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TAY, Melvin

TAY, Melvin

TAY, Melvin
郑永尧

Research Fellow

Dr Melvin Tay is Research Fellow in the Institute of Policy Studies’ Social Lab. His research interests lie at the intersection of politics and society; with a focus on societal faultlines, their significance, and their management via policy instruments and community platforms. He has scoped, managed, and contributed to several public sector-commissioned projects on race, religion, immigration, class, sexuality, age and education – key faultlines in the Singapore context.

Prior to his time at IPS, Melvin was a corporate strategist at a top management consulting firm. He worked directly with the MD to drive formulation of market strategy across Asia-Pacific markets, run strategic alignment workshops for C-suite clients and internal stakeholders, and contribute to the delivery of external strategy and visioning projects for key public sector agencies.

Outside of the Institute, Melvin has been well-involved in several community and youth empowerment initiatives, in partnership with the Central Singapore Community Development Council and the National Youth Council since 2011. These are conceptualised with the intent to provide at-risk and underprivileged youth pathways to success, and have to-date impacted over 5,000 youths.

Melvin has a PhD in Public Policy from the University of Tokyo, a Master of Social Sciences (Political Economy), and a Bachelor of Social Sciences (1st Class Honours) in Political Science and Philosophy from the National University of Singapore.


Research Interests

Social divisions, social trust, race, religion, immigration, nationality, class, inequality, gender and sexuality, generational divides, education


Publications


Op-eds/Commentaries


Conferences / Presentations 

  • Panellist (1 Dec 2025). Dependencies, Partnerships & Digital Bridges: Reimagining Cooperation between Europe and the Global South Workshop. German Federal Foreign Office, German Embassy in Singapore, the Digital Transformation Lab (DigiTraL) of the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA), and the Centre for Computational Social Science and Humanities (CSSH), NUS. Singapore.
  • Moderator (29 Jan 2024). Findings from SP2024 Pre-Conference Poll. Singapore Perspectives 2024, Institute of Policy Studies, Singapore.
  • Panellist (24 Jan 2024). National Youth Council x Singapore Polytechnic Webinar Series on Local-Foreigner Integration, Singapore.
  • Panellist (24 Nov 2023). Building Bridges: Unveiling Challenges, Seeking Connections, National Youth Council Dialogue on Local-Foreigner Integration, Singapore.
  • Tay, M. (2018). Beyond Power Plays: Why Do Weaker States Ink Deep Trade Agreements?. Inaugural National University of Singapore Political Science Conference, Singapore.
  • Tay, M., Lee, T., and Laksmana, E. (2017). Why do Retired Military Officers Enter Politics?: An Empirical Analysis of Indonesia’s Military Academy Graduates. 75th Annual Midwest Political Science Association Conference, Chicago, IL.
  • Kim, S. Y., and Lee, C. Y. Y. and Tay, M. (2017). Setting up Shop in Foreign Lands: Do Investment Commitments in PTAs Promote Production Networks?. The Political Economy of International Organizations 10th Annual Conference, University of Bern, Switzerland.
  • Aoki, N. and Tay, M. (2013). Managerialism and Regimes in Public Administration. Public Management Research Conference, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.


Courses Taught

  • Lecturer, Public Administration in Singapore (PS2244). AY2024/25 Semester 2. Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore.


Awards / Scholarships 

  • University of Tokyo Graduate School of Public Policy Doctoral Fellowship
  • Elfinity-Asia Pacific Industry Fellowship
  • National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Teaching Fellowship
  • NUS Master’s Scholarship
  • NUS Undergraduate-UTown Scholarship