Author Archives: Tim C

Latest Updates on Singapore’s SSRC

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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!

Helpful Guide for Writing Research Papers in the Social Sciences

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Hi Colleagues
Here’s the guide book that Alessia mentioned during our class just now:
Becker, Howard. Tricks of the Trade: How to Think about Your Research While You’re Doing It, University of Chicago Press: 1998.
Drawing on more than four decades of experience as a researcher and teacher, Howard Becker now brings to students and researchers the many valuable techniques he has learned. Tricks of the Trade will help students learn how to think about research projects. Assisted by Becker’s sage advice, students can make better sense of their research and simultaneously generate fresh ideas on where to look next for new data. The tricks cover four broad areas of social science: the creation of the “imagery” to guide research; methods of “sampling” to generate maximum variety in the data; the development of “concepts” to organize findings; and the use of “logical” methods to explore systematically the implications of what is found. Becker’s advice ranges from simple tricks such as changing an interview question from “Why?” to “How?” (as a way of getting people to talk without asking for a justification) to more technical tricks such as how to manipulate truth tables.

Bollywood’s 3 Idiots

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Kirti Dhingra, a journalist from Delhi tells us that India is perhaps the only country in the world where parents will decide their children’s careers for them, right after they are born.

The character of Farhan Qureshi in 3 idiots echoes this astounding cultural practice of Indian parents’ iron-fisted authority over their children’s lives, when he says in the movie: “I was born at 5:15am and at 5:16am my father said: ‘My son will be an engineer.’”

The famous and hilarious 3 idiots premiered in 2009, and it remains as one of Bollywood’s highest grossing films of all time. Here are some key facts about the film:

  • Two friends embark on a quest for a lost buddy. On this journey, they encounter a long forgotten bet, a wedding they must gatecrash, and a funeral that goes impossibly out of control.
  • As they make their way through the perilous landscape, another journey begins: their nostalgic journey through memory lane and the story of their friend—the irrepressible free spirited Ranchoddas Shamaldas Chanchad (Rancho), who touched and changed their lives during their time in college.
  • 3 idiots is a story of these men’s hostel days at the Imperial College of Engineering in India, one that swings between Rancho’s romance with the attractive medical student Pia, and his clash with an oppressive mentor, Viru Sahastrabudhhe (otherwise known as Virus).

The opening moments of the trailer begin with these words, and they reflect the pragmatic culture that pervades India, where higher education is widely recognised as a great social leveller that brings with it lasting prestige, financial power, and even a promising love life:

We all went to college to get degrees. If you don’t get a degree, you won’t get a job. Without a job, you won’t get married. The bank won’t give you a credit card, and the world won’t respect you. But [Rancho] didn’t come here for a college degree, he came just to learn.

A brief look at the trailer will immediately bring to one’s mind several potential issues of the higher education system in India. Even though engineering schools usually consist of more men than women, why could be the reason for a disproportionate number of girls in this college? Is gender inequality in ICE reflective of a larger issue of gender imbalance in universities in India?

Also, the college may be effective in equipping its students with practical skills in engineering, but how far does it develop its students’ ability to think critically? More importantly, how should a college develop a student’s ability to think independently and decide for themselves the kind of lives and careers they wish to pursue, in the context of a culturally conservative and pragmatic India?

And if all of the above hasn’t quite piqued your curiosity to find out more about the film, perhaps a purportedly pro-feminist tweet about 3 idiots from a certain Mr D Trump might challenge you to form your own opinion on the film’s presentation of gender in India’s higher education scene:

UniSIM is now Singapore University of Social Sciences

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As a follow-up from my previous post, Singapore’s Ministry of Education has just announced today that the Singapore Institute of Management will be renamed as the Singapore University of Social Sciences — shocking, I know!

SIM used to be Singapore’s only privately funded university, but after this recent rebranding and restructuring, it will become the country’s sixth autonomous (i.e. government run) university. Below are quotations taken from news reports regarding this sea change in Singapore’s HE sector:

“The name was chosen to reflect the university’s mission of “driving lifelong learning anchored in disciplines with a strong social focus”, Minister for Higher Education and Skills Ong Ye Kung said in a press release issued by the school on Friday (Mar 17).

“SUSS is under the ambit of the Ministry of Education and is no longer part of the SIM Group, which comprises SIM Global Education, SIM International Academy, SIM Professional Development and Platform E.”

“Autonomous universities receive government funding and are subject to government oversight, but have the flexibility to set their own direction and differentiate their educational offerings. Currently, National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Management University, Singapore University of Technology and Design and Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) are autonomous universities.”

See more at:

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sim-university-renamed-singapore-university-of-social-sciences/3603440.html

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/unisim-now-singapore-university-social-sciences

http://www.themalaymailonline.com/world/article/unisim-renamed-as-singapore-university-of-social-sciences

Government Reforms in Social Science and Humanities Research in Singapore

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Hi folks!

Hope you had a great Spring break. I thought I should post my presentation slides on this blog, for the benefit of those who weren’t around during our session last week or might find it handy to have a soft copy of the slides!

The gist of my presentation is as follows:

  • On 07 November 2016, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced that the Ministry of Education will spend SGD$350 million (equivalent to USD$250 million) on social science and humanities research for the next five years.
  • The government will also establish Singapore’s very first Social Science Research Council, while establishing partnerships with existing institutes in the US such as the SSRC in Brooklyn and Centre for Advanced Study in the Behavioural Sciences at Stanford.
  • My presentation examines the implications and limitations of these newly implemented government policies, focusing particularly on the potential winners and losers of these reforms, in HE institutions and the wider society.

Please feel free to share with me your thoughts or questions on this recent government reform! Will look to hear from you, specially on how we might be able to address critics’ skepticism towards the huge amount of funding that is channelled into this project by the Singapore government (while governments in other parts of the world such as the Trump administration is trying to cut back heavily on funding for the arts and cultural expression), fair democratic representation of members in the SSRC (because right now it is predominantly made up of senior academics and civil servants) and conflict between the winners and losers of this reform. Thank you!

– Tim

(Final) Government Reforms in Social Science and Humanities Research in Singapore- A Case Study-1lxygfs