Latest Updates on Singapore’s SSRC

Photo Credit: Wattpad, Your Singapore Dictionary

Hello, it’s me again — updating you on the latest developments in Singapore’s social science and humanities research landscape! In my class presentation, I mentioned that the Singapore government will be spending SGD$350 million (USD250 million) to strengthen social science research in the next five years. To achieve this, Singapore’s Social Science Research Council (SSRC) will be initiating and running a series of programmes from now till 2020. One of these programmes includes selecting and funding new social science-related projects proposed by professors and research fellows in Singapore. The SSRC is specifically interested in research projects that will enable the public to understand ‘[n]ew and complex challenges [that] confront Singapore as it progresses and matures as a nation’, says Mr. Peter Ho (Chairman of the SSRC).

The SSRC has *just* published a list of research projects that is approved in their first call for submissions. The SSRC has set aside SGD$21 million (USD15 million) as research grants for these projects:

  1. Christianity in Southeast Asia: Comparative Growth, Politics and Networks in Urban Centres by Dr Terence Chong, Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute
  2. Develop a Contemporary Theory of Harmony by Professor Li Chenyang, NTU
  3. Fostering Harmonious Intergroup Relations in Early Childhood by Assistant Professor Setoh Pei Pei, NTU
  4. Identifying Positive Adaptive Pathways in Low-income families in Singapore by Associate Professor Esther Goh, NUS
  5. Influence of Social Motivations on Cultural Learning, Adjustment, and Integration by Associate Professor Krishna Savani, NTU
  6. Making Identity Count in Asia: Identity Relations in Singapore and its Neighbourhood by Professor Ted Hopf, NUS
  7. Population ageing, old age labour and financial decisions in Singapore by Associate Professor Liu Haoming, NUS
  8. Salutogenic Healthy Aging Programme Embracement (Shape) for elderly living alone by Assistant Professor Wang Wenru, NUS
  9. Singapore’s Islamic Studies Graduates: Their Role and Impact in a Plural Society by Dr Norshahril Saat, Iseas-Yusof Ishak Institute
  10. Building Human Capacity in Singapore’s Population: Testing Innovations in Human Development by Professor Jean Yeung, NUS
  11. Service Productivity and Innovation Research Programme (Spire) by Professor Ivan Png, NUS
  12. Sustainable governance of transboundary environmental commons in Southeast Asia by Professor David Taylor, NUS

More information on the SSRC’s recent approval of these projects can be found here: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/21-million-in-grants-awarded-for-12-research-projects-on-singapore-society-identity?xtor=CS3-18

Feel free to share your take on the projects that have been selected, and the outcomes you will like to see from these projects!

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