About Us
The Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy’s (LKYSPP)
Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) is a
newly formed university-based think tank designed to assist
governments and other stakeholders identify, address, and
close the gaps between their sustainability goals and
outcomes.
We know that state of the art knowledge and analysis within
applied sustainability policy sciences exists, but so far
has been poorly integrated into the design of well-intended,
but often short lived or ineffective policy tools. IES’
vision and mission are devoted to bridging this divide.
Vision: to generate novel “fit-for-purpose”
policy solutions for Southeast Asia's most pressing
environmental and sustainability challenges.
Mission: to enhance policy design capacity
building through research, training, dialogues and
problem-oriented analysis.
IES is housed within the prestigious LKYSPP and draws
heritage from its predecessor, the Institute for Water Policy
(IWP), now known as the Centre for Water Policy. IWP was
established in 2008 and internationally recognised for its
research on water-related challenges including Water Science
& Public Policy; Behavioural Studies; Water Economics; and
Water Governance. Through the years, IWP generated over 800
publications across top journals and regularly shared
subject-matter expertise through public seminars and executive
education programs.
IES focuses on enabling others across Asia to design, and
unleash, fit-for-purpose policy tools and policy mixes. Recent
decades have seen extraordinary advances in sustainability
research in scientific and technological communities, but
integration of cutting-edge policy sciences research with these
other advances has not kept pace. This produces a disconnect or
gap that represents a missed opportunity to develop and deploy
“fit-for-purpose" policy solutions which are effective and
durable.
Environmental and sustainability issues are cross-cutting with
implications for all societal levels and economic sectors. Our
global response to these issues must be equally cross-cutting
and developed through multidisciplinary collaborations. IES
experts are at the forefront of new policy design approaches and
seek to apply this knowledge in developing the region’s capacity
for more effective policy-driven sustainability outcomes. IES
builds upon these foundations and broadens the institute’s
research scope to cover four thematic areas:
- Oceans & Water
- Biodiversity & Land Use
- Climate & Energy
- Sustainable Livelihoods