The Goh Sin Tub Creative Writing Competition 2015 (Drama)

Enter your original unpublished play in The Goh Sin Tub Creative Writing Competition (Drama) now and stand to win!

The biennial Goh Sin Tub Creative Writing Prize is a gift from Dr Sylvia Goh to NUS in memory and recognition of her late husband Goh Sin Tub, one of Singapore’s best-known writers. The Competition is open to all members of the NUS community. The closing date for receipt of entries is at 5pm on Monday, 31 August 2015.

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Interested? Please click here for the entry form.

For enquiries, please contact:

Angeline
Email: ellanga@nus.edu.sg

Invitation to SG100 Events: University Sub-forum and ‘Dream Future’ Envisioning Forum

The Association of Public Affairs (APA), recently established at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP), is organising two forums under the SG100 Compass (Youth Edition)- the University Sub-forum and the ‘Dream Future’ Envisioning Forum.

The University Sub-forum will take place at National Junior College Sanctuary on 30 May 2015 while the ‘Dream Future’ Envisioning Forum will be held on 4 July 2015 at Singapore Polytechnic Convention Centre.

The University Sub-forum is a chance for youths to share their thoughts and suggestions on the most relevant issues pertaining to Singapore’s collective future together. These issues will be brought up at the SG100 ‘Dream Future’ Envisioning Forum.

The ‘Dream Future’ Envisioning Forum is designed for like-minded tertiary students from Junior Colleges, ITEs, Polytechnics and Universities to express their aspirations for national progress by SG100, articulate the outcomes they would like to see and discuss the values (and their potential trade-offs) to support these outcomes. It will be opened by Professor Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of LKYSPP, and closed by Minister Chan Chun Sing.

SG100 seeks to pioneer a mindset shift in Singapore. To be part of the endeavor, click here for the registration link.

For more information on SG100 Compass (Youth Edition), please click here.

For enquiries, please contact:

Charles Phua Chao Rong
Founder/President
Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – Association for Public Affairs
Email: apa@nus.edu.sg

Human rights through literary arts

Berita Harian

This was a report on a lecture by Dr Mohd Faizal Musa which was held on 9 May 2015, titled “Ideals of Excellence versus Ideals of Destruction”. The lecture is part of the Al-Bustan lecture series organised by the Department of Malay Studies of the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and the event was held at the Malay Heritage Centre. Dr Faizal, a Research Fellow from the Institute of the Malay World and Civilization at the National University of Malaysia who surveyed Malay historiography, literary texts and classical Malay proverbs, examined the “Ideals of Excellence versus Ideals of Destruction” concept introduced by the late Professor Syed Hussein Alatas, to discuss the humanistic, universal and Islamic values which can be found in these narratives.

Jostling for space after death

The Straits Times                                                               

In today’s edition of The Straits Times, there was an article contribution by Professor Lily Kong and Professor James Sidaway from the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences on spaces for the dead, where urban planners often have to balance the needs of the dead and the needs of the living. The authors discussed about land scarcity in Singapore, which has led to cremations and columbaria replacing burial grounds to house the dead, as well as “eco-friendly” alternatives like sea burials, scatter burials and woodland burials.

Prof Kong and Prof Sidaway noted that in many cultures, dead bodies and their ashes are associated with pollution rather than purity and that this in essence lies at the heart of objections to locating any facility related to death in proximity to the living. They opined that while death relates to the strongest human emotions which are intensely personal, practical issues relating to what happens to the deceased also reflect wider social, economic, political and cultural predicaments.

To read the full article, click here.

Notes from the ground

The Straits Times

This was an article contribution by Professor Jonathan Rigg from the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, as well as Ms Hanna Ruszczyk, and Ms Katie Oven, who are from Durham University in the United Kingdom. The authors shared their ground observations of Nepal’s earthquake preparedness during their visit to the country before the major earthquake occurred on 25 April 2015. They also shared email excerpts containing observations of the ground situation after the earthquake. The authors opined that even following this earthquake, there will be many who will see Nepal’s major challenges as developmental and that integrating disaster preparedness into the mainstream of government and development work will only be slightly easier than it was before the earthquake.

Click here to read the full article.

Smart National Project Internship: Modeling and Simulation of Smart Urban Infrastructure

This internship is open for application to Computing, Engineering and FASS students.

 

Would you like to take part in building the Smart Nation of the future?

If your answer is yes, we would like to invite you to take up an internship position with our Smart Urban Environment team.

Our Thales Research & Technology (TRT) in Singapore is conducting research in the field of Advanced Crowd Simulations in Urban environments. SE-Star, Thales’ crowd simulator, is an advanced biomimetic simulator which aims at producing realistic and high fidelity simulations of crowd behaviors as well as complex urban infrastructures. The simulation comprised of two main components they are the Adaptive Agents (simulated individuals) and the Smart Objects (urban infrastructure). Smart objects offer agents consumable services modelled from the real world.

You will be working with our team to:

  • Define new smart objects in Singapore context.
  • Implement the new smart objects and the services offered as well as how the agents interact with them.
  • Operate and validate the simulation with SE-Star

You will have the opportunity to work with other industrial and/or government stakeholders who are interested in using SE-Star to simulate and solve their real world problems.

Requirements :

  • Student must be able to commit to at least 20 weeks.
  • Year 3/4 students preferred.

About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation, Defence and Security markets. In 2013, the company generated revenues of €4.2 billion with 65,000 employees in 56 countries. With its 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers and local partners.

Diagram of SE Star

Apply to Ms Serena Goh (email: serena.goh@asia.thalesgroup.com)

 

Smart Nation Project Internship: Individual and Crowd Behaviour Modeling

This internship is open for application to Psychology and Sociology students.

Would you like to take part in building the Smart Nation of the future?

If your answer is yes, we would like to invite you to take up an internship position with our Smart Urban Environment team.

Our Thales Research & Technology (TRT) in Singapore is conducting research in the field of Advanced Crowd Simulations in Urban environments. SE-Star, Thales’ crowd simulator, is an advanced biomimetic simulator which aims at producing realistic and high fidelity simulations of crowd behaviors as well as complex urban infrastructures. The simulation comprised of two main components they are the Adaptive Agents (simulated individuals) and the Smart Objects (urban infrastructure). Each Adaptive Agent has a unique personality with autonomous motivational driven and opportunistic behavior.

You will be working with our team to enhance and localize features and characteristics of the Adaptive Agents in Singapore’s context. Your responsibilities would include:

  • Identification of local individual and crowd behaviors for a potential environment to be simulated
  • Translation of the identified behaviors together the engineers who will then model and implement them in the simulator
  • Assessment and validation of the realism of the behaviors in the completed simulation

You will have the opportunity to work with other industrial and/or government stakeholders who are interested in using SE-Star to simulate and solve their real world problems.

Requirements:

  • The candidate should have strong interest in applications of human behavioral/psychological knowledge to engineering applications.
  • This is a three-month vacation internship with possibility to continue part time during the following semester.
  • Year 3 students preferred.

About Thales

Thales is a global technology leader in the Aerospace, Transportation, Defence and Security markets. In 2013, the company generated revenues of €14.2 billion with 65,000 employees in 56 countries. With its 25,000 engineers and researchers, Thales has a unique capability to design, develop and deploy equipment, systems and services that meet the most complex security requirements. Thales has an exceptional international footprint, with operations around the world working with customers and local partners.

Diagram of SE Star

Apply to Ms Serena Goh (email: serena.goh@asia.thalesgroup.com)

New centre to help tackle population woes

The Straits Times

This was a report on the launch of the Centre for Family and Population Research (CFPR), a new research centre under the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Ms Grace Fu, launched the new research centre at its inaugural conference titled “Singapore Families and Population Dynamics”. In her speech, Ms Fu said the issues that CFPR will study include healthcare needs in an ageing Asia and shifting social needs. Speaking at the event, NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan noted that the new centre is well positioned to contribute to the understanding of the population challenges facing Singapore.

CFPR is helmed by Professor Jean Yeung from the Department of Sociology at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The new centre will focus on research in areas such as managing family stress, fertility, ageing and health. Yesterday’s opening was held in conjunction with the centre’s inaugural conference, which discussed issues such as the impact of mobile technology on communication between parents and their children, and how government policy shapes the circumstances and choices of single parent and low-income families.