IPS Update Issue November 2024

On 4 November 2024, Professor Lily Kong, IPS’ 15th S R Nathan Fellow for the Study of Singapore delivered her second lecture titled "At the Crossroads: Universities for the 100-Year Life".

Professor Kong explored how universities must adapt for lifelong learning, focusing on skills beyond cognition, interdisciplinary depth, and resilience for extended career transitions. She envisioned universities as lifelong partners addressing complex global challenges through integrated education.

The post-lecture Q&A session, moderated by Professor Chua Kee Chaing, President of the Singapore Institute of Technology, covered topics on how the balance between hyperspecialisation and interdisciplinarity should be struck, the role of STEM education in "restoring the human" in the community and society in an age of AI, and how institutions can better inspire the pursuit of knowledge as an intrinsic motivation for upskilling in adulthood.

Click here to find out more about the 15th IPS-Nathan Lecture Series and read the event summary for her first lecture here.

The third lecture titled “Beyond the Ivory Tower: Research and the Dilemmas of Quality and Relevance”, will take place on 27th November. Register to attend here.

IPS News Fellowship 2024 — Akane Sugimura and Venessa Lee

The Institute of Policy Studies is pleased to announce the appointments of Venessa Lee, Senior Correspondent with The Straits Times, and Akane Sugimura, Senior Producer at CNA (Singapore Desk), as the IPS News Fellows for 2024.

The fellowship is designed to provide outstanding mid-career journalists and editors an opportunity to take time off and spend three months at IPS to research on and write a research paper, monograph or conduct a project on a societal issue in Singapore.  

Read the press release here.

Commentary: Homeless shelters that feel like home can help keep people off the streets in Singapore
(CNA)
By Harry Tan, Vanessa Lim, Belle Phang and Brian Monteiro
• 8-min read

The idea of homelessness and rough sleeping seems at odds with Singapore’s image as a prosperous, orderly society. Yet, as of 2022, around 530 people in Singapore sleep rough.
 
In this commentary, Harry Tan, Vanessa Lim, Belle Phang and Brian Monteiro discuss how addressing homelessness require more than just providing temporary shelters; it requires creating thoughtful, dignified environments that support recovery and autonomy. They argue that well-designed shelters can be a compassionate, essential step toward helping individuals transition from the streets to permanent housing.

Commentary — Trump’s comeback: Outlook for Singapore and Asean
(The Straits Times)
By Tommy Koh
• 4-min read

The 2024 US Presidential Elections saw Donald Trump pulling off a historic win and is set to return to the White House again.
 
In this commentary, Professor Tommy Koh discusses the outlook for US-Singapore and ASEAN relations under a second Trump administration, suggesting that while US-Singapore ties are likely to stay strong, ASEAN should temper its expectations. 
 
Trump’s preference for bilateral engagements and protectionist policies could pose challenges for ASEAN, particularly in areas such as climate change, trade, and US-China relations.

Report — Future-Ready Society Conference Series: Learning Journey 4 – How to Design Systems that Harness Collective Intelligence

As part of the Future-Ready Society Conference Series, the fourth learning journey, titled “How to Design Systems that Harness Collective Intelligence,” took place on 10 September 2024.

Moderated by Dr Dilum Wewalaarachchi, the event featured Mr Robert Laubacher, Executive Director and Research Scientist at MIT’s Center for Collective Intelligence. He delivered a presentation on “collective intelligence” (CI) as a crucial tool for enhancing citizen participation and addressing complex social issues.

He was joined by Mr Steve Loh, Executive Director at the Lien Centre for Social Innovation, and Dr Natalie Pang, Associate Professor and Head of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore. They discussed the practical applications and ethical considerations of such innovations before the question-and-answer segment.

Report — Future-Ready Society Conference 2024: The Future of Citizen Participation and Collective Intelligence

The second instalment of the Future-Ready Society Conference Series, focused on the “Future of Citizen Participation and Collective Intelligence”, was held on 1 October 2024.

The conference explored key questions: How can policymakers engage meaningfully with citizens? As citizens actively co-create solutions, how do we reconcile diverse opinions and values? What conditions allow mass participation to lead to collective wisdom rather than mob rule? Through panel discussions and interactive dialogues, policymakers, practitioners, academics, and experts shared insights, enriching the discourse on effective governance and civic engagement.

IPS Working Paper No.58 — Digital Capacity Building for Own-Account Workers in Singapore

Own-account workers in Singapore are self-employed individuals without paid employees, spanning various professions from delivery riders to engineers. They face challenges in upskilling without long-term employer support, despite making up a significant portion of the global workforce.

In this paper, Carol Soon, Chew Han Ei, and Beverly Tan investigate their digital readiness, the essential job-ready digital skills required for the digital economy, and ways to better align digital skills training with the needs of less digitally literate own-account workers.