NUS geographer Professor Henry Yeung conferred prestigious international award

Professor Henry Yeung, Co-Director of the Global Production Networks Centre at NUS, and economic geographer from the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, has been conferred the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers [IBG]) Murchison Award 2017.

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Professor Henry Yeung

The award was conferred by the Council of the Society in recognition of Prof Yeung’s pioneering publications on globalisation, and will be presented to him by the Society’s President, Mr Nicholas Crane, at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) Medals and Awards ceremony 2017 in London on 5 June 2017. The Murchison Award is the most senior accolade in the awards category to be presented at the ceremony; the other category being the medals category.

Sharing his thoughts about receiving the prestigious award, Prof Yeung said, “It gives me enormous pleasure to have my work, which is all done in Singapore, recognised by the Royal Geographical Society. This award will spur me on further to take on Anglo-American geography and social science in an increasingly post-colonial world of knowledge production. I hope this award paves the way for further decentering of such knowledge production, particularly in the fields of humanities and social sciences. This means the rise of new centres of knowledge production, for instance in Asia, that can capitalise on our own locations as sites of laboratories for new insights and thoughts.”

Professor Henry Yeung

Prof Henry Yeung graduated with B.A. First Class Honours in Geography from NUS in July 1992, and obtained his PhD from the University of Manchester in England in 1995. He returned to Singapore on 31 December 1995 to begin his career in the Department of Geography at the NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. An eminent economic geographer and a highly cited academic, Prof Yeung’s research interests include theories and the geography of transnational corporations, global production networks and global value chains, East Asian firms and developmental states in the global economy.

Throughout his career, Prof Yeung has been accorded many honours, including being ranked first in the list of top 50 human geographers in the Journal of Economic Geography (Vol. 10) in 2010, and being conferred a Fellowship with the Academy of Social Sciences in the UK in 2012, in recognition of his significant contributions to social science.

A leading authority in his field, Prof Yeung has published widely. His latest book with Cornell University Press, titled Strategic Coupling: East Asian Industrial Transformation on the New Global Economy (2016), examines economic development and state-firms relations in East Asia, focusing in particular on South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.

About the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), and its Medals and Awards

Founded in 1830, the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) is the UK’s learned society and professional body for geography. It is a world leader in advancing geography and supporting its practitioners in the UK and across the world. Since 1832, the Society’s medals and awards have recognised excellence in geographical research and fieldwork, teaching and public engagement. They are presented annually in recognition of those who have made outstanding achievements within the sphere of geography.

For more information about the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), please visit: http://www.rgs.org/HomePage.htm

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