Principal Investigator

Project

Mme Sophie Undorf-Bouvier (Centre for Language Studies)

Congress of French Language Teachers of the Asia Pacific Commission 2023 (CAP 23)

The CAP23 Conference critically examines the intricacies of French instruction amidst Asia-Pacific’s vast linguistic and cultural diversity, as these diverse cultures play a big role in how people learn French and other languages. This conference aims to find the best ways to teach languages in this setting, drawing from innovative ideas of teachers, researchers, and officials, in the hope of sharing new teaching perspectives and strategies that resonate with the unique needs and experiences of learners in the Asia-Pacific region, while ensuring more effective and inclusive language education.

Asst Prof Hu Bei (Chinese Studies)

Using AI-assisted translation technologies to facilitate crisis communication: Developing a translation triage system in Singapore

This project proposes to develop a translation triage system for crisis communication in multilingual Singapore, aiming to enhance preparedness and inclusivity during emergencies. It investigates socio-cognitive aspects related to the reception of high-stakes translation, explores the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in crisis communication and offers insights into language resource allocation and policy adherence. Key research questions address how to provide language services for at-risk community groups, optimise translation resources and empower translators with AI technologies. The study employs ethnography and computerised quality assessment models for institutional practices, while utilising eye-tracking experiments to examine the cognitive responses of receivers. By adopting both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, we aim to systematically investigate how AI-empowered technologies can effectively address urgent communication problems.

Asst Prof Taberez Ahmed Neyazi (Communications and New Media)

Circulation of Campaigns, Misinformation and Identity in Open and Closed Platforms: Mobilizing Voters during the 2024 Indian and Indonesian Elections

Is digital political advertising, bolstered by micro-targeting strategies, effective in mobilizing voter support and what is the role of identity-based appeals? How does members of a closed WhatsApp group receive and perceive political messaging and misinformation? We understand little of the interplay between these dynamics, especially in Asia where deep-rooted socio-cultural beliefs and values remain entrenched. To answer these questions, we will utilize diverse computational social science methodologies (e.g., qualitative coding, regression models, geoprocessing, content analysis) incorporating distinct data sources (e.g., Meta sponsored content, 2024 Indian and Indonesian General Elections, WhatsApp closed groups) to bring novel insights on these topics.

Dr Wu Shangyuan (Communications and New Media)

The Credibility Project: Rediscovering “Credibility” in the Age of Digital News and its Implications on Literacy Education

This project uncovers how news producers and consumers ascertain “credible” news in the digital age, as news is delivered quicker, news sources have multiplied exponentially to include citizen journalists and machine-written news, and much fake news is in circulation. Findings on how swift judgments on credibility are made will ultimately inform improvements to news literacy education. Research questions pertain to the discovery of “credibility cues” used by news producers and consumers, how news literacy is practiced, and factors influencing fact-checking habits. Research methods include computational analysis, interviews with news producers and educators, and focus groups and surveys with news consumers.

Asst Prof Joris Michael Mueller (Economics)

The Political-Economic Consequences of Stabilization Policies

Political stability is a key objective of all governments. Governments’ efforts to secure political stability can have direct and indirect consequences that are highly debated by academics and policymakers alike, but poorly understood. This project includes four papers that aim at providing rigorous empirical evidence to address this gap in the political economy literature. The papers examine the benefits and costs of state-building efforts in Tanzania and Botswana, and how the modern Chinese state’s paramount goal of securing political stability influences both domestic and foreign policy. The ongoing project includes an invited revision for a Top 5 economics journal.

Asst Prof Liu Chen (Economics)

Assessing Welfare Impacts of Highways Using Satellite Imagery: an Application to India

This project integrates two recent innovations in the analysis of spatial economic activity—remotely-sensed satellite imagery and a spatial general-equilibrium model—to evaluate the returns to transportation infrastructure investments. We demonstrate the method using granular daytime imagery— to evaluate India’s road construction projects in the 2000s. Estimating the model requires only remotely-sensed data, and evaluating welfare impacts of infrastructure investments further requires population data. We find that India’s road investments favored the largest and smallest urban markets. Much of the aggregate welfare gains accrued within Indian districts, a finding revealed because of the spatial resolution of satellite imagery.

Asst Prof Aine Ito (ELTS)

Architecture and Mechanisms for Language Processing Asia (AMLaP Asia) conference

This proposal seeks funds to support an international conference AMLaP (Architecture and Mechanisms for Language Processing) Asia to be held at NUS on 5-7 December 2024. It will feature four keynote speakers.

AMLaP Asia was created as the Asian venue for presenting and discussing research on interdisciplinary psycholinguistic research. It aims to bring together experimental, computational, and theoretical perspectives on the cognitive architectures and mechanisms which underly any aspect of human language processing. We will welcome abstract submission of empirical findings on various topics (detailed in section 7a1).

Prof Henry Yeung (Geography)

Summer Institute in Economic Geography 

This workshop grant supports my role as the main local organizer of the next Summer Institute in Economic Geography, 21-26 July 2024 (http://www.econgeog.net). First held in Wisconsin-Madison in 2003, the SIEG has taken place 10 times in major Geography departments in the US, Canada, the UK, and Europe. This proposed workshop is the first time the SIEG is held outside North America and Western Europe, reflecting the significant visibility of NUS in economic geography. It brings together the “who’s who” in the field to engage with 35 early-career researchers on critical matters related to economic geography research and professional development.

Impacts of Climate Change on Soil Erosion and Sediment Delivery in the headwater regions of the large Asian rivers

Building upon the current MOE Tier 2 project titled ‘Riverine sediment fluxes response to climate change in High Mountain Asia’, this research investigates soil erosion, sediment production, and sediment delivery in the headwater regions of the large Asian rivers. By utilizing the Water and Energy transfer Processes in Large River basins model, the Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation model, and integrated machine learning technologies, the study simulates and estimates slope runoff and soil erosion in the catchment areas. Future sediment load prediction is facilitated through the latest regional downscaled high-resolution climate model ensemble. By mapping and assessing soil erosion and sediment delivery through ensemble machine learning, the research seeks to provide novel insights into fluvial sediment transport in the headwater regions and potential impacts on downstream areas.

 Japan’s Immigration Policy in Transition

Following decades of postwar closure, in recent years Japan has initiated policy reforms that are effectively transforming it into a “new country of immigration.” What drives the formulation of Japan’s new immigration policy and what are the associated policy trade-offs facing policymakers? Additionally, how is the emerging field of Japan’s immigration studies responding to this shift? Through a series of qualitative inquiries, my research aims to contribute empirical, analytical, and theoretical insights to this underexplored issue area and, thereby significantly advance the emerging field of Japan’s immigration studies.

Asst Prof Ding Xiaopan (Psychology)

Theory-of-Mind Development in Young Singaporean Children

Theory-of-mind is the ability to reason about others’ mental states, and is critical for children’s later development of social skills. However, we know little about how Singaporean children develop this understanding and whether they put it into action in day-to-day social interactions. The present research program aims to bridge this significant gap and test the hypothesis that a unique combination of social and cognitive factors may contribute to Singaporean pre-schoolers’ theory-of-mind development. The proposal includes three studies. We will combine archival analysis from GUSTO cohort data, experimental study with sequential design, as well as short-term intervention to explore this question.

Brief Scalable Interventions for Cognitive Risk and Emotion Dysregulation

Cognitive risk and emotion dysregulation are transdiagnostic etiological processes to many emotional symptoms. However, little research has systematically looked into the relations between these two transdiagnostic processes simultaneously in the context of emotional symptoms. One novel approach we will undertake is to employ network analysis to identify critical elements of these two processes. Based on these identified elements, we will develop brief and scalable interventions (using psychoeducation and app technology such as push notifications) to help ameliorate emotional distress among diverse groups of people with different mental health conditions (e.g., parent-child dyads with emotional problems, problematic gamers).