Irene Lim

Deputy Director (Administration) (1999 – present)

Irene Lim joined IPS in 1999 as Administration Manager, handling the Institute’s finance, human resource, events and facilities portfolios. She learnt about events organisation from then Director Dr Lee Tsao Yuan. Her early tasks included disposing many old documents, and giving colleagues more freedom and responsibilities.

On personal and institutional milestones, Ms Lim mentioned work trips to Japan, Germany and Belgium, and major events such as IPS’ 15th anniversary celebration at the Istana, the annual Singapore Perspectives, SG50 and the Singapore Bicentennial Conference. Another milestone was the merger with the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, which brought more structure (e.g., group health insurance), but reduced IPS’ flexibility in decision-making (e.g., remuneration).

On perceptions of IPS, she said that her relatives and friends had always thought of IPS as a government institution, and that she would tell them otherwise. In any case, she thought that people had positive opinions of IPS. Her experiences at IPS dealing with public and people sector representatives had been positive, too.

She spoke about “having good colleagues and good bosses”. She cited the examples of “alumni” who returned to work for IPS part-time during its events, and administrative staff who had left but later returned to IPS, as evidence of the strong organisational culture, and bosses valuing staff. A memorable moment for her was resolving an immigration issue for a Pakistani participant who was selected for Asia Journalism Fellowship.


This interview was conducted on 10 Jul 2019. Click here to listen to the full interview.