PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Assoc Prof John Whalen-Bridge (English, Linguistics, and Theatre Studies)

The Authorized Biography of Maxine Hong Kingston

I am writing an authorized (full access to materials including private writings, and approved free consultation with author’s friends, agents, editors) biography of the Asian-American icon and writer Maxine Hong Kingston. The field of Asian-American literary study might not even exist if she had not written her award-winning and extremely influential The Woman Warrior in 1976. She was not the first Asian-American writer, but she was the first to be acknowledged by high-ranking critics, win awards, and be taught in a variety of courses. This book will be a substantial scholarly contribution and the primary reference on Kingston.

Recent discussions on post-Covid normalization of flexible working arrangements (FWAs) have raised the issue of “flexibility penalty” — the disadvantages faced by employees who engage in such arrangements. However, there is a significant gap in literature regarding managerial perspectives on this penalty, particularly in Singapore. Using vignette survey experiment and semi-structured interviews, this study aims to examine (1) whether managers in Singapore hold negative perceptions toward workers using different types of FWAs; (2) how the potential flexibility stigma varies with workers’ gender-parenthood status; (3) whether the normalization of FWAs in organizational contexts or national policies can help mitigate the stigma.

Assoc Prof Bussarawan (Puk) Teerawichitchainan (Sociology & Anthropology)

Cross-National Perspectives on Aging with Limited Family Ties

Family ties are essential for older individuals’ well-being; however, demographic shifts have altered family structures globally, raising concerns about limited kin availability. Past research has predominantly focused on kinlessness in Western contexts, neglecting regions facing similar demographic challenges such as Asia. We propose a two-day workshop on aging with limited family ties from a cross-national perspective. Additionally, we will organize and edit a journal special issue on the multifaceted aspects of limited family ties and their consequences on well-being. Our team, with research expertise and a proven track record in convening conferences and editorial experiences, will lead these efforts.

Asst Prof Tiffany Tsai Tsin Tien (Economics)

Innovation and New Product Development on E-commerce

This project proposes to study multi-sided learning (defined both consumer and seller learning) of new products with unknown quality. We will build a dynamic equilibrium model of new product entry, pricing, and exit, with both sellers and buyers gradually learning through ratings. To estimate the model, we aim to collect unique data that tracks the entry and exit of new products, the formation of their reputations, and the evolution of prices and sales for various product categories on Amazon.com. Through counterfactual analysis, we aim to illustrate how modifications in the reputation system and entry regulations could influence new product entry and how they interact with multi-sided learning.

Evolving Trends in Foreign Language Education: Past Lessons, Present Reflections, Future Directions 

The Tenth CLS International Conference, with the theme “Evolving Trends in Foreign Language Education: Past Lessons, Present Reflections, Future Directions”, will explore the evolving trends in foreign language education.

Areas of focus:

-Technological Paradigms, The Digital Shift, and Mobile Technologies
Impact of AI, VR, mobile devices, and other emerging technologies on learning and teaching techniques.

-Innovative Instructional Approaches, Curriculum and Materials Development
Influence of 21st-century skills on pedagogy, student engagement, and transformative teaching; Community-based, Situated, and Project-Based Learning; Material design aligned with evolving needs of modern language education

-Cultural and Language Diversities and Literacies
Teaching and mastering languages in diverse cultural and linguistic landscapes

-Language Assessment, Evaluation, Feedback
Innovative assessment methodologies, their validity and reliability, and broader implications.

-Learner Diversity and Challenges in Language Education
Inclusivity strategies and their transformative potential; Diversity issues and the problems they pose in language instruction.

-Teacher Education, Professional Development
Contemporary practices, evolving roles, and responsibilities of modern language educators.

-Research Methods and Approaches
Exploring methodologies shaping academic research in language education

-Emergent Themes in Language Education
Topics shaped by past experiences, future expectations, and current disruptions in pedagogy.

Asst Prof Wang Ao (Economics)

The Perception about Self, Peer, and External Factors – The role of Learning and Forgetting

How students learn from feedback about self and the surrounding environment impacts human capital accumulation and policy making of educational institutions. This project proposes to answer this question by studying NUS students from the perspective of behavioural economics. I plan to leverage the quasi-random variation in letter grade around raw score cutoffs to study:

(a) The impact of grade feedback and its persistence.

(b) Whether feedback changes perception about peers and academic environment.

(c) How feedback response differs among those with lower socioeconomic status.

(d) Whether reference dependence, where feedback is compared to certain benchmark such as expectation, influences learning.

Asst Prof Joris Michael Mueller (Economics)

BREAD Asia Conference at NUS, 19-20 December 2024

On 19–20 December 2024, NUS will host the first BREAD Asia Conference in Development Economics. BREAD (Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development) is an elite network of development economists. Until recently, BREAD conferences were exclusively held in Europe and North America. In 2023, the first BREAD conference took place in Africa. We are honored that NUS was chosen as the site of the first BREAD conference in Asia. The 2-day, single-stream conference will consist of paper presentations by both senior international and junior Asia-based scholars. Junior local scholars will receive mentoring from renowned international scholars.

Asst Prof Wei Luo (Geography)

Future spread of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes Albopictus in SEA

This project aims to map the past and future spread of the arbovirus vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Southeast Asia using high spatial resolution dynamical downscaling of climate projections. Global climate models constrain the regional precision of future climate projections, leading to low-resolution projections of species climate suitability maps. The urbanization data currently used in research primarily consists of discrete urban classification variables. An innovative framework integrates high-resolution regional climate projections (up to 2 kilometres) with continuous urbanization metrics into advanced disease vector distribution models in SEA. We have mapped a simple version of the past spread of the vector distributions in SEA.

Asst Prof Jian Xu (Political Science)

Transnational IP Protection for Multinational Businesses

This project aims to construct a new dataset of IP-related litigation engaged in by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the domestic courts of host countries. The purpose is to examine the determinants of the quality of IP protection through domestic and transnational judicial processes. We hypothesize that, contrary to common perceptions of authoritarian courts as lacking the independence to provide sufficient protection of foreign firms’ IP interests, the win rates of foreign firms are not significantly lower than those of domestic firms. This project will develop and analyse large lawsuit-level datasets in transnational contexts to provide the first comprehensive overview and analysis of IP litigation in national courts involving both domestic and foreign actors.