilience” track took centre stage at the inaugural SDTH from 25 to 27 September, which brought together about 300 engineers, operators and founders to develop working solutions for real-world defence and security needs.

Co-organised by NUSX, the European Defense Tech Hub and TUM Venture Labs, the hackathon comprised two challenge tracks: a two-day main challenge on site and a three-month extended challenge prior to the event. These culminated in a Pitch & Demo Showcase on 27 September.

Team NeuroMech topped the two-day main challenge, finishing first among 39 teams with a brain-computer interface designed to give operators a new way to control unmanned systems. Meanwhile, Team MAELSTROM finished first among 22 teams in the three-month extended challenge with a micro-missile system designed to intercept enemy drone swarms, coordinated through a networked command system.

Both challenges also featured the "Lord of the Rings" Prize, which recognised teams that combined their technologies into a larger, integrated capability. The two-day prize went to Acoustics, DomeCommand and AEGIS, while the three-month prize went to SwarmBreakers and Sentinel.

For some teams, the hackathon could mark the beginning of a longer venture journey. Up to three promising teams will be selected for NUS Defence Venture Lab’s (DVL) six-month incubation programme, receiving cash and in-kind support worth S$100,000, technical and venture mentorship, and access to testbeds in Singapore and Europe.

“The prizes are only the start. Through the NUS Defence Venture Lab, we will help the most promising teams become companies,” said Professor Gary Ang, Professor of Practice for Defence Innovation and Applications, NUS, and founder of DVL.

By NUSX

For NUS College (NUSC) students, the answer to these questions came through the experiences they have gained from the College’s flagship Impact Experience programme (IEx). Embodying its philosophy of ‘breaking open the classroom’, IEx allows students to go beyond lectures and books to learn from the communities and environment around the world.

“The projects that have emerged from IEx remind us that, in a world where technology is helping us move faster and generate solutions more quickly, meaningful change often takes time,” said Professor Simon Chesterman, Dean of NUSC.

“Students need time to build relationships, test ideas and stay engaged over a longer period for their work to grow and continue with the communities and students that come after them. This is what ‘Resonance’ means to us — seeing the work continue to have meaning and impact for years to come.”

At NUSC’s second Impact Festival, themed ‘Resonance’, on 16 September 2026, 57 projects were put on display, offering a glimpse into what students had learnt from putting their ideas to the test and how to turn them into lasting impact.

The Festival also featured a specially curated Creative Showcase, which brought the students’ work to life through illustrations and performances, on top of two Conferences, where representatives from seven projects shared about their communities and causes, as well as their experience working alongside NUSC students to drive change for good. 

One key takeaway from the presentations was the importance of forming meaningful connections to offer appropriate solutions. However, the students faced various challenges, from experiencing failures and language barriers to figuring out how to deliver lasting impact.

Overcoming language barriers

For students who took their projects overseas, building connections meant navigating communication challenges. “The language barrier is the highest wall that we have to break through,” said Ms Arum Kartika, one of the co-founders of Karasa, an Indonesian ground-up initiative that engages local youths through art.

Ms Kartika and her husband started Karasa in 2019 as they worried for the youths in their Bandung neighbourhood, located next to Southeast Asia’s largest textile factory. In their area, air, water and soil quality are poor and crime rates are high.

Karasa, which means “to be felt” in Sundanese, gives at-risk local youths an outlet for constructive pursuits. “We want to make a space for them so that they can do something good for their neighbourhood,” explained Ms Kartika.

IEx students worked with the youngsters to revitalise the neighbourhood by turning walls along alleyways into vibrant murals. At another wall, participants used bottle caps salvaged from a nearby river to create a head-turning whale.

Although the two groups of youths spoke different languages, the two-year IEx programme gave the students room to gradually pick up the basics of Bahasa Indonesia and, over time, engage more meaningfully with their Indonesian peers.

But communication was only the first step. At another non-governmental organisation (NGO) Yayasan Juang Laut Lestari (JARI), students learned that meaningful engagement also meant being able to co-develop solutions with a community, rather than simply bringing solutions to it.

In Gili Balu, a marine tourism area in the Alas Strait off West Sumbawa, Indonesia, students worked with the Poto Tano community and JARI to redesign four ecotour programmes. The aim was to ensure that as tourism grows, its benefits remain with the local community, including fisherfolk, women and youth.

“NUSC students sit and discuss together with the local community to try to find solutions,” said Ms Hani Nusantari, Program Manager of JARI. “They don’t just create a project, but help the local community find what’s best for them.”

Language wasn’t the only barrier. Students also had to adapt to an unfamiliar environment, but the IEx programme structure gave the students time to immerse in the culture and gradually pick up the basics of Bahasa Indonesia.

“By the end of our trip, we actually learnt quite a few words and managed to have conversations,” said Zhou Ze Hao, a second-year Computer Science major, who visited Alas Strait with his project team for their recce in the initial stages of the project in April 2026.

“It’s really a very enriching experience. I learnt a lot from the community there,” said Ethan Divyanathan, one of Ze Hao’s project mates, a second-year Mechanical Engineering major. “They have a lot of different kinds of knowledge that you can never pick up from sitting around the classroom.”

Navigating community dynamics

In the Lisu village of Doi Lan in Chiang Rai, Thailand, IEx students encountered a community that is far more complex than it first appeared.

“People see the village as culturally homogeneous. Instead, there are conflicts, disagreements and contestations,” said Ms Amema “Mimi” Saeju, founder of the Lisu Cultural Heritage Centre in Chiang Mai, which seeks to preserve Lisu culture by promoting the traditional art of Lisu handicrafts.

Residents have different social and economic backgrounds, from farmers to lawyers, government officials and businesspeople. These differences can lead to competing priorities, including over Ms Saeju’s efforts to preserve Lisu culture.

For students supporting her work, understanding these dynamics is an important part of the project. Ms Saeju noted that students can be seen as aligned with the community partner they work with, which can affect how other residents respond to them.

“The students would be viewed as an extension of the [community] partner,” she said. “The students are not neutral.”

IEx’s two-year project timeline gives students more time to understand these different perspectives, build relationships and adapt their projects to the community context.

“It takes time for the community to figure out what you’re doing,” said Ms Saeju, adding that it took more than 10 years for members of her community to understand and appreciate her own preservation work.

Her advice to students: “Don’t expect immediate results.”

Building lasting impact

But building relationships and understanding a community are only part of the challenge. For the students, the bigger question is whether the work can continue after they leave.

That, to them, is the real test of success.

NUSC class of 2026 alumni, Andrew Roy Toh and Naomi Ang, first joined Bamboo Bootcamp in 2023, an NGO based in Davao, Philippines that trains local workers in bamboo construction, building livelihoods while promoting native bamboo as a viable alternative to concrete.

From the get-go, the students had to rethink what it meant to make an impact. Rather than create a solution that depended on their repeated involvement, they realised that lasting impact meant ensuring that the community could continue the projects sustainably.

“One of the targets we had was to make ourselves obsolete from the community,” Andrew said. “After we finish our project, they must be able to stand on their own two feet, pick it up and carry it on even without our presence.”

That meant co-creating projects with the community rather than delivering a templated solution.

“The best thing that we can do as visitors is to listen to the community,” said Naomi, adding that it was a better approach to let the community decide on what works for them.

Over four trips, the team put this into practice by testing and refining a bamboo workshop for children based on feedback from local teachers. They eventually condensed it into a two-day programme and trained the teachers to run it independently.

“The beautiful thing is the consistent influx of NUS students,” said Mr Jed Michael de Guzman, Chief Operating Officer of Bamboo Bootcamp. “The community now recognises when there’s a new batch of NUS students coming and there’s anticipation. They are excited to co-work with them,” he added.

The idea of continuity is already playing out in Gili Balu. The marine conservation and responsible ecotourism project which began in August 2024 has since been handed to a new cohort of NUSC students, who are continuing to co-develop the ecotours with the community as new needs and challenges emerge.

Nuryanee Anisah, a final-year Business Administration major who was a pioneer on the project, said: “One of my biggest takeaways was that sustainability is not just about protecting the environment but also understanding the people whose lives and livelihoods are connected to it. Some of my most meaningful memories were the simplest ones — sitting with the fisherfolk at night, sharing music and stories, and learning about their lives beyond what we could ever learn in a classroom.”

Established in partnership with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Institute of Technology, Temasek Polytechnic, Nanyang Polytechnic, and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research, NCEB enables new research discoveries, drives technological advancement and develops the talent needed to design and engineer living systems predictively. This whole-of-nation platform strongly positions Singapore in the field internationally. Supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF) under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 (RIE2025) plan, the Centre was established through the NRF Mid-sized Grant of close to S$50 million awarded over seven years from 2023.

“NCEB builds on engineering biology capabilities developed over more than a decade, anchored by initiatives such as the NUS Synthetic Biology for Clinical and Technological Innovation (SynCTI) and the Singapore Consortium for Synthetic Biology (SINERGY), and reinforced by strong industry partnerships and interdisciplinary expertise across science, engineering, medicine and computing,” said Professor Matthew Chang, who leads NCEB as Executive Director. He is also the Director of NUS SynCTI and SINERGY, and holds an appointment in the Department of Biochemistry at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine.

“Through NCEB, we will bring these strengths together, working closely with academic, government and industry partners to create an impactful shared research ecosystem. Our goal is to enable more sustainable ways of making products that society depends on, using renewable feedstocks and cleaner manufacturing processes,” Prof Chang added.

NCEB aims to move engineering biology from largely empirical approaches towards predictive biological design where the relationship between genetic composition and cell function can be understood and modelled to engineer cells that perform reliably. Its work is organised around three research thrusts: machine learning for predictive biodesign, engineering biology for specialty chemical production, and advanced biofoundry capabilities.

Boosting capabilities for predictive design, testing and scaling up

A key research outcome for NCEB is to establish design rules and models that allow researchers to predict how engineered biological systems will behave before they are built. This addresses a central challenge in synthetic biology: living systems are powerful, but difficult to design because they are dynamic and adaptive.

To support this, NCEB is developing shared data foundations and automated experimental platforms that generate large, standardised datasets. These datasets allow results from different laboratories to be compared, combined and used to train AI models.

NCEB’s flagship project, led by NUS, focuses on AI-guided Engineering Biology for Sustainable Specialty Chemicals. Specialty chemicals are a diverse class of high-value molecules, including biosurfactants, specialty lipids, flavour and fragrance compounds, bioactive compounds, and building blocks for advanced materials. Many are difficult to make by conventional chemistry and rely on energy-intensive, fossil-derived processes.

The project aims to engineer microbes and enzymes that convert renewable feedstocks into specialty chemicals using predictively designed biological systems. Its first targets are functional fatty acids, an important class of specialty chemicals used across multiple industrial sectors.

The approach is AI-guided throughout. AI-synthetic biology platforms developed at NCEB propose improved enzyme and pathway designs, which the Advanced BioFoundry – a highly automated research facility at NUS – builds and tests in large numbers rather than one at a time. Results are captured using common data standards and fed back into the models, so each experimental cycle improves the next round of design.

Another highlight of NCEB is the Bioprocessing Innovation Platform (BIP) established in partnership with the Singapore Institute of Technology. The BIP addresses the challenge of translating scientific breakthroughs in the laboratory into industrial-scale production, through pilot-scale fermentation and downstream processing capability. The platform houses an integrated fermentation and downstream bioprocessing system supporting process optimisation, scale-up studies and technology demonstration.

NCEB has also developed a digital backbone comprising the AI-Augmented Synthetic Biology Database (SynBioDB), a platform for standardising biological and experimental data; the Synthetic Biology AI Designer (SynDe), an AI platform for biological design; and Enzyme Function Initiative Tools@NCEB (EFI@NCEB), a secure enzyme informatics platform. Please refer to the Annexe for more information on these digital platforms.

Closing the loop between AI design and the laboratory

NCEB’s new facility at NUS is laid out to follow the Design–Build–Test–Learn cycle, with four connected zones: a computational and data zone where AI models propose new designs and learn from the results; a main laboratory for hands-on experimental work; the Advanced BioFoundry where designs are built and tested automatically; and a bioproduction area where the best performers are grown and assessed. This “one floor, one workflow” layout places computational and experimental researchers side by side, shortening the feedback loop between AI prediction and laboratory result — one of the strongest determinants of how quickly the Centre improves.

At the heart of the facility is the Advanced BioFoundry, the experimental engine of the Centre’s Design–Build–Test–Learn cycle, where AI-proposed designs are turned into engineered cells and tested at a scale that manual laboratory work cannot reach.

Key features of NCEB’s new facility include:

• Automated build and test: robotic liquid handlers, an automated colony picker, automated incubators and microplate readers run as a single workflow, so large numbers of biological designs are built and screened in parallel rather than one at a time;
• Ultra-high-throughput screening: single cells are encapsulated in tiny droplets, each acting as a miniature reaction vessel, and sorted by performance to narrow very large populations down to the best producers in a fraction of the time that conventional screening requires;
• High-throughput analytics: liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry systems, together with high-throughput mass spectrometry workflows, measure what each engineered cell actually produces across thousands of samples;
• Integrated bioproduction: laboratory-scale bioreactors and an integrated fermentation and downstream bioprocessing system confirm that promising designs hold up under production conditions, and prepare them for scaleup at the Bioprocessing Innovation Platform; and
• Computing and data: dedicated computing infrastructure hosts the Centre’s AI design models and shared data platforms, capturing results from every experiment in a common format so they can be used across partner laboratories.

A national centre bringing together leading talent

As a distributed national centre, more than 150 researchers, students and professional staff contribute to the Centre’s work across partner institutions, with recruitment ongoing for about 50 more positions. These include principal investigators, postdoctoral researchers and graduate students, as well as technical, engineering, laboratory support and centre management staff.

The Centre will also provide research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students.

Strengthening Singapore’s leadership in engineering biology

NCEB’s current goals include bringing the Advanced BioFoundry and BIP into routine use, delivering milestones for its specialty chemicals flagship project, extending the AI-ready synthetic biology data platform SynBioDB to partners and industry collaborators, and growing its industry and international partnerships.

Over the longer term, NCEB aims to establish a fully operational AI-enabled Design–Build–Test–Learn platform, demonstrate scalable production of high-value specialty chemicals from renewable feedstocks, build a federated national data ecosystem, contribute to international standards, and train the next generation of engineering biology talent.

Through these efforts, NCEB will provide Singapore with an end-to-end engineering biology capability — from AI-guided design and automated experimentation to pilot-scale production — supporting cleaner manufacturing, industry translation and the future bioeconomy.

Singapore Engineering Biology Week

The launch of NCEB marks the start of the inaugural Singapore Engineering Biology Week, organised by the Centre. Held from 5 to 8 October 2026, this national-level event will bring together about 300 researchers, innovators, students and industry partners from Singapore and around the world. The programme will cover topics in engineering biology including research, translation, industry and talent. Singapore Engineering Biology Week will be held annually going forward.

These are among the questions being explored through the Health District @ Queenstown (HD@QT), where NUS researchers work with residents and partners to develop and test health and social solutions with communities in real-world settings. The aim is not simply to create new tools, but to understand how technology can make preventive health and care more accessible and relevant to everyday life.

Smart screening

One project will soon bring contactless health screening into the Queenstown community. Led by Dr Yoann Sapanel, Head of Health Innovation at the Institute for Digital Medicine (WisDM), Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (NUS Medicine), the study will explore whether a wellness kiosk could provide a convenient way to engage people in their health and identify those who may not know they are at risk of hypertension. The kiosk uses remote photoplethysmography (rPPG), a contactless technology that uses a standard camera to detect subtle changes in facial colour caused by blood flow with each heartbeat. These changes, which are invisible to the human eye, can be used to estimate vital signs.

The issue is significant. About one in three Singapore residents aged 18 to 74 has hypertension, according to the National Population Health Survey cited by the project team. Of these, more than half were unaware they had the condition.

From 11 November 2026, residents visiting HD@QT's Come 4Tea Lah! community hub will be able to participate in the study, which is conducted in collaboration with Singapore health technology company Nervotec. Participants will undergo a facial scan at the kiosk and answer a few questions. The technology will subsequently be trialled at Happy Village @ Mei Ling.

For Dr Sapanel, testing the technology in Queenstown is crucial to understanding whether it can work beyond controlled research environments.

“Running this pilot in Queenstown, in a real-world environment rather than a lab, lets us test whether the kiosk meets a clinical need and something residents themselves would actually want help with, which is very much in line with our co-creation approach,” he said.

Importantly, the study is not intended to replace clinical assessment. Researchers will examine how residents respond to the technology, including whether they are comfortable using it, what makes them trust the results and whether those receiving a higher-risk reading subsequently consult a doctor.

Living longer, living better

Other NUS researchers are exploring how technology can support health as people live longer.

At National Engineers Day 2026, Dr Sapanel joined Associate Professor Bina Rai and Dr Rubin Yong from HD@QT's Technology and Innovation team to share their work in preventive health, cognitive health and eye care.

Together with her team, Assoc Prof Rai, from the Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Design and Engineering at NUS, has developed a digital cognitive training platform that uses games inspired by familiar activities such as gardening to engage older adults. The platform adjusts the level of challenge according to individual performance, enabling more personalised cognitive training.

Dr Yong, a Research Fellow at the NUS Centre for Innovation and Precision Eye Health (INVISION), is working on another aspect of healthy ageing. The FourSight project explores community-based monitoring for people at risk of glaucoma, with the aim of making routine eye monitoring more accessible while connecting it with existing healthcare services.

While the technologies differ, the researchers share a common approach: taking innovation beyond the laboratory and designing it around the people expected to use it. Through HD@QT, researchers can pilot ideas in community settings, gather feedback from residents, and work with healthcare and industry partners to understand what it takes for promising technologies to work in everyday life.

As Singapore's population lives longer, such approaches could open new ways to support health and independence — not only when people enter the healthcare system, but also in the communities where they live.

Find out more about Health District @ Queenstown.

Few are better placed to understand these changes than the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (NUS Geography), where researchers and students have a front-row seat to the forces reshaping our world.

Research that informs policy in Singapore and shapes debates worldwide has put NUS Geography among the global leaders in the discipline: first in the 2026 ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects, for the second consecutive year, and fourth in the 2026 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

The results come as the Department continues to evolve both what and how it teaches and the research questions it tackles.

Over the years, the Department has refreshed its curriculum, embraced new technologies and forged connections with other disciplines, while its researchers continue to expand the boundaries of geographic inquiry to address emerging challenges.

“Modern geography sits at the intersection of people, places and the environment, helping us understand not only how the world is changing, but also how these changes affect the way we live, work and shape our communities,” said Professor David Taylor, Head of the Department of Geography.

“The result is a geography education and research that is no longer confined to understanding the world as it is but also helps students explore how it might be shaped in future and how we might best respond in anticipation.

Changing geographies for a changing world

Today, studying geography broadens not just students’ perspectives on global issues, but also their career paths.

Alongside a Geography major, students will have the option to pursue a new Second Major in Environmental Science for Sustainability from January 2027, complementing their geographical understanding of people, places and environments with scientific perspectives on environmental systems, sustainability and change.

Technology is also changing how geography is studied. New interdisciplinary courses launched under the NUS College of Humanities and Sciences cover topics such as clean and just energy (which considers both the environmental and social dimensions of a low-carbon energy transition), earth studies, and the motivations behind environmental decisions.

The Geospatial Intelligence Cross-Disciplinary Programme (GIX), introduced in 2026, is the first bachelor’s degree of its kind in Asia. Offered in collaboration with the School of Computing, the programme allows a pioneer batch of 28 students to explore new frontiers in the field, including geospatial data, computing and artificial intelligence (GeoAI). This enables them to better understand and respond to issues ranging from climate change and smart city design to urban planning and business planning.

At the same time, the Department’s graduate programmes have also expanded into areas like climate change and planetary health where geographical perspectives are increasingly important.

Building on the Master of Science (MSc) in Applied GIS launched in 2015, and the MSc in Climate Change and Sustainability in 2024, the upcoming Master of Social Sciences in Planetary Health and Wellbeing postgraduate programme will explore the connections between human health, wellbeing and the environments in which people live. It is slated for introduction in 2027.

All the Department’s taught Master’s graduate programmes are stackable, offering flexibility to students to take a graduate certificate before building towards a graduate diploma and full Master’s degree incrementally.

Breaking research frontiers

Outside the classroom, research at NUS Geography is tackling complex challenges that have wide-ranging implications for Singapore, from climate issues such as urban heat, rising sea levels and carbon governance; to ageing and migration; and even how changes in finance, money and markets have uneven impacts within communities and across space.

Professor Elaine Ho, for example, has led numerous research projects on ageing and social networks in Singapore. They have contributed significantly to policymaking and infrastructure planning, ensuring that older Singaporeans have opportunities to remain physically mobile and socially connected as the country moves into a super-aged society.

Elsewhere, Dr Remi Luo is leading a project funded by the National Parks Board to monitor Singapore’s green spaces over the long term to generate insights that inform climate-resilient urban planning.

Meanwhile, Professor Matthias Roth, a prominent researcher in urban climatology, is collaborating with the National Environment Agency on research to improve forecasting of weather and climate conditions so that tropical cities such as Singapore can better prepare for extreme weather, reduce risks and strengthen climate resilience.

As new frontiers emerge, Geography will continue to ask new questions about the places we inhabit, even as they extend into areas such as outer space and virtual worlds.

For the next generation of geographers — researchers, faculty and students alike — this means engaging with a discipline that is constantly uncovering new questions, new connections and new possibilities, and in doing so matching the skillset of its graduates with the ever-changing requirements of society.

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye said the result reflects the sustained efforts of the University’s faculty, researchers, staff, students and alumni.

"The accolade belongs to every member of our community: our faculty, researchers, staff, students and alumni, and I am proud of what we have achieved together," said Prof Tan.

The University’s upward trajectory has been built over the years through deliberate efforts to strengthen the quality of its education, raise the rigour and relevance of its research, and deepen its partnerships across the world.

“We embedded interdisciplinary thinking into how our students learn, and built AI fluency into how they work. This is not a one-off result. It reflects intentional, sustained effort over many years,” Prof Tan added.

Strong performance across core indicators of teaching and research

NUS’ rise to 15th this year was driven largely by stronger scores in teaching and research. The results come as universities worldwide respond to shifting expectations around education, research and the role of technology and AI.

At NUS, these shifts have been accompanied by efforts to prepare students for a fast-changing world and to translate research into real-world impact, as well as deeper engagement with industry and society.

In August this year, NUS expanded its strategic collaboration with OpenAI to widen access to advanced AI tools for students, faculty and staff, and introduced a compulsory foundational AI module for all first-year undergraduates starting Academic Year 2026/2027.

The University has also continued to strengthen interdisciplinary education and research. Beyond developing new courses that prepare students to work across disciplinary boundaries, NUS has also been fostering more interdisciplinary research, bringing together expertise across disciplines to tackle complex challenges. The Centre for Computational Social Science and Humanities, for example, combines AI and computational methods with expertise in social science and humanities to examine issues at the intersection of technology and society.

Prof Tan said rankings provide one measure of NUS’ progress, but “what matters more is the difference our graduates make in society, the lives and policies our research improves, and the role NUS plays in building a better Singapore and a better world. That is what gives this ranking its meaning. And that is what will guide us into the future.”

THE assessed universities across 17 calibrated performance indicators this year, spanning teaching, research environment, research quality, international outlook and industry. This year’s edition covered a total of 2,297 institutions across 118 countries and territories, making it one of the most comprehensive and closely watched university rankings globally.

Mr Phil Baty, THE Chief of Global Affairs, said NUS’ move into the world’s top 15, its highest-ever position, was a “remarkable achievement”.

“NUS performs exceptionally well on every one of [the rankings’] core pillars, so there is real strength-in-depth,” he said, adding that the University’s combination of high research quality, close industry links and an international approach makes it “a truly world-class university.”

The University of Oxford retains its top spot in this year’s rankings, followed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in second place, with Princeton University and Stanford University tied for third.

The full THE World University Rankings 2027 results are available at: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/latest/world-ranking.

Over two weeks in the towns of Maun and Kasane, 24 students from NUS College of Alice & Peter Tan (CAPT), affectionately known as CAPTains, heard from community leaders, researchers, educators, local organisations and conservation practitioners about the choices and trade-offs involved in protecting the environment while supporting livelihoods and communities. The journey was part of the NUS Global Relations Office’s Study Trips for Engagement and EnRichment (STEER) programme, which gives students first-hand exposure to the diverse sociocultural environments of emerging regions.

For many, the experience challenged assumptions about what conservation looks like on the ground — and revealed how questions of wildlife, livelihoods, tourism and local knowledge are closely intertwined.

The many sides of the Okavango Delta

These questions came into sharp focus at the Okavango Delta, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the world’s largest inland delta systems.

The Delta offered students a window into the different ways in which the same landscape can be understood. It is an important ecosystem rich in biodiversity, a source of livelihood and tourism, and a place with deep cultural significance for communities who have lived in and around it for generations.

For Year 2 Industrial Systems Engineering and Management student Jayven Koh, the experience changed how he thought about the relationship between conservation and communities.

"What struck me was that the Delta isn't just a wildlife area; it's a vital water source that entire communities depend on. I also realised how important it is to distinguish between local and indigenous communities, because they have different relationships with the land,” he said.

“Without recognising those differences, conservation efforts risk overlooking the knowledge, histories, and needs of the people they aim to support."

At the Okavango Research Institute, the students learnt how researchers study the Delta’s ecology, water systems and conservation challenges. Conversations with local guides and educators added another dimension: environmental knowledge can also be built through generations of lived experience.

Safari guides, herders and community members, for example, may draw on close observation of seasonal flood patterns, animal behaviour and wildlife movement in their everyday lives.

Encountering these different perspectives underscored that understanding a landscape can require more than one way of seeing it — and that locally grounded knowledge can complement scientific research in shaping approaches to conservation.

Conservation starts with community

Another important lesson emerged from encounters with community organisations: conservation and sustainable development can also depend on whether local people have opportunities to participate and benefit.

At social enterprise Thari-E-Ntsho Storytellers, the students saw how storytelling, upcycling and cultural tourism could help preserve traditional knowledge while creating income opportunities for women, young people and informal workers.

They also encountered initiatives such as Green Horizons Network, which seeks to make environmental education more accessible and give young people opportunities to engage with conservation.

Its upcycling project, which taught women to make affordable bead-making tools and work with readily available scrap materials rather than expensive ready-made supplies, left a lasting impression on Year 1 Psychology student Ravshaan Singh.

“What stayed with me was that in Botswana, community-based work wasn’t just about generating income, it was about making participation possible. This really reflected how inclusion was intentionally built into the project,” he said.

Across their visits, the students saw a recurring emphasis on keeping initiatives accessible, locally appropriate and rooted in the communities they served.

They also learnt about the challenges such organisations face in sustaining their work over the longer term, particularly when programmes depend on donor funding. Some are therefore exploring hybrid models of combining tourism, education and community enterprises to broaden their sources of income and strengthen local ownership.

Living alongside wildlife

Perhaps one of the most immediate takeaways from the Delta experience was the everyday negotiation between human and wildlife spaces.

For instance, the students were prompted to think differently about the commonly used term “human-wildlife conflict”.

“Calling it ‘conflict’ puts blame on the animals,” said a trainer from the Botswana Wildlife Training Institute.

Rather than seeing people and animals simply as opposing forces, students were encouraged to consider their coexistence and the overlapping needs and pressures that arise when both depend on the same land and resources. The strategies used to manage these interactions vary widely, from fencing and chilli-based deterrents to reduce elephant crop damage, to compensation schemes and regulated hunting quotas.

One major approach is community-based natural resource management, which seeks to give communities a greater stake in managing and benefitting from the natural resources around them.

This challenged some of the students’ assumption that communities living close to Botswana’s wildlife would naturally want to protect it. What they encountered was far more complex — living alongside wildlife can bring costs as well as benefits, particularly when animals threaten crops, livestock or livelihoods. Conservation therefore depends not simply on an appreciation for wildlife, but also on finding ways for communities and conservation goals to coexist.

Bringing the lessons home

By the end of the journey, Botswana had given the students more questions to consider than simple answers.

For one, the students’ experiences abroad prompted them to look closer to home. While Singapore and Botswana face very different environmental circumstances, the underlying question remained similar: how can societies protect nature while taking into account the people and communities that live alongside it?

Significantly, such exchanges were made possible by a partnership that CAPT has built and sustained in Botswana for close to a decade.

Dr Toh Tai Chong, Director of Residential Life at CAPT and co-lead of its STEER programme, said: “In 2027, CAPT will mark 10 years of partnership with communities and organisations in Botswana. Their generous support over the years has enabled our students to see issues from different perspectives, deepen their understanding of Botswana, and forge lasting friendships and connections across our communities.”

But perhaps the most enduring lesson from Botswana was this: learning to see conservation not as an isolated environmental issue, but something shaped by people’s livelihoods, cultures, economic realities and relationships with the land.

Electronic skin systems are increasingly used in healthcare, robotics and wearables, but most rely on arrays of sensors connected to external electronics for signal processing and display. These designs often face limitations such as low spatial resolution, wiring complexity and inefficient signal interpretation, making intuitive real-time feedback difficult.

To address these challenges, a team led by Professor Lim Chwee Teck from the NUS Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute for Health Innovation & Technology (iHealthtech) developed a soft, ultrathin device called the “eLuminator”. The findings were published in Nature Communications on May 2026.

A new paradigm beyond conventional electronic skin

Unlike traditional electronic skins that rely on discrete sensing pixels and typically achieving less than 100 dpi (where dpi indicates how finely pressure details can be resolved within a given area), the eLuminator uses a continuous, pixel-free design. With a spatial resolution of approximately 30 µm (847 dpi), it can detect much finer pressure details, enabling high-precision tactile sensing for advanced applications.

At the core of the technology is a mechano-electroluminescent response, where applied pressure directly changes the device’s light emission. When pressure is applied, the device generates visible light patterns that map both the magnitude and shape of contact. This enables immediate and intuitive visualisation without the need for separate processing or display systems.

The high-resolution luminescent response allows fine surface features such as the ridges and valleys of fingerprintsto be clearly captured in real time, demonstrating its capability for detailed tactile imaging and potential use in biometric applications.

“This technology transforms how we interact with tactile information,” said Prof Lim. “Instead of relying on complex electronics, users can immediately see force distribution as it happens, making the process far more intuitive.”

Applications in healthcare and intelligent systems

The eLuminator shows strong potential in surgical training and healthcare monitoring, where precise force control is critical but difficult to achieve due to the lack of tactile feedback. When integrated into surgical tools, it provides real-time visual feedback on applied force, improving precision and reducing the risk of tissue damage. It can also map pressure distribution on the foot, supporting early detection of areas with high risk of foot ulcers in diabetic patients.

Beyond healthcare, the device enables more responsive human–machine interface. It supports both static and dynamic sensing, with optical feedback of around 15 milliseconds and digital readout of around 110 milliseconds, allowing force interactions to be visualised and quantified in near real-time. Its high sensitivity also enables the detection of gentle touches, which is important for robotics and prosthetics.

Soft, durable and versatile platform

The eLuminator is ultrathin, approximately 70 µm thick, and made of flexible, non-toxic materials designed to mimic the mechanical properties of human skin. It can stretch beyond 100 per cent strain and conform to curved surfaces such as the body or medical devices.

The device remains stable under repeated mechanical stress, with consistent performance demonstrated over more than 1,000 to 4,000 cycles. It also operates across a broad pressure range, from light touch to approximately 180 kPa (similar to the pressure felt when balancing a heavy textbook on a fingertip), making it suitable for diverse applications.

By combining visual and digital sensing in a single system, the eLuminator simplifies device design and enables easier integration into next-generation wearable and biomedical technologies.

Future directions

The research team is working to further improve the device’s sensitivity and reduce its power requirements, while advancing deployment in high-impact healthcare applications.

“Our focus moving forward is not just to improve the technology, but to apply it where it can make a real difference to patient care,” said Prof Lim. “By working closely with clinicians, we aim to develop solutions that improve outcomes and support better decision-making.”

“My dream is to have an app where people commute to work and watch our lifelong learning content instead of TikTok,” said the Dean of the NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education (SCALE).

Behind the light-hearted proposition is a serious challenge. Unlike undergraduates who can devote much of their time to study, adult learners juggle work, family and other commitments. In Assoc Prof Chai’s words, learning can come with considerable “friction”.

Reducing that friction — and making learning part of everyday life — is central to his vision of lifelong education. As SCALE marks its 10th anniversary, that philosophy points both to how far SCALE has come and where it hopes to go next: towards a university that learners can return to throughout their lives.

Lifelong learning in NUS’ DNA

When SCALE was established in 2016, its focus was on degree programmes for adult learners and continuing education courses. A decade later, Assoc Prof Chai sees its most significant achievement not simply in the number of programmes it runs, but in how lifelong learning has become embedded across NUS.

“The proudest achievement of SCALE is moving very quickly from the early days as simply a school that offered the Bachelor of Technology programmes and some short courses…to today, really a system enabler,” said Assoc Prof Chai, who became SCALE’s third Dean in 2025.

“We have evolved into a catalyst and an enabler [that makes] lifelong learning an integral part of NUS.”

Assoc Prof Chai credits his predecessors — Professor Wei Kwok Kee (2016–2020) and Professor Susanna Leong (2020–2025) — as well as colleagues across SCALE and NUS, for building the foundations on which the School continues to grow.

Over the decade, SCALE has supported NUS in delivering more than 130,000 training places in SkillsFuture Singapore-funded courses. The number of such courses offered by NUS grew from three in 2016 to 550 in 2025, with 14 faculties and schools participating, up from two. 

For Assoc Prof Chai, the next challenge is meeting learners where they are. He recalled engineers working in Woodlands who would charter a bus together to reach NUS for their master’s classes. Even then, getting to campus on time was difficult.

“We should not expect them to adopt the lifestyle of undergraduates and then come to university to learn from us,” he said. “We have to go to them.”

That thinking is also behind SCALE’s experimentation with bite-sized, problem-based learning inspired by microdramas. Short episodes begin with a problem, offer an answer, then end with another question to draw learners further into the subject — an attempt to fit learning more naturally into busy lives.

Learning when knowledge is everywhere

The question of what universities are for becomes more pressing as AI makes knowledge increasingly accessible.

Assoc Prof Chai has already seen that shift in his classroom. One student fed his lecture notes and recordings into an AI tool, allowing the material to be customised and condensed for listening at the gym.

“They can take your knowledge [and] customise it in whatever ways they want,” he said. “What is my value as an instructor?”

His answer is not for universities to compete with AI as repositories of information. Instead, as knowledge becomes increasingly democratised, he believes education must place greater emphasis on helping learners ask meaningful questions, exercise judgement and apply what they know.

“AI is very good when you know what you do not know,” he said. If someone already knows the question, AI can help find answers quickly. “AI is useless if you do not know what you do not know. And so this is a blind spot.”

“We need to teach our students how to identify meaningful questions,” he added.

That requires learners to empathise with stakeholders, distinguish meaningful signals from noise and develop the systems thinking needed to “see the forest, not just the trees”. Exposure to different disciplines and perspectives becomes even more valuable in developing that broader view.

Even as knowledge becomes available on demand, Assoc Prof Chai believes learning remains a human and social process. Universities bring together people with shared interests but different perspectives, creating opportunities to “discuss, debate, exchange views” — experiences that remain important in the age of AI.

Learning across a lifetime

If technology is changing how people learn, longer and more varied lives are also broadening why they learn.

Assoc Prof Chai envisages a university that people encounter repeatedly: as undergraduates, as working adults developing new capabilities or navigating career transitions, and later in life when they may have more time to pursue other interests.

“At some point when they are retired, they might then come back to the university,” he said. “They want the human touch again. They have a bit more free time. They want to reconnect and rediscover the joy of learning.”

Initiatives such as SCALE’s Joy of Learning and Distinguished Senior Fellowship programmes reflect this broader view of lifelong education — one driven not solely by employability, but also by curiosity, personal growth and contribution.

For Assoc Prof Chai, sustaining that desire to learn ultimately comes down to something deceptively simple: habit.

“For lifelong learning to happen, it has to be a habit,” he said.

He has put the idea into practice himself. For years, his default after boarding a flight was to switch on the in-flight entertainment. Then he began buying a book before flying and setting himself a goal to finish it before landing. Over time, reading became the habit and the screen increasingly stayed off.

The same principle underpins his hope for SCALE’s next decade: that learning becomes not an occasional response to disruption, but an integral part of life.

By 2036, he hopes SCALE will be a place people instinctively turn to when they want to learn — whether it already offers what they need, can develop something with them or can connect them with a trusted partner.

More fundamentally, he hopes that relationship begins from the moment students enter NUS.

“When our students join NUS as a Year 1 undergraduate, they already think about this [as] a beginning…of a long journey,” he said.

“Learning for employability, learning for growth…but also learning for fulfilment,” he added. “We think all can coexist, and can actually mutually reinforce each other.”

These questions about how people learn, work and adapt in the age of AI will take centre stage at the NUS Lifelong Learning Festival on 26 and 28 September 2026. Themed “Human in the Age of AI”, the Festival will explore the changing relationship between people and technology, and how lifelong learning can help individuals and organisations navigate a rapidly evolving world.

Driven by the rapid growth in the use of artificial intelligence (AI), electric vehicles and other advanced technologies, the global semiconductor market is projected to reach US$1.6 trillion (S$2.03 trillion) by 2030, with Singapore standing out as a critical industry hub. Backed by a trusted business environment and strong intellectual property protections, Singapore has attracted more than S$30 billion in semiconductor investments from 2022 to 2025 and today accounts for one in 10 semiconductor chips and one in five semiconductor equipment units produced globally. Building a strong pipeline of skilled future semiconductor talent will therefore be critical to meeting the industry’s increasing manpower needs and sustaining Singapore’s leadership.

The MSc STO programme is a multidisciplinary coursework programme hosted by the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the College of Design and Engineering at NUS, in collaboration with the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and the Department of Industrial Systems Engineering and Management. The programme is further enriched by NUS’ major semiconductor research initiatives, including the Singapore Hybrid-Integrated Next-Generation µ-Electronics (SHINE) Centre, which provide students with exposure to cutting-edge research and industry-relevant technologies.

Offered on both a full-time and part-time basis, the MSc STO programme equips STEM graduates and working professionals with comprehensive expertise across the semiconductor value chain, from materials and devices to manufacturing, packaging, supply chain management and strategic decision-making. Students can also pursue specialised industry pathways, including AI training combined with experiential learning. Graduates are prepared for diverse engineering and management roles across foundries, equipment suppliers, and government agencies. Through formal training and cross-disciplinary perspectives, the curriculum fosters critical thinking, technical expertise, and an awareness of industrial impacts on society.

"By combining rigorous postgraduate education with industry internships and expert mentorship, this partnership will accelerate the development of highly skilled industry-ready talent," said Professor Aaron Thean, Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Provost at NUS. "It will build talent capacities needed to power the next phase of semiconductor innovation and manufacturing, strengthening Singapore's position as a global semiconductor hub."

Micron-Applied Materials-NUS Graduate Scholarship Programme

The joint scholarships will be funded by Applied Materials and Micron. In its pilot phase, 4 local scholars will be selected annually, and they will receive tuition support for the MSc STO programme, alongside industry internships with exposure to real-world projects, and potential employment upon graduation. Following the pilot, the initiative could scale to 10 to 20 scholars per cohort and expand to other semiconductor-related programmes and university partnerships.

Joshua Lee, Corporate Vice President and Singapore Country Manager at Micron Technology, said, "At Micron, we are committed to developing Singapore's next generation of local semiconductor talent. We believe that talent is one of the most critical enablers of semiconductor advancement. By connecting academic learning with real-world industry experience, this partnership will help aspiring talent develop the expertise and skills needed to support the industry's future growth and innovation in Singapore."

“One of the biggest challenges facing our industry is not a lack of opportunities, but making sure more people can see a future for themselves in semiconductors. Through this partnership, we are giving students firsthand exposure to an industry that touches nearly every aspect of modern life, while helping them discover where their strengths can contribute to the technologies of tomorrow,” said Mr Brian Tan, Regional President, Southeast Asia, of Applied Materials.

IntelligenceX brings together leading researchers, technologists and industry leaders to explore how quantum computing and AI could open new approaches to challenges in precision medicine, logistics optimisation and scientific discovery. Mdm Rahayu Mahzam, Minister of State for Digital Development and Information, opened the conference as the Guest-of-Honour.

The programme features keynote addresses, panel discussions and hands-on tutorials in agentic AI coding and quantum computing, with participants from leading organisations across Asia, Europe and the United States, including NUS, ETH Zurich, UC Berkeley, D-Wave, IBM and NVIDIA. Technology showcases will demonstrate emerging applications combining quantum and AI technologies across sectors.

“AI has already shown us how quickly a frontier technology can move from research into everyday life. Quantum computing is at a much earlier stage, but the convergence of these technologies gives us an opportunity to think ahead,” said Associate Professor Chen Ying, President of the Society of Algorithmic Intelligence.

She added, “The next frontier will not be defined by a single technology. It will come from combining advances in AI, quantum computing and other forms of high-performance computing with deep scientific and industry knowledge. To prepare for that future, we need to work on three things at the same time: advancing the science, identifying meaningful real-world problems, and developing a new generation of talent able to bridge the two. That is what we want IntelligenceX to help catalyse”. Assoc Prof Chen is from Institute of Operations Research & Analytics, Risk Management Institute and Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science at NUS.

Global competition puts AI trading strategies to the test

A key highlight of the conference is the International AI Algorithmic Trading Hackathon, which was held in the lead-up to IntelligenceX 2026. The hackathon has attracted 45 teams from Singapore, Australia, China, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Switzerland and the United States, among others, with participants affiliated with institutions including NUS, Bocconi University, Carnegie Mellon University, EPFL, ETH Zurich, HKUST and New York University.

Using real financial data, the teams applied AI and quantitative methods to develop and test algorithmic trading strategies, challenging participants to go beyond theoretical approaches and apply emerging technologies to address a complex real-world problem. The competition also brought together participants, researchers, industry experts and international partners, providing a platform to identify promising talent, encourage cross-border exchange and seed longer-term research and innovation collaborations.

Team Mushroom emerged as the top-performing team, with meloilz and Team Ember taking second and third place respectively. The three teams received their prizes at the IntelligenceX Opening Ceremony.

Taking Quantum × AI from research towards application

The conference builds on a broader NUS effort to move Quantum × AI from research towards practical adoption. Central to this effort is the NUS Integrated Quantum & AI Computing Consortium, launched in January 2026 to bring together researchers, industry partners and government agencies to identify and develop real-world applications at the intersection of quantum computing and AI.

The Consortium now includes six members – PCS Security, Singapore Airlines, STTGDC, ST Engineering, the Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) and the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS) – working together to build a pipeline of quantum- and AI-ready talent, and explore potential applications of the technologies. Members tap NUS' multidisciplinary expertise and participate in hands-on workshops using open-source quantum computing tools to explore potential use cases. The Consortium is also developing an executive quantum-readiness programme to help industry leaders assess how their organisations can prepare for the adoption of quantum and AI technologies.

IntelligenceX 2026 is designed to go beyond a single event, creating sustained connections between researchers, industry and government that can drive long-term collaboration in quantum computing and AI. The full conference programme is available at https://www.soc-ai.org/events/intelligencex-2026.

The researchers base their claim on measurements showing that their atomic clock, built from the element lutetium, outperforms previous record holders built from different elements.

More accurate clocks hold promise to probe unknowns in fundamental physics and monitor gravitational changes across the Earth – and they are vying to redefine the second.

Pushing the limits of timekeeping

Atomic clocks keep time with reference to an atomic transition, when one of the atom’s electrons swaps energy levels. The frequency of this transition is a fixed property of the atom. A laser is matched to this ‘clock transition’, and the light oscillations act like a pendulum to count time.

The basic method has been in place for decades. Caesium atoms have set the global standard for time since the 1960, and caesium atomic clocks already support the Global Positioning System (GPS) and synchronise communication and transport networks.

But scientists have been pushing the limits of timekeeping with other elements.

Elements such as recent record-holders ytterbium, strontium and aluminium oscillate much faster than caesium, helping them to keep time more accurately. The international body responsible for time standards is considering data from such new optical atomic clocks towards a redefinition of the second expected in or after 2030.

The CQT team started working with lutetium over a decade ago on the hunch that it had the right properties to join the set of top-performing clocks. The team, to its knowledge, is the only group working with this element for timekeeping so far.

Now, the team has measured the frequency of their lutetium clock to 19 decimal places, reporting an uncertainty of 1 x 10^-19 which is the lowest reported for any optical atomic clock to date. They also built two clocks and compared their ticking to each other. The clocks agreed to an uncertainty of 5.7 x 10^-19, which is the most precise clock comparison ever made. More measurements could reduce that uncertainty further.

Lutetium’s advantage

Lutetium’s strong performance comes from properties of the atom: its clock transition hardly feels changes in temperature or magnetic field. In other elements, these environmental factors can gently vary the frequency of the clock transition.

“In the future, I just don’t see how this clock can be beat,” says Associate Professor Barrett. His team has done over a decade of precision engineering on their atomic clock setup, testing different properties of the atom. That work included inventing a scheme called ‘hyperfine averaging’ to define the clock transition.

“The good properties mean that high accuracy can be achieved even in a wide range of environments,” says Associate Professor Barrett. “The lutetium clock would be stable even if you went from the hottest place recorded on Earth in Death Valley to the coldest place in the Antarctic plateau.”

Two is better than one

The team’s confidence is bolstered by their clock comparison, carried out using a technique known as correlation spectroscopy over 200 hours of measurement.

Each lutetium clock consists of a single charged ¹⁷⁶Lu+ ion having a clock transition matched to a laser with wavelength of 848 nanometers.

“There is a humorous saying that ‘A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure,’” says Dr Kyle Arnold, a Senior Research Scientist from CQT at NUS and joint first author on the paper. “It basically tells you that the only way to test the accuracy of a standard is to compare clocks and demonstrate reproducibility.”

Ideally, the team would also compare their lutetium clock to the world’s other best atomic clocks, but there’s a challenge. Optical atomic clocks at the 10^-19 level are so precise they can feel the slowing down of time by gravity over height differences of millimetres. The CQT team’s comparison measurement could resolve a 5mm height difference between their clocks on the same table. To ensure that this did not limit their measurement, they independently measured the height difference of the Lu+ ions below the millimetre level. Differences in gravity between different places on Earth are not yet known well enough to compare clocks at this level.

To enable new comparisons and explore future applications, the clock should come out of the lab. “The next step is to take the lab-scale clock and miniaturise it into a transportable system,” says Mr Michael Lee, joint first author on the paper and a PhD student on the NUS team. The researchers expect they can make their clock smaller without compromising the accuracy.

An alumnus of the NUS Business School, Mr Hsieh first joined the University’s Council in 2003 and continued to serve on its Board of Trustees from 2006 to 2012. In 2017, he returned to helm the Board as Chairman.

Stewardship across a decade of change

Mr Hsieh, working closely with NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye and his leadership team, has guided the growth of Singapore’s largest university. Under his stewardship, NUS launched many initiatives to develop future-ready graduates, enhance research impact and deepen partnerships with industry and community. These included major educational reforms to promote interdisciplinary and lifelong learning, as well as the creation of new research platforms in areas of strategic importance to Singapore.

During Mr Hsieh’s tenure, NUS significantly expanded interdisciplinary education through the establishment of the College of Humanities and Sciences, College of Design and Engineering, and NUS College. He also placed strong emphasis on student life to support students’ holistic growth beyond academics.

Mr Hsieh’s contributions have helped NUS for the longer term. He encouraged the University leadership to push boundaries and set higher standards in the quest for excellence. Together with the Board and Management, he also saw the University through major challenges and worked to build resilience, grow talent, groom leadership and ensure continued financial and campus climate sustainability.

Above all, Mr Hsieh believes that NUS, as a leading global university, should be anchored in its Asian context and values: one that is deeply connected to its community and nation, and committed to fostering common ground in an increasingly fractured world.

Mr Hsieh said, "It has been most meaningful serving NUS through much of the time it became autonomous since 2006. I was brought in by Dr Cheong Choong Kong, served under Dr Wong Ngit Liong and later took over the baton from him. Having fulfilled my part, it is my privilege now to hand over to Mr Leo Yip who will undoubtedly steward NUS much farther ahead."
 

Sustaining growth and deepening impact

Mr Leo Yip is currently Deputy Chairman of the NUS Board of Trustees, a position he was appointed to in April 2026. He brings to the role more than four decades of distinguished public service and leadership, making significant contributions to, among others, Singapore’s economic development, national security, as well as public-sector transformation and capability-building.

Mr Yip served as Head of Civil Service from 2017 to 2026, where he played a key role in driving transformation across Singapore’s Public Service and leading its collective response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the years he had served in various police appointments, as well as Principal Private Secretary to then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Manpower; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs; and Permanent Secretary, Prime Minister’s Office. He was the founding Chief Executive of the then Singapore Workforce Development Agency in 2003 and also served as Chairman of the Economic Development Board from 2009 to 2014.

Mr Yip said, “I am deeply honoured to be appointed Chairman of the NUS Board of Trustees. Fu Hua has set an exceptional standard of leadership, stewardship and dedicated service, steering the university to become the globally leading institution it is today. I look forward to building on this strong foundation together with the Board, faculty, staff, and students, for NUS to grow in impact and in service of Singapore in its next phase of development.”

NUS President Professor Tan Eng Chye shared, "We are deeply grateful to Mr Hsieh Fu Hua for his visionary leadership and dedication to NUS. His emphasis on cultivating our distinctive identity while pursuing excellence has fundamentally shaped who we are today. We warmly welcome Mr Leo Yip as our new Chairman. His wealth of experience in public service, strategic acumen and deep commitment to developing people and institutions will be instrumental in shaping NUS’ next chapter.”

Commenting on the leadership succession, Minister for Education Mr Desmond Lee said, “Mr Hsieh Fu Hua’s deep commitment to advancing education, learning, and research has been instrumental to NUS’ growth as a world-class university, and in enriching our higher education sector. I thank Mr Hsieh for his dedication and service across his decade-long tenure, during which he provided thoughtful stewardship as NUS strengthened its educational offerings, advanced research excellence, and expanded its contributions to Singapore and the world. I look forward to working with Mr Leo Yip as the incoming Chairman and am confident that he will continue to steer NUS towards greater heights.”

Years later, Yoga found himself returning to the same story from a different perspective. He became a researcher on the Child Health and Migrant Parents in Southeast Asia (CHAMPSEA) project in the Migration and Mobilities cluster at NUS’ Asia Research Institute (ARI), the Institute’s longest-running research study, which investigates how long-term parental migration affects children left behind.

Having grown up as a “left-behind child” himself, he now works alongside researchers who study families like his own.

Yoga’s journey captures a distinctiveness about ARI’s work over the past 25 years – that research on Asia can extend beyond academic papers to changing the lives of the people whose stories make that research possible.

Set up in 2001, ARI was founded to bring scholars and researchers from around the world to Singapore to study the Asian region.

“ARI was one of the first institutions within the University to have a very robust visiting academic scholars’ programme, established since our founding in 2001,” said Associate Professor Maitrii Aung-Thwin, Deputy Director of ARI. “It was a testing ground for the type of international interaction that other units of the University would start to develop as well.”

Over the years, ARI has expanded beyond its strong base of faculty comprising primarily experts from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences to bring together researchers from across NUS, including from fields like law and architecture.

Its network also now extends beyond NUS, connecting researchers from Singapore, Asia and around the world. “By opening our doors to international scholars, we are strengthening the broader research ecosystem of Southeast Asia,” said Professor Vineeta Sinha, Director of ARI.

More than a revolving door for researchers

A longstanding practice of joint appointments between NUS faculties and ARI has provided stability for the Institute. “By nature, people come and people go at ARI. But we’ve also built a critical mass of faculty members from NUS who have a presence at ARI and are connected to it,” said Prof Sinha.

These established scholars mentor the next generation through initiatives such as the Singapore Graduate Forum, where graduate students and recent PhD recipients spend a month acquiring knowledge and skills before presenting their research at a two-week forum.

Many participants have gone on to build successful careers. One of them is Dr Darshana Sreedhar Mini, who attended and presented at the Forum in 2018 while she was a PhD student at the University of Southern California. Today, she is a tenured associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has since returned to ARI while she writes her next book.

Another alumnus, Dr Biao Xiang, joined ARI as a postdoctoral fellow before teaching at the University of Oxford, and later becoming Director of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Germany – one of the world’s leading centres for the discipline. “He’s taken the ARI model, the ARI influence, and gone off to build it in his own institute,” said Assoc Prof Aung-Thwin.

ARI is now extending its support to post-doctoral scholars by equipping them with the professional skills they need when they enter their respective fields, whether as researchers or in non-academic careers in the public or private sectors.

One initiative is the newly launched ARI-Luce Collaboratory, funded by the New York-based Henry Luce Foundation. Piloted this year as a two-week programme, it combines skills training, a writing residency and networking – allowing early-career scholars from North America and Asia to learn from and network with senior researchers. “After one gets one’s PhD, there’s still a lot of room to grow, and what a better place to grow than at ARI with a fantastic community of scholars,” Assoc Prof Aung-Thwin added.

Creating real-world relevance and impact

With an eye to delivering tangible impact and studying topics with real-world relevance – such as Asian urbanism, religion and food politics – ARI recognises that academic domains should not work in silos.

To facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, ARI structures itself around clusters, bringing experts from different departments together around a common theme. “By combining different lenses and methods from across disciplines and faculties, I think ARI is able to holistically and comprehensively address some of the most compelling crises that we face,” said Prof Sinha.

The Transnational Relations, Ageing and Care Ethics (TRACE) project, for instance, brought together geographers, sociologists and anthropologists to study the challenges of ageing populations. The researchers have also engaged policymakers in Singapore to share their research insights. “It actually produced knowledge that can shape how we develop meaningful, impactful and effective practices of elder care,” said Assoc Prof Aung-Thwin.

The reach of ARI’s research extends beyond the academic field to across the region and closer to home. The Climate Governance of Nature-Based Carbon Sinks (CGSEA) project in the Science, Technology and Society cluster, running since 2022, studies how mangroves and peatlands across Indonesia and Malaysia are managed amid climate change – work that has direct relevance to environmental planning across Southeast Asia’s coastlines. Closer to home, ARI helped digitise more than 72,000 burial records at Bukit Brown Cemetery between 2017 and 2018, creating what Prof Sinha calls “a kind of genealogy for Singapore”.

ARI’s research structure has evolved over time. Beyond its six clusters, it now runs four strategic research programmes – the Muhammad Alagil Distinguished Professorship in Arabia Asia Studies, the Asian Peace Programme, the DIJ-ARI Infrastructures Research Partnership and the Nalanda Professorship in India-China Studies – expanding into new thematic and regional territory, with the work guided by a shift toward “decolonising knowledge production” that moves beyond research on Asia toward research grounded in Asian perspectives, noted Prof Sinha.

One example is the Arabia Asia Archives, launched in August to digitise rare and indigenous-language texts long excluded from colonial archives, connecting communities from Indonesia to Yemen.

Breaking borders around research

For Prof Sinha, more than half her time since taking on the directorship of ARI in January has been spent building international partnerships to strengthen ARI’s role as an incubator and accelerator for research – one that external bodies increasingly approach to seek new areas for research collaborations.

A recent success is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) inked with Hyundai Motor Chung Mong-Koo Foundation, making ARI part of a consortium of universities and research institutions in Asia, including Korea University’s own Asiatic Research Institute, to focus on developing talent, internships, and conferences to build Korea-ASEAN relations. “These partnerships are valuable because they allow us to scale up the research,” she said.

As ARI celebrates its 25th anniversary, Assoc Prof Aung-Thwin emphasises the need to deepen integration with ASEAN and Central Asia, continue innovating its research on how societies cope with a constantly evolving world, and make sense of diverse social infrastructures in Asian societies.

None of these, the pair agrees, would have been possible without the people behind the scenes. “These people are the ones who make ARI work,” noted Prof Sinha of ARI’s administrative staff, who she says have worked with passion and professionalism since ARI’s earliest days. Assoc Prof Aung-Thwin agreed. “Some have been here since the beginning, and they are the tissue that connects the different generations of ARI scholars.”

Twenty-five years on, it is that same spirit of connection between people, disciplines and countries that ARI hopes to carry into its future.

NIMOS is established by NParks and hosted at NUS, with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) as a partner institution, and St John’s Island National Marine Laboratory as a key national facility. It brings together expertise across universities, research institutes and public agencies to address how Singapore can develop management and conservation strategies for marine ecosystems, advance Singapore’s blue economy, build local talent, and establish Singapore as a regional thought leader in marine science.

“As marine environmental challenges in Singapore and the region become increasingly complex – crossing disciplines, sectors, geographies and national boundaries – research and innovation must keep pace to deliver the knowledge and solutions needed to address them. NIMOS, hosted at NUS, brings together universities, research institutes, government agencies and partners across the region to align our research priorities, deepen Singapore’s marine science capabilities, and develop practical solutions that support both environmental resilience and sustainable growth,” said Associate Professor Huang Danwei, Director of NIMOS and Deputy Head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS.

NIMOS builds on earlier and existing national marine science efforts, including the Marine Science Research and Development Programme (MSRDP) managed by NUS and the Marine Climate Change Science Programme (MCCS) led by NParks. These programmes established important scientific baselines and research capabilities; NIMOS will consolidate and expand this foundation into a coordinated national platform with a stronger focus on interdisciplinary solutions, talent development and regional leadership.

The launch was also part of NUS Sustainability CONNECT, the University’s flagship sustainability festival.

A whole-of-coast approach to conservation

NIMOS will take a whole-of-coast approach, which involves studying and managing an entire coastal sea space as an interconnected system, to address complex marine challenges with research projects expected to be inter- and trans-disciplinary, bringing together academic and non-academic experts, and across various marine ecosystems.

NIMOS will focus on research areas comprising biodiversity and nature, environment and climate, and ecosystem resilience, with technology being harnessed across research projects. NIMOS’ key strategic priorities include:

1. Developing targeted and effective management and conservation strategies

NIMOS will develop adaptive management tools and science-based approaches that enable marine ecosystems to withstand multiple stressors while continuing to provide essential ecosystem services. This includes developing predictive models for ecosystem tipping points, enhancing habitat resilience with restoration guidelines tailored for the local environment, and creating monitoring frameworks that can detect early warning signals of ecosystem degradation.

2. Deliver inter- and trans-disciplinary solutions to advance Singapore’s blue economy

NIMOS will undertake marine science research that can guide the optimisation and management of Singapore’s sea space. This includes studying how much activity, such as aquaculture and recreation, Singapore’s waters can sustainably support. NIMOS aims to develop inter- and transdisciplinary solutions to balance economic productivity with ecological resilience, ensuring that marine and coastal resources can scale and sustain Singapore’s blue economy – the sustainable use of marine resources for economic growth.

3. Building local talent and capabilities

NIMOS will focus on developing a robust pipeline of local talent that can help build capabilities across academia, industry, and government, ensuring Singapore has the capabilities needed to address complex marine environmental challenges.

4. Establishing Singapore as a regional thought leader in marine science

NIMOS aims to establish Singapore as a regional thought leader in marine science, by consolidating capabilities from key regional institutions and fostering partnerships across Southeast Asia. Building these meaningful regional partnerships can also enable data sharing and comparative assessments of marine health, across Southeast Asia. This would strengthen Singapore’s resilience against complex global marine challenges

Boosting resources for research and talent development

The S$60 million funding for NIMOS under the Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030 Plan (RIE2030) will support research, training and capability building.

Over the next 10 years, the institute will offer up to 12 PhD Research Scholarships for Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents, supporting the growth of local expertise for academia, government and industry. NUS has also committed 10 additional PhD Research Scholarships for NIMOS projects.

NIMOS’ research projects will also create internship and training attachment opportunities for undergraduate and polytechnic students in marine science laboratories across institutes of higher learning.

Bringing the research community together to accelerate discovery

NIMOS will begin operating as a virtual institute, enabling research collaborations to start immediately while longer-term facilities are being developed. The future space will house the NIMOS staff, NUS researchers and collaborators working on NIMOS projects. Its permanent home on NUS campus is expected to include wet science laboratory facilities and collaborative office space for project teams.

To strengthen coordination across the marine science community, NIMOS will also convene the inaugural Singapore Annual Symposium for Marine and Ocean Sciences in 2027. The symposium will serve as a national platform for researchers, policymakers, industry partners and public agencies to share findings, identify emerging priorities and accelerate the translation of marine science into coastal planning, ecosystem management and climate resilience.

Strengthening Singapore’s regional role in marine science

NIMOS will also deepen Singapore’s regional and international marine science partnerships. These collaborations will support data sharing, comparative assessments of marine health and joint research on transboundary issues such as ecosystem connectivity, marine pollution, ocean warming and biodiversity loss. The Institute will build on existing research ties with various institutions worldwide, including those in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, and engage a regional network of institutions in Southeast Asia.

The first such agreement between NUS and an Indian state government, the MOU was signed during a two-day series of engagements in Chennai from 28 to 29 August 2026. Spanning industry, government, academia and prospective students, the programme also included an Industry Networking Session and the inaugural NUS Postgraduate Fair.

Organised by NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education, the Chennai engagements are part of NUS’ broader efforts to build sustained international partnerships and create more opportunities for students, researchers, industry and institutions to exchange knowledge, develop capabilities and collaborate across borders.

Bridging academia and industry

The Industry Networking Session on 28 August brought together senior representatives from NUS, the Tamil Nadu Government and industry to exchange perspectives on emerging industry and talent needs; and explore opportunities for closer collaboration in areas such as talent development, knowledge exchange and innovation.

“India presents opportunities and challenges that are often very different from those we encounter in Singapore. Its scale and diversity expose us to a rich range of perspectives, possibilities, and complex realities. A great university should not only export its ideas but also learn from different contexts that broaden the questions we ask and challenge how we think. I would therefore welcome deeper intellectual connections between NUS and Tamil Nadu - not only to contribute, but also to learn,” said Professor Wong Lim Soon, Acting Dean of the NUS Graduate School.

Expanding knowledge exchange

NUS and Guidance Tamil Nadu signed a first-of-its-kind three-year MOU on 29 August to deepen cooperation in postgraduate education, talent development and knowledge exchange.

The agreement creates opportunities for government agencies, industry and universities in Tamil Nadu to explore collaborations with NUS in areas including student exchanges, industry-linked projects, immersion programmes, masterclasses and seminars. It also provides a framework to explore scholarship and co-funding arrangements that could support postgraduate and doctoral education and exchange between NUS and Tamil Nadu.

“Our partnership with Guidance Tamil Nadu gives us a platform to build deeper and more sustained connections in postgraduate education and knowledge exchange. By creating more opportunities for students, educators and institutions to learn from and work with one another, we hope to develop talent with the knowledge, networks and perspectives to contribute across India, Singapore and the wider region,” said Professor Ang Wee Han, Acting Vice Provost (Masters’ Programmes and Lifelong Education) at NUS.

Showcasing postgraduate opportunities

The engagements culminated in the inaugural NUS Postgraduate Fair 2026 in Chennai, which brought together 14 NUS Colleges, Schools and Faculties to showcase postgraduate education opportunities across the University.

More than 3,500 prospective students and accompanying guests turned up on the day, reflecting strong interest in NUS’ postgraduate programmes and opportunities for advanced study in Singapore.
 

By NUS School of Continuing and Lifelong Education

The NUS–Lancet Pandemic Readiness through Institutions, Mobilising Communities and Equity (PRIME) Commission launched its report, “Transforming Pandemic Readiness for Equity”, on 21 September 2026 at Instituto Cervantes, New York, during the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week. The launch advances a broader approach to pandemic readiness that focuses on how pandemic readiness can better incorporate equity, whole-of-society action and the protection of communities.

Professor Teo Yik Ying, NUS Vice President (Global Health) and Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, participated as a panellist at the launch. He is also a member of the NUS–Lancet PRIME Commission and a co-author of the report.

Based on the report’s findings, the Commission advised that conventional measures of pandemic preparedness — including surveillance, laboratories, stockpiles and emergency plans — remain essential, but do not by themselves guarantee protection when systems come under pressure. Instead, it defines pandemic readiness as a whole-of-society capacity to prevent, prepare for, respond to, recover from and redress the effects of pandemics while protecting people's wellbeing.

From preparedness on paper to protection in practice

The report draws on research across 20 countries, engaging stakeholder from government, civil society and the private sector, as well as six evidence reviews, future scenarios and epidemiological modelling. It brought together expertise spanning infectious diseases, health emergencies, health systems, governance, social protection and community engagement.

Its findings point to five systemic vulnerabilities that can leave communities unprotected during crises: (1) insecurity in basic needs; (2) housing insecurity and crowding; (3) administrative exclusion from healthcare and social protection; (4) distrust of institutions and health information; and (5) fragile health and social systems. The Commission calls for attention to the systems that create vulnerability, rather than labelling particular groups as “vulnerable”.

The Commission’s modelling of a hypothetical future influenza A pandemic found that rapid vaccine development could reduce deaths by 59 per cent, from 58.5 million to 23.9 million, even under scenarios where countries with greater purchasing power received vaccines first. Population-based vaccine allocation could further avert 2.7 million deaths, particularly in middle-income countries, while measures to improve vaccine confidence could save another 1.9 million lives.

Singapore’s efforts and NUS leadership for global pandemic readiness

Established by NUS and The Lancet, PRIME reframes pandemic readiness around the equitable protection of all people before, during and after a crisis. It offers countries 10 priority areas for planning, six Foundational Blocks to build readiness, and a PRIME Test to assess whether policies and investments will actually protect people in practice.

NUS has played a central role in convening this international effort. In January 2026, the Asia Centre for Health Security, headquartered at NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, hosted a PRIME Commission meeting at NUS involving representatives from 22 countries. NUS researchers are also represented in the Commission’s scientific coordination group, and they will be part of the leadership driving the international partnership on implementation of the report’s recommendations.

Prof Teo shared, “For NUS to partner The Lancet on the PRIME Commission reflects strong global recognition of NUS’ leadership in global health. The Commission’s recommendations are intended to ensure that countries focus not only on strengthening technical capabilities, but also on investing in the social and community infrastructure necessary to provide genuine protection for their populations. More importantly, the Commission proposed a practical framework to address systemic weaknesses and, in so doing, help prevent the unnecessary loss of millions of lives worldwide.”

Explaining the relevance of the findings to Singapore, Prof Teo shared that the report builds on existing strengths in disease surveillance, laboratory testing, healthcare delivery and emergency coordination by examining whether these systems continue to protect people under prolonged pressure.

Singapore entered the COVID-19 pandemic with strong capabilities in disease detection, laboratories, and contact tracing, but the crisis underscored the importance of translating technical preparedness into systems that protect people in practice. The country’s experience showed how pandemic readiness extends beyond healthcare: wage support and business continuity measures helped protect livelihoods and made public health measures more sustainable, while collaboration among government, scientific and community stakeholders supported service delivery and public communication.

Rather than replacing Singapore’s existing disease-agnostic, modular pandemic preparedness framework, the PRIME Test could complement it by stress-testing whether measures protect health, livelihoods and wellbeing; reach people facing financial, administrative, housing or digital barriers; incorporate the perspectives of affected communities and frontline stakeholders; and anticipate consequences across healthcare, social services, businesses and families. Applying these questions to different pandemic scenarios could help determine whether measures remain feasible, trusted and equitable under pressure.

Prof Teo cited Singapore’s response to the COVID-19 outbreak in migrant worker dormitories, where authorities worked with migrant worker leaders to build trust, as an example of involving the communities being protected. He also highlighted transparent communication and trust as foundations that need to be built before a crisis, rather than only during one.

Turning recommendations into action

To translate its findings into practice, PRIME proposes 10 integrated recommendations, six “Foundational Blocks” and a “PRIME Test” to assess whether policies, plans and investments protect wellbeing, advance equity, strengthen trust and voice, and anticipate effects across systems.

The report is intended as a first step. Through the proposed PRIME Collective — a global platform for collaboration, shared learning and implementation — the Commission plans to work with countries and communities to apply the PRIME Test, adapt its approach to different contexts, develop practical implementation plans and measurable indicators, and support continued learning and accountability.

The next phase is about moving “from paper to action”, with NUS continuing in a leadership role as PRIME moves into implementation.

Please refer to the full NUS-LANCET PRIME Commission report here.

Speaking at the Kent Ridge Ministerial Forum (KRMF) 2026, Mr Ong urged young people to remain confident about Singapore’s economic prospects, tap on the support available to them and focus on building expertise for the long term. He also called on employers to help cool an escalating hiring “arms race” by looking beyond grades and internship counts to recognise candidates’ potential and broader life experiences.

Organised by the NUS Students’ Political Association (NUSPA) at the University Cultural Centre, the event on 7 September 2026 drew about 250 students from various tertiary institutions across Singapore.

The “arms race” and “broken ladder syndrome”

Mr Ong acknowledged the anxieties facing graduates today: some are stacking multiple internships and sending out hundreds of CVs, only to find themselves screened by AI before they meet a human recruiter.

Citing the Graduate Employment Survey data, Mr Ong noted that the proportion of graduates who secured employment within six months of graduation had declined from about 93 per cent in 2023 to 89 per cent in 2025, reflecting a more competitive job market. But attributing this simply to AI, he cautioned, would be an oversimplification.

When he graduated in the 1990s, about one in five students made it to university. Today, it is one in two. While lauding the greater access to higher education for Singaporeans, he noted, “A degree remains valuable, but it distinguishes you less than before.”

This is why, in addition to grades, employers now look at internship experience to distinguish among applicants, he added.

This can create a self-reinforcing loop: as students accumulate more internships and credentials to stand out, employers look for further ways to differentiate candidates, prompting students to do more, in what Mr Ong described as a hiring “arms race”.

AI is adding another dimension. By automating some of the structured, routine tasks traditionally performed by new hires, it may raise the baseline expectations placed on fresh graduates. Mr Ong called this the “broken ladder syndrome”: the career ladder remains, but some of its lower rungs are being automated, requiring new hires to take a bigger first step.

He cautioned that employers should pay attention to the implications, as these early-career tasks have traditionally helped young workers learn the ropes and build professional competencies.

The biggest competitive edge

Against this backdrop, Mr Ong encouraged graduates to focus on building mastery, with genuine expertise becoming more valuable than ever before.

“This means finding an area that you care about, going deep into the craft, and working at it for the long haul,” he advised. “It may or may not be the course that you are studying, but you have to find something you are prepared to invest in and go through some difficulty learning it.”

“A mastery of your craft will define you as a professional and become your biggest competitive edge…mastery is what sets you apart and will be more valuable than before.”

On this note, Mr Ong also encouraged graduates to keep an open mind about their first job, even if it does not tick every box. Early in one’s career, he said, the opportunity to learn and build a strong foundation should weigh heavily alongside considerations such as salary and work-life balance.

“Your first job is a starting point, not a settling point,” he said, adding that an imperfect opportunity could still provide a platform from which to build towards longer-term goals.

Fortunately, graduates have a strong, ever-evolving support system to tap on. Mr Ong noted that Singapore’s tertiary institutions have continued to update their curricula with industry input, incorporate more real-world and interdisciplinary teaching, and build data and AI fluency among students. University career offices are also playing an active role in connecting graduates with employment opportunities.

At the same time, the wider employment ecosystem is stepping up, with career fairs connecting graduates directly with employers. The new Skills and Workforce Development Agency is also expanding support for job seekers through career guidance, job matching and training.

With these pillars in place, graduates should reconsider the efficiency of sending out hundreds of CVs. Instead, they should focus on industries, roles and organisations that genuinely interest them.

But easing the pressure on graduates is not their responsibility alone — employers also play an important role in preventing hiring from becoming an ever-escalating “arms race”.

Without lowering hiring standards, employers could look more holistically at candidates and recognise experiences beyond conventional measures such as grades and internships, he said. Competitive sport, the arts, volunteering, caregiving and other life experiences can reveal qualities such as resilience, initiative, discipline, empathy and work ethic.

A dynamic economy, not a declining one

While acknowledging the uncertainty created by AI and a more competitive employment landscape, Mr Ong urged young people to remain confident about the future.

Pointing to continued investment by multinational and local companies, as well as major infrastructure projects, he said Singapore remained competitive, continued to attract investment and was still creating jobs.

His conversations with people across different professions also suggested that, for now, AI is more often replacing specific tasks than entire jobs. In other words, it is reshaping work and, in some cases, enabling people to do more.

This is reason for optimism. Borrowing a Gen Z expression for being doomed, he drew laughter when he told the students: “So you are not cooked.”

Ultimately, navigating uncertainty is about focusing on what one could do in the present, he said: seizing opportunities, continuing to learn and investing in mastery.

Nearby, his 80-year-old friend would similarly sell tissues for a few hours a day to support his wife with dementia and his daughter, despite his poor health — up until his recent passing. Their stories are a reminder of the harsh realities faced by those on the margins of Singapore’s bustling metropolis.

Dr Kevin Tan, a cultural anthropologist and lecturer at the NUS Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre (CTPCLC), describes individuals like Tommy and his friend as members of the "precariat".

“The precariat — a blend of ‘precarious’ and ‘proletariat’ — describes someone who copes with life day by day, but is just one crisis away from falling through the cracks,” explained Dr Tan. “If Tommy falls and gets hurt, he cannot turn up at the temple entrance for weeks. That means income lost. It is a constant struggle.”

For months, Dr Tan and Ms Kuah Ting Ting, an instructor at CTPCLC, conducted field research on Waterloo Street. They found that, beyond being a religious urban enclave, the area served as a sanctuary for a vulnerable community: older, lower-income individuals who often navigate physical disabilities and constrained circumstances.

“As prosperous as we have become as a nation, we must remember that many are still struggling,” noted Dr Tan. “While policymakers and social services are doing what they can, our contribution as educators and academics is to go to the ground, gather these personal narratives and share the realities of people’s lives. Hopefully, this reaches those who can drive meaningful change in decision-making.”

Furthermore, such research is crucial for education. By bringing real-world context to class, educators can humanise the curriculum, helping students understand the visceral realities of poverty and marginalisation. This cannot be taught from textbooks alone.

15 years of nurturing community leaders

The intersection of academic research and on-the-ground community engagement is at the heart of the work at CTPCLC. Established with a generous donation from Dr Chua Thian Poh, Founder and Executive Chairman of Ho Bee Land, the Centre nurtures Singapore’s next generation of community leaders.

Now in its 15^th year, the Centre's work spans education, research and community partnerships, giving students opportunities to apply what they learn to real-world social issues. Many graduates of the programme join the social sector or initiate ground-up community projects, creating a ripple effect of positive change.

Giving youths a voice through applied research

The strong alumni ecosystem at CTPCLC has been instrumental in driving community development research and collaboration. A connection made by a CTPCLC alumna led to a year-long research practicum with =DREAMS Singapore, a first-of-its-kind weekday boarding programme for children from under-resourced backgrounds.

Working closely with =DREAMS Singapore’s Executive Director Ms Juliet Tanuwira and her team, four NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences graduates who are also CTPCLC fellows — Ang Wei Cai, Christine Devina Wibisono, Edice Koh Ying En and Megan Wang May-En — were tasked with evaluating the programme's holistic impact from the perspective of its scholars.

Conducting focus groups with teenagers after a long school day called for empathy and creativity. To keep the youths engaged, the NUS team used interactive tools like laminated cards and worksheets, allowing the scholars to physically rank programmes and comfortably share their thoughts.

The experience was profoundly transformative. For Edice, a Social Work major, the project underscored that research is a "precious mode of communication" meant to be shared. “Sharing our findings with the scholars and staff brought honest conversations and validation. It emphasised the importance of involving the community in our research,” she said.

Wei Cai, a Chinese Studies major, learnt the value of adaptability. “It is always important to either have a contingency plan or be able to improvise on the ground to achieve your objectives,” he said.

Translating their findings into action, the team provided =DREAMS Singapore with practical recommendations, including structuring family bonding sessions to better bridge residential and home life, and tailoring mandatory tuition at the boarding to student performance to better balance academic rigour with students’ individual strengths and learning needs. They also designed an annual survey that can help =DREAMS Singapore track the programme's long-term impact.

“The CTPCLC students offered a valuable opportunity to gain an independent snapshot of our scholars' well-being and experience,” said Ms Tanuwira.

Beyond the research, she noted the partnership's broader impact: “Supporting under-resourced youths is one part of our work; another is to galvanise young people with greater access to opportunities to support their less-resourced peers.”

Ultimately, she hopes this inspires a culture where youths actively use their voices to uplift one another.

Multiplying impact

Noting how the project encapsulates the core educational goals of CTPCLC, CTPCLC instructor Ms Kuah, who supervised the practicum, said she hoped the students had gained the ability to apply classroom theories to diverse, real-world contexts.

"Impact is not just about the time or money invested in the community space, though both are important resources. Impact is also about action driven by critical thought, backed by research and rooted in learning to build trust with stakeholders. This is a skill that will serve these future leaders well," she said.

As a culmination of their efforts, students will present their work and share their experiences at the annual CTPCLC Symposium on 19 September, alongside their peers and alumni who continue to co-create a more inclusive, compassionate and resilient Singapore.

This story is part one of a two-part series about the Chua Thian Poh Community Leadership Centre at NUS, as it celebrates the 15^th anniversary of its programme this year. Read part two, “From knowing to doing: NUS academics and students drive impact through community research”, here.

“If the rule of law is judged by what it delivers, it cannot ever be regarded as a finished achievement,” said Chief Justice Menon, addressing an audience of about 160 practitioners, policymakers, academics and researchers, students and members of the public at NUS Law on 2 September 2026.

“When changing conditions threaten the legal system’s capacity to deliver justice, certainty, equality and trust, our understanding of what the rule of law requires must evolve in response.”

Hosted by NUS Law’s Centre for Asian Legal Studies (CALS), the hour-long lecture, titled “Evolving Conceptions of the Rule of Law: The Singapore Experience”, was held as part of NUS Law’s commemoration of 200 years of Singapore’s modern legal system, a milestone that dates to the Second Charter of Justice in 1826.

Evolving with the times

Chief Justice Menon traced how Singapore’s legal institutions developed in response to practical needs, from establishing a common and ascertainable body of law and building an independent, effective judiciary, to strengthening accountability and equality before the law.

The legal order has never been static. “Enduring principles may require new expression as the community and the circumstances they serve change,” he said.

He cited the repeal of Section 377A as an example of how law may need to respond as societal values and norms change, while enduring principles remain. He also highlighted four contemporary challenges that could threaten the rule of law’s ability to deliver justice: growing complexity and escalating legal costs; borderless problems such as climate change; pressures on the sustainability of legal practice; and generative AI.

On AI, Chief Justice Menon said it could make the work of lawyers and judges more efficient, but it might also erode trust if used without care.

“The critical distinction is between assistance and responsibility,” he said. AI may assist with identifying, organising and testing material and research. However, “the judge must remain responsible for the decision, the lawyer for the submission, and the institution for the system it chooses to deploy”.

The role of universities and future lawyers

The final part of the lecture was devoted to the people who will help sustain and shape the legal system — lawyers, academics and students — highlighting the responsibilities that each carries in renewing the rule of law.

He said academics contribute by bringing theoretical and doctrinal discipline, analytical rigour and comparative perspectives to the work of judges and advocates, pointing to the work of the Asian Business Law Institute where academics have collaborated with judges and practitioners to develop principles and frameworks for level convergence.

To the students in the audience, Chief Justice Menon said, “You are the future custodians of Singapore’s legal institutions.” He encouraged them to begin taking on that responsibility before entering legal practice, including through legal clinics and pro bono service, where they can see the gap that can sometimes exist between rights on paper and justice in practice.

Students should also resist the instinct to regard any legal system, including Singapore’s, as complete in itself, and instead learn from other traditions, test assumptions and remain willing to ask how institutions might better serve those who depend on them.

Above all, Chief Justice Menon called on students to cultivate integrity and judgement from the outset of their education.

He said, “Professional character is not acquired only upon admission to the Bar; it is formed through your appreciation of and devotion to the mission of the law, and by the choices you will make in your approach to your education, from the honesty of your work, to the care with which you use new technologies, the respect you show to others and your willingness to take responsibility for mistakes.”

Decoding the Second Charter of Justice

The lecture was followed by the launch of Professor Kevin YL Tan’s book, The Second Charter of Justice: A Documentary History. It traces the development, implementation and influence of the Charter, with a clause-by-clause annotation to make the foundational document more accessible to modern readers.

Prof Tan, an Adjunct Professor at NUS Law, said, “The Second Charter of Justice is Singapore’s historically most significant legal instrument. But like so many other celebrated founding texts, it suffers from a familiar fate: it is more frequently cited and referred to than read”, drawing laughter from the crowd.

The document is revered as Singapore’s constitutional “Big Bang” that introduced English common law to its shores. But he noted: “I don’t think anybody alive has ever seen what the (original) Second Charter of Justice looks like.”

Chief Justice Menon, who was Prof Tan’s classmate at NUS Law, said the Charter remains foundational, but it was never the final word — and that is an enduring lesson of its history.

“No legal system arrives fully formed,” he said, nor does it remain unchanged.

For lawyers, academics and students who will shape Singapore’s legal system in the years ahead, the responsibility is to build on that inheritance, strengthening and renewing the rule of law as society’s needs evolve.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) on 14 September 2026, the study was led by Associate Professor L. Roman Carrasco from the Department of Biological Sciences, and conducted in partnership with Research Fellow Ms Yingtong Zhu, and Professor Johan Sulaeman from the NUS Sustainable and Green Finance Institute. The team investigated whether major ESG rating systems reflect companies’ actual deforestation exposure.

Many investors today seek to direct their money towards companies that are responsible stewards of the environment and society. Companies are therefore given ESG ratings, which are meant to indicate whether a business is environmentally and socially responsible. These ratings increasingly influence investment decisions worldwide, but it remains unclear whether they accurately capture one of the biggest environmental impacts of businesses: deforestation.

A multi-source approach to measuring deforestation exposure

The researchers combined satellite-derived forest loss maps, company asset locations, forest-risk commodity supply-chain information, media coverage, and commercial ESG and financial characterises databases to examine the relationship between corporate deforestation and ESG scores. In total, they examined 18 overall ESG scores and 12 deforestation-related sub-scores from five major international providers alongside two independent measures of company-level deforestation.

The analyses included forest loss surrounding the assets of 13,841 companies worldwide between 2013 and 2024 and deforestation exposure of 210 companies through global supply chains for deforestation-risk commodities such as palm oil, soy, beef, pork, chicken and wood products between 2013 and 2020. The team also assessed whether deforestation-related media coverage, rather than actual deforestation, influenced ESG scores.

Ratings track public image, not forest loss

The study found no evidence that ESG ratings consistently capture companies’ actual exposure to deforestation. Instead, ESG scores responded more strongly to media attention related to deforestation, whether positive coverage of companies’ management actions, or negative coverage of deforestation scandals.

The researchers also found that companies involved in palm oil production were more likely to receive lower ESG scores for deforestation than companies associated with soy, pork, or chicken supply chains, suggesting potential commodity biases.

“This is the first study to evaluate multiple commercial ESG rating systems against independently measured corporate deforestation at the global scale. There is a need for ESG providers to integrate objective, spatially explicit deforestation information derived from satellite observations into future assessments, allowing investors to better contribute to reducing deforestation,” said Ms Zhu.

“Our study does not imply that ESG ratings are not useful as a tool to move capital away from companies behind deforestation. In fact, ESG ratings have high potential given their wide coverage of companies. The main problem is that ESG analyses do not incorporate geospatial data. If these data were to be included, ESG investing could be a gamechanger in halting deforestation globally,” added Assoc Prof Carrasco.

“Building an AI solution for education is not just about whether technology can do it, but whether we should. The tools and solutions we build must support learning objectives and elevate the student experience,” said NUS IT Associate Director Ng Jun Da, who is involved in developing all seven tools.

This principle keeps the team anchored to a human-centred approach: AI should support the people involved in education, while preserving the thinking, interaction and judgement through which learning occurs.

Three of the tools are currently being piloted in NUS courses.

Brainstorm: Getting students past the blank page

Brainstorm uses Socratic questioning to help students move past blank-page syndrome in the early stages of projects. By prompting them to examine assumptions, consider alternatives and refine their conclusions, Brainstorm encourages independent analytical thinking rather than providing ready-made answers.

Getting the balance took careful work. “Push too far and the tool becomes hard work, so students stop using it. Lean the other way and it hands over answers, producing cognitive offloading,” said Dr Rajesh Panicker, who leads the Learning and Technology pillar at CTLT.

Faculty perspective proved essential. Dr Panicker noted that having teaching staff on the team helped the group think through how students would actually use the tool, what instructors realistically have time for, and where features that looked good on paper might create friction in practice.

This tool is being piloted in three courses offered by the NUS Faculty of Science and NUS Business School. In LSM4259 Evolutionary Genetics of Reproduction, Brainstorm is used to support students in topic selection and early hypothesis formation, while in FST4104 Food Product Innovation, it helps students develop concepts for a new food-product launch from an assignment brief. In FSP4003 Field Service Project, Brainstorm supports student teams working through ideas for a real-world company problem.

Verify: Teaching students to think critically about AI

Verify presents students with multiple plausible AI-generated responses, which differ in accuracy, reasoning, style or tone, some containing deliberate errors. Students must decide what is credible and well-supported, and explain their reasoning.

An early pilot surfaced an important lesson about framing. The team found that the tool’s original name — The Untrustworthy Assistant — risked priming students to distrust AI rather than evaluate it critically. Hence, they used simpler, action-oriented names instead. CTLT Senior Associate Director Narayanan Shyam, who led Verify from concept to pilot, reflected, “It was a valuable reminder that the way we frame educational technology can be just as important as the technology itself.”

Testing tools in authentic learning contexts helped the team identify and address unintended effects, underscoring the value of bringing pedagogical and technical perspectives together. 

At the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, PL1101E Introduction to Psychology is piloting Verify. During the course, students compare several AI-generated responses, select the strongest, and explain their reasoning. These exercises can surface fabricated citations, weak reasoning, or disciplinary misconceptions for students to critique and correct.

Engage: Making classroom discussion visible

Engage supports active learning by capturing classroom discussions and generating reports that help instructors identify key themes and patterns in the discussion, as well as questions or ideas that may warrant further attention.

“It turns classroom discussion into a resource that both instructors and students can revisit, learn from, and use to improve future learning experiences,” said NUS Business School’s Dr Noriko Tan, who piloted Engage across four class sessions.

Discussion-based activities are among the richest parts of a class, yet their value can fade quickly. “Once the session ends, both students and instructors may remember only fragments of the conversation. With Engage, I can revisit the discussion, identify important ideas that emerged, and reflect on how I facilitated the conversation.” Engage makes those conversations recoverable and reflective.

Engage is also being piloted in LSM4259 Evolutionary Genetics of Reproduction to capture presentation Questions & Answers to identify follow-up needs, and in SC4218 Religions, Secularity, Post-Secularity to document seminar discussion and help surface gaps or underdeveloped arguments.

Developing these tools has never been a one-person job. It takes educators, academic developers, education technologists and technology specialists working together, asking not just what AI can do, but what will genuinely support learning in practice.

The study, led by Associate Professor Alfredo Franco-Obregón from the Department of Surgery at the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and the NUS Institute for Health Innovation & Technology, was published in the journal Smart Medicine on 4 June 2026. This discovery builds on their previous work, where they showed that brief PEMF exposure enhances uptake of doxorubicin (DOX), a chemotherapy drug, by breast cancer cells.

PEMF therapy applies intermittent, low-intensity magnetic pulses to targeted regions of the body over a short period of time. Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón has previously explored the effect of PEMFs on muscle development and oncology. In their latest study, the NUS team demonstrated that even without chemotherapy, PEMFs completely eradicated tumours in 75 per cent of tested preclinical models after just four 30-minute sessions.

“Our study represents a major advancement in breast cancer treatment by demonstrating the potential of PEMFs as a stand-alone, drug-free therapy, offering a possible future where patients could avoid chemotherapy and its debilitating side effects,” said Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón.

Breast cancer cases are projected to rise by a third, from 2.3 million in 2023 to more than 3.5 million by 2050, while annual deaths may nearly double from 764,000 to nearly 1.4 million. Cancer treatment faces challenges such as tumour heterogeneity, drug resistance, and treatment-related toxicities. Approaches targeting TAMs also faced difficulties such as off-target effects. The growing burden underscores the urgent need for innovative therapies to improve patient outcomes and save lives.

From cancer’s friends to foes

Breast cancer occurs when cells in the breast mutate and grow uncontrollably, forming a solid tumour. These cancer cells recruit and hijack nearby immune cells, corrupting them to protect the tumour, accelerate tumour growth, and encourage the spread of cancer (metastasis). Prominent among these recruited immune cells are TAMs, which are abundant in nearly all solid tumours.

There are two primary types of macrophages, M1 and M2. M1 macrophages are pro-inflammatory – the “soldiers” that eliminate threats like bacteria and viruses. M2 macrophages are anti-inflammatory – the “medics” that orchestrate wound healing and tissue repair once threats are cleared. Cancer cells corrupt most TAMs into adopting the M2 “medic” state, suppressing immune attacks against the tumour while facilitating tumour growth and metastasis.

The key to this macrophage reprogramming lies in a protein called TRPC1 (Transient Receptor Potential Canonical 1), which regulates the M1 state. Crucially, TRPC1 also allows cells to sense and respond to magnetic fields. In their experiments, the NUS team confirmed that a brief 10-minute exposure to PEMFs activated TRPC1 channels on M2-like TAMs, setting off a signalling cascade that converted them to the M1 state – essentially turning TAMs from helpful “medics” to aggressive cancer-killing “soldiers”. These activated TAMs then selectively target cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue. Furthermore, the same magnetic signature disrupts cancer's ability to hijack TAMs, altering the TAM-cancer communication loop in both directions.

“We have identified a molecular “switch”, the specific cell signalling pathway that allows us to reprogram TAMs. Once reprogrammed, these immune cells actively hunt and devour cancer cells, obliterating the tumour,” said Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón. “With the non-invasive and targeted nature of PEMF therapy, we hope to provide patients an effective and safe alternative treatment, with fewer undesirable side effects.”

Pulses of hope for cancer patients

Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón shared that the same PEMF device used in this study has just successfully completed Phase 1 clinical trials, demonstrating its safety in humans. The team is now seeking partners to conduct Phase 2 efficacy trials to evaluate how well the PEMF treatment works in patients and to further advance its development towards clinical use.

“Since we previously showed that PEMFs selectively increased the uptake of DOX in breast cancer cells, we will be evaluating if our PEMF immunotherapy can work synergistically with chemotherapy for better results,” added Assoc Prof Franco-Obregón. “As the immune cells we reprogram are commonly found in most solid tumours, we are optimistic that our PEMF therapy could potentially be a complementary treatment for other cancers beyond breast cancer.”