Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day on 17 August 2019

CALLING ALL STUDENTS, STAFF AND ALUMNI!

Kent Ridge Alumni Family Day (KRAFD) on Saturday, 17 August!

Themed Fiesta On the Green, NUS’ biggest homecoming will commemorate Singapore’s Bicentennial, while welcoming home alumni, students, faculty, staff and their families back to the Kent Ridge Campus.

Come be dazzled by the star-studded line-up of celebrity alumni performers including Joanna Dong (Arts & Social Sciences ’04) who came in third in Sing! China 2017.  Other exciting activities include a showcase of autonomous and virtual technologies, hands-on stations at Student Life Fair, and networking at the Faculty booths.  The festivities will culminate in the largest outdoor movie screening on campus of the popular animated film, Smallfoot.

Date:        Saturday, 17 August 2019
Time: 5.00pm – 9.30pm
Venue: NUS University Town
Note: Please note that photography and videography will be carried out throughout the event. The NUS Office of Alumni Relations may use some or all of these images in its print publications, digital platforms and/or marketing channels.  

Book Launch – Hard at Work: Life in Singapore 

Title: Book Launch – Hard at Work: Life in Singapore 

Date: Friday, 1 November 2019

Time: 6:00-8:35 pm

Venue: The Pod, NLB

Organizers: Singapore Research Nexus

RSVP at Eventbrite.

Description

Hard at Work: Life in Singaporehard at work cover

Gerard Sasges & Ng Shi Wen (Editors)
NUS Press

For most of us, work is a basic daily fact of life. But that simple fact encompasses an incredibly wide range of experiences. Hard at Work (2019) takes readers into the day-to-day work experiences of more than fifty working people in Singapore who hold jobs that run from the ordinary to the unusual: from ice cream vendors, baristas, police officers and funeral directors to academic ghostwriters, temple flower sellers, and Thai disco girl agents.

Through first-person narratives based on detailed interviews, vividly augmented with color photographs, Hard at Work reminds us of the everyday labor that continually goes on around us, and that every job can reveal something interesting if we just look closely enough. It shows us too the ways inequalities of status and income are felt and internalized in this highly globalized society.

gerard sasges Gerard Sasges is a historian, educator, and chronicler of everyday life. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Southeast Asian Studies at the National University of Singapore. His work explores the relationship between technology and processes of social, political, economic, and environmental change in Southeast Asia.

 

 

 

 

shi wen ngNg Shi Wen is a photographer, educator, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Photo Rikiki and has taught at the National University of Singapore and at Singapore’s School of the Arts. Using words and light, she seeks to transcribe stories of people finding their way in a constantly changing city.

 

 

 

 

 

Programme

6:00-6:30 pm – Registration/Refreshments/Books available for purchase

6:30-6:35 pm – Welcome Remarks by Chair, Associate Professor Teo You Yenn, Provost’s Chair & Head of Sociology, NTU School of Social Sciences

6:35-7:35 pm – “Work/Life in Singapore” with Gerard Sasges, Ng Shi Wen, Choo Ruizhi, Nathene Chua, Qistina Ahmad, Samuel Devaraj, and Sutrisno Foo

7:35-8:05 pm – Q and A/Discussion, Moderated by Chair

8:05-8:35 pm – Book Sale with Autograph Signing

A story of 2 sisters and 1 commencement

Commencement signifies the start of a new journey.
FASS celebrates the achievements of 2 of our students – Thilanga Dilum Wewalaarachchi and her sister, Sakunika Vinindu Wewalaarachchi.
Thilanga Dilum was our Valedictorian at Ceremony 10, graduating with a PhD in Psychology and her sister, graduating with a Master of Social Sciences.

This July, we are thankful and relieved not only to have been able to complete our graduate studies, but even more so to have had the rare opportunity to face this phase of our lives, together, as sisters. Looking back today, decked in matching robes and having shared eight years at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) together, it is a little surprising to remember that there was once a time when the prospect of graduating together from FASS would have seemed impossible.

For one thing, we had always opted for completely different subject combinations throughout our secondary and tertiary education – while one of us turned to the study of Literature and Theatre Studies, the other chose to pursue Physics and Chemistry. For another, our parents had very much aspired for us to walk in their footsteps and complete degrees in science and engineering. Being first-generation immigrants with no established paths to follow, enrolling at FASS as undergraduate students marked a significant departure from family tradition and expectations. Now, some nine years later, we are both immensely grateful to have had the privilege to chart our own path and been given by our loved ones the opportunity to take this leap of faith.

Of the many things that we take with us from our graduate training at FASS, the growth in our development as young researchers in particular, has been transformative. NUS places a strong emphasis on producing high quality research. As graduate students, this meant that we had several opportunities over the course of our candidature to work with our supervisors on book chapters and academic manuscripts. We have also been able to attend several workshops and academic conferences where we could network with like-minded individuals and share our research with international colleagues.

FASS gives its students opportunities to embark on independent research projects that are both locally relevant and internationally recognised. We were able to pursue our diverse research passions, exploring the interplay between gender and family, and the impact of childhood bilingualism on language acquisition in Singapore. Doing research at FASS has thus afforded us the freedom to answer questions that matter to Singaporeans, and has equipped us with the tools to disseminate these findings with a global audience.

This year, closing the chapter on our student life after about a decade spent in university, we look forward to starting careers as social scientists in our respective fields. Although our time with FASS has come to an end, we will take the lessons learned during this time, both as academics and as young adults, with us as we commence on our next adventure.

Having faith in further study with NUS FASS

Mr Dean Wang hopes to contribute to a greater understanding of local religions
*********************************************************************************

By Rachel Tan
Straits Times, Postgraduate Supplement, July 7, 2019

Hagiographies of gods, Buddhist scriptures and Taoist rituals have enthralled Mr Dean Wang since young.

Growing up in a family that practises a mix of Buddhism and Taoism, his interest never wavered but deepened over the years, so much so that he is writing a PhD thesis on the worship of Taoist and Buddhist underworld gods in Singapore. These underworld gods include the Black and White Impermanence Ghosts tasked with escorting souls of the deceased to the underworld.

The thesis is part of his PhD in Chinese Studies at the National University of Singapore. Seeing a lack of research related to Chinese religion in South-east Asia, he hopes to contribute to a greater understanding of local religions.

Since receiving the Enhanced FASS Graduate Scholarship in Chinese Religions in 2015, he has been studying under the supervision of renowned Chinese religion scholar Professor Kenneth Dean, and is the first to conduct an in-depth study of the worship of underworld gods in Singapore.

He also had the opportunity to co-organise the “Second Christian- Taoist Colloquium” with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Singapore last year.

The 31-year-old is now in his final year of studies and will be working with Prof Dean on a new documentation project on local Taoist altars. After graduation, he hopes to embark on overseas postdoctoral research if there are fellowships available. However, he also wants to keep an open mind about his future.

“Any role that allows me to share my knowledge and work on topics related to the local religious scene is good,” he says. “I know that my area of specialisation opens up quite a few opportunities besides the academia.”

He believes that postgraduate courses not only train students to be independent learners, but also help them think critically, speak with precision and act responsibly.

“The emphasis on field work and communicating effectively are soft skills that will never become outdated,” he adds.

20 areas of study in Humanities, Social Sciences and Asian Studies

Excellent Global Rankings – consistently placed amongst leading universities. The most comprehensive range of Humanities and Social Sciences subjects not only in Singapore but in the region.
17 Departments / Programmes, 20 subjects as well as cross-faculty options, special degree options and overseas opportunities. Leading faculty members, strong funding support and excellent research facilities and opportunities.

Find out more here.

Research Scholarships for PhD candidates – Centre for Family and Population Research (CFPR)

Two Research Scholarships (RSs) are available each academic year for PhD candidates interested in completing research on family and demographic research from AY2018-AY2020. The end-date of the award will be the end of the fourth year of candidature.

Selected students can be based in any of the 17 Departments/Programmes at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore. The Scholarships are targeted specifically for applicants who have basic training and skills in the following areas and will continue to focus on these topics in their PhD programmes:

• Quantitative research on family
• Demography
• Children and youth development
• Aging and Health
• Intergenerational relations and transfers

The scholarships are offered by the Centre for Family and Population Research (CFPR).

You can refer to more information about the PhD programme here. Applicants must be university graduates with at least second class honours (upper division) degree or equivalent and at the time of the award of the Research Scholarship, must have applied for and been assured of admission as a PhD candidate to the Faculty. Application for admission to the PhD programme and the Research Scholarship can be done simultaneously. There is no restriction on the nationality of applicants.

All applications (complete with application form, application fee payment and supporting documents) must be received by the stipulated deadlines as indicated here.

For more information about Research Scholarships, please click here. Applications can be submitted online here.

Candidates should indicate that they are applying for the Research Scholarship, by indicating CFPR at the top right hand corner of the hardcopy application form. Candidates applying online should do likewise after printing out the completed application form for submission. Besides indicating on the hardcopy application form / application form printouts, candidates must also send a scanned copy of their application to CFPR at cfpr@nus.edu.sg .

Singapore Research Networking Event with FASS Research Clusters & SRN on 17 May 2019

Find out more about what FASS researchers are studying about Singapore through our research networking event on Friday, 17 May 2019—unearth potential research directions and identify new research partners! This event is a joint initiative between the Singapore Research Nexus and the FASS Research Clusters.

Date & Time: 17 May, 8:45am-1:45pm

Venue: Room 1-01, AS7 Shaw Foundation Building, 5 Arts Link

Registration: Register here.

Programme: Right click the poster below to view and download the programme.