Nicholas is a Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, where he leads the research programme on deliberation and public participation. His research takes an interdisciplinary approach examining how deliberative processes build bonding, bridging and linking social capital among citizens and between citizens and institutions to improve public policy and programme design.
He has almost two decades of experience in government and civic engagement, including key roles in national exercises such as Forward Singapore, Emerging Stronger Conversations and Our Singapore Conversation. He previously served as Deputy Director at the Singapore Government Partnerships Office in the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth and helped to establish the engagement unit at the Ministry of Health, contributing to initiatives in healthcare financing, ageing policy and caregiver support.
He is currently reading for a PhD in Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore and serves as a member of the School Advisory Committee of Northland Secondary School.
Research Interests
Deliberative Theory; Public Participation; Social Capital; Citizen–Citizen and Citizen–State relations; Participatory Governance and Policymaking
Publications
- Thomas, N., Lee, J., Goh, W., Najib, A., Wong, K. L., (2025). Building Bridges Across Differences: Piloting a Consensus Conference on Local-Foreign Integration in Singapore. Project Report.
Op-eds/Commentaries
- Thomas, N. (2026, Feb 9). Budget 2026 should make it easier to book void deck spaces and rebuild social capital. The Straits Times.
- Thomas, N. (2025, Oct 13). Neighbour disputes: What more can we do for parties to come to the table?. The Straits Times.
- Thomas, N. & Lee, J. (2025, Sep 4). Want a ‘we first’ society? Members of Parliament are vital to the effort. The Straits Times.
- Thomas, N. & Lee, J. (2025, Aug 8). At SG60, it's time to move from a ‘me’ to ‘we’ society. CNA.
Conferences / Presentations
- Moderator (24 October 2025). IPS Policy Lab Learning Webinar: “Citizens’ Parliament: Lessons in Public Participation”, Institute of Policy Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
- Thomas, N. (2025). "Has Asia Found a Better Path in Deliberation Practices? A West vs. East Analysis". International Association for Media and Communication Research Annual Conference. Nanyang Technological University, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Singapore.
- Thomas, N. (18-19 Apr 2025). "How Does Deliberation Work in ASEAN? Cases from Singapore, Thailand and Cambodia". Inaugural SJTU-IAMCR Emerging Media Forum. School of Media and Communication (SMC), Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai.