Tag: Singapore Management University

A new study by SMU Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA) unveils a higher social well-being score among seniors who have access to neighbourhood amenities

The availability of neighbourhood amenities, including parks, greenspaces, or exercise spaces within a 10-minute walk from home, is found to be associated with higher social well-being scores among Singapore’s older adults, according to a new study by the SMU Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA).

ROSA researchers reached these conclusions after polling 6,689 Singaporeans between the ages of 58 to 78 (inclusive) in May 2022, with data drawn from the Singapore Life Panel® (SLP). The SLP is a nationally representative monthly panel survey of middle-aged and older adults in Singapore, which began with a sample of Singaporeans aged between 50 and 70 years of age in 2015.

Named “The social well-being of older adults in Singapore”, the study aimed to use the Keyes concept of social well-being to understand and improve the well-being of middle-aged and older adults in Singapore. According to Keyes, social well-being consists of 5 primary components: social coherence, social actualization, social integration, social contribution, and social acceptance.

“Aristotle famously said that Man is by nature a social animal. Social well-being is, and will remain, key to successful ageing. With this study, we’re seeing that as social well-being improves, mental well-being scores among older adults improve. As Singapore’s silver population comes of age, it’s more important than ever for us to step up efforts to help older adults feel like they are part of a community,” said Professor Paulin Straughan, Director, ROSA.

This study was made possible through the generosity of The Ngee Ann Kongsi and the support of the Ministry of Education. Full details of the report can be accessed here.

Key findings and practical implications for society:

1. The availability of neighbourhood amenities is found to be positively associated with social well-being. In other words, our results suggest that when older adults have more amenities available to them within their neighbourhood, they feel more integrated within their communities and that they have more to contribute to their communities.

2. The greatest difference in social well-being score is found when comparing between respondents with and without parks, greenspaces, or exercise spaces within a 10-minute walk from their home. This suggests that parks and green spaces are especially important in ensuring for the social well-being of older adults. This could be due to the fact that such spaces afford older adults with opportunities to interact with other members of the community. Such interactions are vital in creating a sense of community among residents.

3. We also find that social activities are positively correlated with social well-being, with the frequency of digital contact having the strongest effect on the social well-being of respondents. This suggests that digital contact can be a viable point of intervention in increasing the social well-being of older adults in Singapore, and that current efforts to increase the digital literacy of older adults should be strengthened.

In terms of recommendations, ROSA suggests the following for consideration:

1.       Further research should be conducted to uncover the differential effects that the availability of specific neighborhood amenities can have on the social well-being of older adults. The current descriptive results preliminary suggest that different amenities shape social well-being to different extents. However, we note that the present data are correlational and that these trends will thus require further investigation. This further research will likely be valuable for policy formation as by identifying the types of amenities that are most likely to contribute to social well-being.

2.       Increasing middle-aged and older adult participation in social activities may be a key means by which social and mental well-being can be improved, and efforts to keep older adults engaged in such activities should be expanded.

The Singapore Management University’s (SMU) School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS)  announced a collaboration with global professional services company, Accenture,
and cloud provider, Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch a new Work-Study Elective (WSE) Programme. The Programme is a six-month commitment from students to learn the latest AWS Cloud technologies and apply classroom knowledge to innovate cloud-based solutions that address real-world challenges.

The WSE Programme is open to all SCIS students annually, and comprises two key components – an Accenture internship qualification and a Cloud Solutions Development course supported by Accenture and AWS. Over six months, students will learn and apply AWS Cloud technologies via associate-level courses and certifications from AWS Academy, a free, ready-to-teach cloud computing curriculum for higher education institutions that prepares students to pursue industry-recognised credentials and in-demand technology jobs. Selected courses in SCIS are conducted using AWS Academy teaching and learning resources that prepare students to build industry-aligned capstone projects on AWS Cloud and achieve AWS certifications.

Students will also work on problem statements designed by Accenture and innovate on solutions built on AWS Cloud, addressing these challenges. Those who successfully complete the WSE Programme, along with SMU’s courses in IT solution architecture and enterprise solution development, will be eligible to apply for an internship opportunity with Accenture.

According to recently published Accenture research, there has been an increase in cloud investment over the last two years, with more than 86% of global companies reporting an increase in cloud initiatives. An AWS-commissioned industry report highlights Asia Pacific businesses that employ cloud engineers and software developers report annual revenues 150% higher than those that rely on workers with basic digital skills. As cloud becomes more prevalent in organisations, there is a growing need for skilled professionals who can manage and optimise cloud environments, and also a need for upskilling and reskilling programmes.

Professor Pang Hwee Hwa, Dean, School of Computing and Information Systems and Lee Kong Chian Chair Professor of Computer Science, Singapore Management University says, “The momentum of digitalisation remains unabated and employers are seeking more highly skilled digital talent. As a key business and technology hub in Asia, Singapore needs to ensure a high quality, digitally-skilled talent pipeline. This is borne out by the strong performance of our graduates in the recent Graduate Employment Survey. Preparing our students does not stop at the curriculum, we want to equip our students with the right skills and be workforce-ready. SMU’s Education and Career Guidance brings together students and industry collaborators like Accenture and AWS to help students better understand the cloud job roles. The WSE Programme supported by Accenture and AWS is a great example of industry leaders coming together to deliver a learning and working environment that strengthens the industry relevance of our students, specifically in high-demand cloud skills.”

Ng Wee Wei, Southeast Asia Market Unit Lead and Singapore’s Country Managing Director, Accenture says, “Technology is transforming societies and economies, but to realise its potential, we need the right talent. Cloud, data, and AI skills are crucial for thriving in the digital economy. The WSE Programme with SMU and AWS expands on Accenture’s commitment to talent creation through retraining, skills prioritisation, and combining technology with human potential. Our ‘hire to train’ approach quickly upskills talents on emerging technologies. We are proud and excited about the potential of this collaboration which offers hands-on cloud technology experience and real-world project work for students to build a future-ready, resilient workforce for Singapore’s growing digital economy.”

Elsie Tan, Singapore Country Manager, Public Sector, Amazon Web Services says, “The WSE
Programme highlights the importance of academic and industry collaborations to co-design and co-deliver cloud skills training and development, directly addressing the Singapore Government’s call for action to skill, reskill, and upskill workers. AWS is honoured to support world-leading universities like SMU and trusted AWS Partners like Accenture to enable students to earn industry-recognised certifications, secure potential employment, and ramp up their career readiness to successfully transition from academia to the workforce. AWS has trained over 200,000 individuals in Singapore on cloud skills since 2017 and we look forward to deepening our commitment to support even more industry collaborations to digitally skill more learners.”

Study by lead author Assistant Professor Andree Hartanto from SMU and his team examined the notion whether frequent use of smartphones may lead to daily cognitive failures

A new study by the Singapore Management University finds that more frequent smartphone checking behaviour is associated with greater incidences of daily cognitive failures. However, the findings also indicate that some forms of screen time are actually associated with reduced cognitive failures.

Titled “Smartphone use and daily cognitive failures: A critical examination using a daily diary approach with objective smartphone measures”, it was led by Assistant Professor of Psychology Andree Hartanto (Singapore Management University) and published in the British Journal of Psychology. The study team comprised co-authors Kristine Y.X. Lee, Chua Yi Jing, Frosch Y.X. Quek and Nadyanna M. Majeed.

Rationale/motivation for this study

While smartphones have brought many benefits and conveniences to users, there is continuing debate regarding their potential negative consequences on everyday cognition if used too frequently. Research has suggested that frequent smartphone use can lead to cognitive overload and decrease attentional control, which may contribute to cognitive failures such as forgetfulness, distraction, and mind wandering. Moreover, the use of smartphones can be interruptive, which may interfere with the one’s ability to focus and complete tasks.

A few cross-sectional studies have found positive associations between smartphone use and cognitive failures. However, several research gaps remain, such as the use of cross-sectional designs, confounds related to stable individual differences, the lack of validity in self-report measures of smartphone use, memory biases in retrospective self-reports, and the lack of differentiation between smartphone checking and smartphone screen time. To simultaneously address the aforementioned shortcomings, the team was thus motivated to conduct this study.

Methodology (N = 181)

A total of 181 youths based in Singapore were surveyed. The participants first completed a baseline survey that collected data such as age, sex, monthly household income, and socioeconomic status. They then completed a daily diary study for seven days. Screen time and smartphone checking for seven days were objectively tracked using the inbuilt iOS Screen Time Application Programming Interface.

The incidence of daily cognitive failures was assessed by the 13-item Cognitive Failures in Everyday Life Scale , where participants indicated whether they had experienced cognitive failures such as failing to remember the right word to use, leaving tasks unfinished due to distraction, or unintentionally allowing their mind to wander.

Participants also had to report each day whether they had experienced any of seven types of stressors – discrimination, work/education stressors, network stressors, arguments, avoided arguments, stressors at home, and others, as well as complete daily assessments of emotional states.

Key findings and practical impact/implications for society

The study revealed that smartphone checking, but not total smartphone screen time, predicted a greater occurrence of daily cognitive failures at the within-person level.

The team found that on days where individuals engaged in more smartphone checking, they were more likely to experience cognitive failures, as compared with days when they engaged in less smartphone checking. According to Asst Prof Andree Hartanto, “This suggests that excessive smartphone checking is a distracting behaviour that increases cognitive load and thus cognitive failures. This is something that we should be mindful especially when engaging in activities that require full attention such as driving and studying. Given the risk of cognitive failure, it important to turn off notification or put the phone on silent during these activities. Taking regular breaks from smartphone usage, avoiding multitasking, and setting intentions and goals for smartphone usage have been shown to be useful too.”

Surprisingly, the team also found that the incidence of daily cognitive failures was negatively related to smartphone screen time for social-related applications and tools-related applications. This suggests that some types of smartphone use may temporarily benefit one’s cognitive functioning. “For example, tools-related applications, such as calculator and navigation maps, may help in helping individuals momentarily offload cognitive resources, thereby freeing up mental capacity to work on the task at hand,” adds Asst Prof Andree Hartanto. “Nevertheless, moderation is still the key. Moderate use of smartphone and other technological devices has been shown to be safe and normal. That is why it is still important for parents with children who use their phone excessively to set boundaries and schedules for their children’s smartphone usage.”

This finding demonstrates the importance of studying the specific functions of smartphone use and their differential cognitive consequences, as well as highlights the complex relations between smartphone use and cognition.

“Ultimately a smartphone is a tool, and just like any other tool, it requires us to be mindful and smart in its usage. This way, we can optimise its benefits and minimise its potential drawback” says Asst Prof Andree Hartanto. 

Singapore Management University (SMU) Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL) will allow interested law students to specialise and gain a higher level of proficiency in the practical and interdisciplinary areas of Corporate Transaction; Law and Technology; and Dispute Resolution via a new Tracks scheme; as well as require all law students to complete a Law Capstone Course before they graduate.

The law school announced these enhancements to its Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Juris Doctor (JD) programmes following a recent review of its curriculum, which took into key consideration the impact of global trends on the legal sector. The review, part of an on-going process to ensure that the SMU LLB and JD are constantly innovated to meet new and future challenges, collected input and feedback from a panel of over 50 practising lawyers in the private and public sectors.

Professor Lee Pey Woan, Dean of SMU YPHSL said, “The Tracks scheme guides students in elective selection for key and emerging practice areas, gives them the flexibility to tailor their curriculum, and allows them to gain a head-start in their preferred field. More than simply a curation of law electives within a law subfield, this scheme builds upon the multi and interdisciplinary nature of our existing LLB curriculum in recognition that the law does not exist in the abstract but to serve business and broader societal needs. It also recognises the growing diversity in legal career options and the inevitable shift towards more complex work.”

“The legal industry is evolving and is demanding in its workforce a higher level of competency in skills and knowledge in adjacent disciplines that are important to the practice and study of law. These changes will further strengthen and distinguish SMU’s LLB programme, and nurture future-ready and practice-ready SMU law graduates; they also give students a distinct competitive edge when they enter the workforce,” she added.

Currently, all law undergraduates at SMU get baseline exposure to adjacent disciplines (including finance, technology, etc.) as part of the SMU LLB curriculum. Students enrolled in the SMU LLB on and after Academic Year (AY) 2021-2022 who are keen to delve deeper into the interdisciplinary areas can choose to declare a Track, which will be reflected in their official transcripts. This allows students to signal their interest and expertise to their employers in a formal way.

YPHSL is the only law school in Singapore that offers specialisation in law, which is yet another testament to SMU’s innovative approach to education.

Every law student from the AY2021 cohort enrolled in the LLB programme will also be required to take a Law Capstone course. Commenting on the motivation of this new requirement, Professor Lee said, “Recognising that real world problems are increasingly complex, the Law Capstone course adds the polishing touch, training students to look across traditional boundaries by working on projects that span three or more areas of the law and through a practical lens. Rather than looking for fixed or standard answers, students participate in the process of creating new solutions.”

Building upon the university’s flagship SMU-X programme – project-based experiential learning where SMU students work in small groups and apply their interdisciplinary knowledge on real-world projects with industry and faculty mentors – every Law Capstone course going forward will be an SMU-X course. YPHSL has also integrated the Law Capstone requirement into the LLB Tracks. For those who have declared a specific Track, there will be a designated Law Capstone that must be taken.

Singapore Management University (SMU) School of Social Sciences (SOSS) Assistant Professor Kimin Eom has received the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star designation.

The APS Rising Star designation is presented to outstanding APS Members in the earliest stages of their research career post-PhD. Drawing its name from an Observer editorial series that featured exemplars of the exciting work being done by the field’s newest researchers, this designation recognises researchers whose innovative work has already advanced the field and signals great potential for their continued contributions.

Asst Prof Eom’s primary research examines prosociality, broadly defined – why people behave in ways that benefit others, society, and the globe. In particular, he examines this topic within the context of social and global challenges that threaten society’s sustainability, such as climate change and pandemics.

How he got this achievement

When asked why he thought he has been named as a Rising Star, he said, “My research on culture and sustainability played an important role, I believe. There is a significant body of research on the psychology of sustainability behaviour, but still a dearth of research has considered culture and diversity. Given the global nature of sustainability problems, this is a serious limitation. My research has addressed this gap by examining diverse forms of culture, such as nationality, social class, and religion, to understand how people with different cultural backgrounds respond to sustainability problems and what similarly and differently motivates their sustainability related actions.”

How his research impacts society and its implications

In general, as a scholar, Asst Prof Eom pursues fundamental questions about human psychology (e.g., what motivates human action, how culture shapes human psychology, how others influence our behaviour) but pay close attention and care about the contexts where he addresses those questions. He tries to test theoretically novel ideas in contexts of important and timely social issues. By doing so, his research aims to advance psychological theory while offering practical insights (for interventions, policy making, marketing, etc.) for positive social change.

He further elaborated, “regarding my research on culture and sustainability, policies and interventions are commonly built on implicit assumptions about the ways in which behaviour operates. Importantly, my research has identified cultural differences in determinants of pro-environmental motivation and behaviour. These findings inform what psychological factors can be targeted for different cultural groups. These findings also suggest that we need to apply different assumptions when approaching people with different backgrounds, which should be informed by data and research.”

Other research areas he is working on

Recently, he has actively worked on research on social norms: How people perceive and respond to social norms and their implications for positive attitudes and behaviour change. According to Asst Prof Eom, norms can be powerful tools to be leveraged for behaviour change across various domains at the workplace, school or cultural settings.

Moving forward, he says “I would like to continue to develop and expand my research on culture, norms, and sustainability and offer new knowledge and insights towards greater sustainability and collective well-being.”

A new study by the SMU Centre for Research on Successful Ageing (ROSA) revealed that nearly 1 in 3 older adults in Singapore felt there was at least a 50 percent chance that they would be unable to afford basic necessities or have difficulties paying bills.

This latest study, “Concerns over the cost of living among older adults in Singapore”, which polled 6,839 Singaporeans aged 57 to 76 in August 2022, showed a marked increase in the number of seniors who expected their financial situation to worsen. Almost half of the respondents surveyed (45 per cent) felt that they would be forced to lower their standard of living, up from 38 per cent who felt the same way in May 2020 during the circuit-breaker.

The three items respondents were most worried about being able to afford were (in order of most to least) (i) medical services, (ii) utilities, and (iii) prescription medication.

“As intuitive as they may sound, these results warrant closer attention given that economic expectations are an important predictor of well-being. With these findings, we are kept abreast of how rapid inflation and rising costs are shaping the economic concerns and consumption decisions of older Singaporeans. These findings also highlight older adults as a demographic group that is particularly vulnerable to the rising cost of living, and help us to better identify measures that effectively help vulnerable seniors cope with the pinch of rising living costs in line with national efforts to promote successful ageing,” said Professor Paulin Straughan, Director, ROSA.

This study uses data from the Singapore Life Panel®, a population representative monthly online survey of Singaporeans aged 57 to 76 in 2022 that has been conducted since 2015. This study was made possible through the generosity of The Ngee Ann Kongsi and the support of the Ministry of Education.

Full details of the report can be accessed here.

Key findings and recommendations:

1.       Of those surveyed, 45 per cent anticipated that they would be forced to lower their standard of living. This is up from 38 per cent who felt the same way in May 2020 during the circuit-breaker, suggesting that older adults are more concerned now about their financial situations than they were during the circuit-breaker.

2.       32 per cent of respondents surveyed in August 2022 expected that they would be unable to afford basic necessities or have difficulties paying bills, up from 22 per cent in May 2020.

3.       The following demographic groups had the highest expectations of negative financial impacts, where they expected that they would be forced to lower their standard of living or be forced to use their savings or liquidate their investments, and anticipated being unable to afford basic necessities or having difficulties paying their bills:

i.            Respondents who were unemployed, laid off, or on sick leave

ii.            Respondents with primary or no education

iii.            Respondents living in 1-3 room HDB flats

Based on the above findings, ROSA makes these policy recommendations for consideration:

1.       Support for older adults should be targeted at those likely to experience more severe financial difficulties (older adults with low-SES, as well as older adults who are unemployed, laid off, or on sick leave).

2.       Financial support should focus on providing for necessities (utilities, groceries, and healthcare needs), as respondents were most concerned about the affordability of such items.

3.       Effective communication of the government’s mitigation measures for the inflation and impending GST hikes is warranted to buffer the psychological impact of older individuals’ financial concerns.

New research from the Singapore Management University shows that having individuals visualise the shock of future climate change failed to motivate them to change behaviour. Research insights demonstrate the importance of customising communication strategies to different groups, from climate sceptics to individuals already living sustainable lives. This research paper is newly published in PLOS Climate, an open-access journal that furthers understanding of climatic impacts and solutions

There is no easy way to engage with the general public to communicate the risks of climate change, according to a new study. Contrary to the adage of ‘seeing is believing’, individuals who saw what the future impacts of climate change may look like were not positively motivated to make behavioural changes. This was particularly true for climate sceptics[1] and for individuals who already live more climate-friendly and sustainable lives.

Led by Assistant Professor Terry van Gevelt from the College of Integrative Studies, Singapore Management University (SMU), this research investigated the use of immersive virtual experiences to communicate the risks of climate change to the general public, with a focus on coastal cities in Asia. This latest study, “Using virtual simulations of future extreme weather events to communicate climate change risk”, is based on experimental survey data from 1,500 respondents in Hong Kong, conducted in 2021.

Elaborating on the research methodology, Assistant Professor Terry van Gevelt said: “We created a completely feasible and rigorous model of an extreme weather event amplified by the expected impacts of climate change. This extreme weather event – a super typhoon –was then modelled to hit an Asian coastal city (Hong Kong, in this case) and we created a virtual simulation of the event. This virtual simulation was used as a risk communication vehicle, or a way to experientially communicate the future impacts of climate change.”

The authors underscored the importance of not overestimating the effectiveness of immersive visualisations to communicate climate risks.

“Visualising the devastating impacts of climate change play out in the cities we live in should provide the wake-up call needed to modify individual behaviour and support costly climate adaptation and mitigation measures. Unfortunately, our results suggest that ‘seeing is not believing’, especially for climate sceptics,” said Assistant Professor van Gevelt. “This goes to show that there is no easy solution to communicating climate change risk. Instead, we need to accept complexity and see highly targeted and contextual immersive experiences as one component within a comprehensive engagement strategy.”

These research findings were published on 1 February 2023 in PLOS Climate, a Californian-based non-profit and Open Access journal with a focus on collaborative, interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research to combat climate change. The research was conducted in collaboration with Duke University, Nanyang Technological University, University of Hong Kong, University of Macau, Hohai University and Sun Yat-sen University.

This work was supported by the University Grants Committee of Hong Kong (ref: 17601221), the University of Hong Kong (ref: 104005971.101497.30100.301.01 and ref: 202009002) and an Epic Games MegaGrant. Ethical approval was granted by the Human Research Ethics Committee at the University of Hong Kong (Ref: EA200187).

[1] Climate sceptics refer to individuals who do not think anthropogenic climate change is happening.

The Overseas Centre Jakarta will be part of a regional eco-system network of knowledge-sharing nodes enabling SMU to be Asia’s Knowledge Gateway.

Singapore Management University (SMU) has opened its first overseas centre in Jakarta, Indonesia on 6 December 2022. This bolsters the university’s goal to positively impact local communities as it advances its “Growth in Asia” strategic priority as part of its Vision 2025.

Since its inception in 2000, SMU has established itself as a premium global-city university in Asia
and made great strides in leveraging its cross-disciplinary strengths to successfully execute its strategic thrusts of delivering transformative education, cutting edge research, and meaningful engagements, to meet Singapore and the region’s future needs as Asia’s Knowledge Gateway.

As Centre Director of the SMU Overseas Centre Jakarta (OCJ), Mr Shoeb Z Kagda will lead the centre to develop deeper engagement between the University’s Schools, Offices, Centres, and Institutes and Indonesia Institutes of Higher Learning, business leaders, and key policy makers.

OCJ will work with local partners in education and industry to support human capital development in Indonesia and enable exchange of knowledge and expertise between Singapore and Indonesia. The Centre will provide direct access to innovative, in-depth knowledge across Institutes of Higher Learning in Indonesia; build deeper engagement with Indonesian business leaders and policy makers; and facilitate regular exchanges between SMU students and Indonesian youth.

Indonesia’s status as the largest economy in Southeast Asia with their rising rates of tertiary educated workforce puts them in an ideal position to capitalise on Asia’s growth. SMU aims to provide the avenue by which Indonesia’s corporate, government and industry workforce can take advantage of SMU’s world class education through its professional continuing education and postgraduate programmes. Additionally, SMU will work to strengthen bilateral efforts so as to develop and carry out strategic collaborative initiatives and programmes to build intellectual capital ground up and positively impact local communities.

More details here.

SMU College of Graduate Research Studies will build strong intellectual content through credit-bearing interdisciplinary courses focused on advanced methods and interdisciplinary research, and a professional development programme focused on skill-based trainings.

It will enhance ‘co-learning’ experiences and academic exchanges across SMU Schools for postgraduate research students and graduates, facilitate the collaboration of faculty members from different Schools and disciplines, as well as strengthen the development of research which is more applied.

Additionally, it will strengthen networking, cohort building and collaborative opportunities for postgraduate research students across the various programmes, facilitated through the student and alumni groups.

With interdisciplinary training, graduates of the new College will be more well-rounded, more relevant, and better able to provide applied contributions to Singapore’s development needs.

The Singapore Management University (SMU) has established its eighth school – the College of Graduate Research Studies (CGRS). The new College aims to develop world-class thought leaders who are trained to undertake cutting-edge research across disciplines, bringing about significant impact to businesses, societies and public institutions worldwide.

To this end, the College will equip SMU postgraduate research students with knowledge and competencies to develop novel solutions that are relevant to some of today’s most challenging issues through the integration of disciplines, culture and industry. It will enhance integration and interdisciplinarity across the various SMU postgraduate research programmes that will enable our students to gain a holistic learning experience and well-grounded approach to their research. This will be achieved through interdisciplinary programmes, shared courses and professional training workshops. Furthermore, the College will strengthen networking, cohort building and collaborative opportunities for postgraduate research students across the various programmes, facilitated through the student and alumni groups.

Mr Ho Kwon Ping, Chairman, SMU said “The establishment of CGRS is in line with the national strategy of building a robust base of research capabilities and peaks of international excellence, as well as nurturing a strong research and innovation talent pipeline. Our community of learners will benefit from the diversity of expertise, disciplinary and interdisciplinary knowledge and perspectives that will be shared within the College. This enhances the learning experience of postgraduate research students as they become better equipped to understand complex issues and challenges affecting the world across boundaries, and create significant, long-term impact. It will also make them more sought after by academic institutions and industry organisations that have interdisciplinary opportunities. Besides providing a holistic education, the College will also enhance the community-based experience.

“In addition to benefitting our students, the interdisciplinary approach also enables our faculty members to address societal challenges through their thought leadership and research. They increasingly collaborate with colleagues in other Schools, academics in other universities as well as with industry to enhance and accelerate the generation of knowledge.”

Sir Nigel Thrift, Chairman, Academic Affairs Committee, SMU said “The College of Graduate Research Studies is another step towards providing a superlative student experience at SMU, this time for graduate research students. Not only will it establish interdisciplinary programmes and the opportunity to access more interdisciplinary topics and workshops but it will, as a result, allow graduate researchers to gain access to broader research horizons and to discuss these new horizons with many more of their peers.”

Since 2006, SMU has trained over 400 postgraduate research graduates, and is currently training over 580 such students. About 65% of its graduates in academic research PhD programmes are working as faculty members or postdoctoral fellows in prestigious academic universities or institutions in Singapore and internationally, whilst about 35% work on R&D in industries locally and abroad.

Key Elements of CGRS

1. Building strong intellectual interdisciplinary content

(i) CGRS provides postgraduate research students with two categories of courses: Graduate Research Interdisciplinary Topics (GRIT) and Graduate Research Professional Development (GRPD) programme.

GRIT is a series of interdisciplinary courses in curated topics which are either ‘required’ or ‘electives’ depending on the academic research PhD programme. The inaugural interdisciplinary course on ‘Machine Learning for Social Science’ was held in Academic Year (AY) 2021, Term 1. This was followed by the course on ‘Applied Econometrics in Social Science’ in AY2021, Term 2. The course on ‘Introduction to Interdisciplinary Research’ will run in AY2022, Term 1.

GRPD will include two sub-components, comprising Foundation courses (e.g., graduate teaching) and Elective courses (e.g., scientific writing and presentation). This new format, which is credit bearing, will take effect for incoming academic research PhD students from the non-STEM disciplines from AY2022 onwards.

(ii) CGRS will also play an important role in the development of interdisciplinary programmes.

· PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology

CGRS has, together with the Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL), launched a new interdisciplinary programme – PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology which will welcome its first students in August 2022.

The first of its kind in Asia-Pacific and among a handful of interdisciplinary research doctoral programmes offered by law schools around the world, the programme is built on YPHSL’s research strengths, particularly in the areas of commercial law, and law and technology.

The programme adopts an industry-focused and policy-oriented approach with the purpose of producing cutting-edge research that can help regulators, companies and society as a whole face the challenges of today’s changing world.

It aims to train future thought leaders in academia, judiciary, regulatory agencies and international organisations, as well as prepare students for a career at leading research-oriented institutions.

· Master’s and PhD programmes in Asian Urbanisms

CGRS has also worked closely with the SMU’s new College of Integrative Studies to launch a Master of Philosophy in Asian Urbanisms and Doctor of Philosophy in Asian Urbanisms, upcoming in AY2023.

The programmes aim to provide an opportunity for Singaporean students, and for students from the Asia region and (eventually) beyond, to access postgraduate-level degrees in urban studies in Singapore that will be theoretically and empirically focused on Asia. With interdisciplinarity at the heart, the programmes integrate courses and supervision from various SMU Schools, especially those with particular urban expertise. Students will develop deep knowledge of the theory and practice in at least one area of urban Asia, and one related area in sustainability, culture or technology. They will also attain the ability to critically analyse problems using either quantitative and/or qualitative research methodologies commonly used in advanced-level scholarly and applied research to address problems of interest to industry partners that can be translated for practical business scenarios.

Professor Wang Heli, Dean of CGRS, said “The launch of the PhD in Law, Commerce and Technology, as well as Master of Philosophy and PhD in Asian Urbanisms, will be our first steps in 2022 and 2023 respectively, to strengthen SMU’s interdisciplinarity in research. The programmes are both academic- and industry-oriented, and our postgraduate research students in these programmes will be expected to bear both intellectual depth and material industrial relevance in their dissertations.”

2. Enhancing ‘co-learning’ experiences and academic exchanges across SMU Schools for postgraduate research students and graduates

CGRS will strengthen the ‘co-learning’ experiences for postgraduate research students via sharing and interdisciplinary learning across Schools through the development and delivery of intellectual content. This intellectual content includes the introduction and facilitation of shared interdisciplinary courses, interdisciplinary programmes (e.g., PhD in Law, Commerce & Technology), as well as interdisciplinary events (like seminars and brown-bag sessions). The College will explore both internal and external resources (e.g., Visiting Fellows) to ensure quality offering of the above-mentioned intellectual content.

3. Strengthening networking, cohort building and collaborative opportunities

The College will ensure that there is enhanced academic and social engagements through the planned Graduate Research Student Society (GRSS). The main objective of the GRSS is to deepen interactions amongst the students through academic events/activities (e.g., brown-bag seminars, poster competitions, and possibly over time an annual Doctoral Conference), and social activities (e.g., get-together or sports sessions). The GRSS will also build strong ties with the planned Graduate Research Alumni Chapter (GRAC), so as to enhance collaborations and source for placements. The GRAC will enhance engagement amongst SMU’s postgraduate research graduates.

New research by academics from leading business schools Singapore Management University (SMU), INSEAD and HEC Paris demonstrate how growth training helps entrepreneurs achieve increased revenues for their ventures. This research project, developed by Prof Reddi Kotha (SMU), Prof Bala Vissa (INSEAD), Yimin Lin (SMU) and Prof Anne Valerie Corboz (HEC Paris), was funded by the Singapore government’s Ministry of Education research grant.

According to the research paper, titled “Do Ambitious Entrepreneurs Benefit More from Training?”, training in growth-catalyst tools helped entrepreneurs achieve a 72% increase in their ventures’ revenues; which is about 40% more than entrepreneurs who did not receive such training. Additionally, the paper also showed that ventures led by entrepreneurs with more ambitious growth expectations experienced revenue growth of about 100% compared to 10% for those who had not received training.

Research findings are based on an extensive field experiment involving interactive training sessions, workshops and personalised coaching which was delivered to 103 Singapore-based entrepreneurs, out of the 181 entrepreneurs participating in the study (the remaining 78 made up the study’s control group). The entrepreneurs, who were running new ventures, received training in three specific areas, or growth-catalyst tools, relevant for formulating and executing innovation-led growth: business-model design, leveraging external networks, and building internal teams.

The paper, which is forthcoming in Strategic Management Journal, also looked at other success measures like a venture’s “survival rate,” in other words, the likelihood that a start-up will survive. According to the study’s findings, ventures whose founders attended had a survival rate of 50 percent against the 36 percent survival rate of ventures led by entrepreneurs who had not been trained in growth-catalyst tools.

Surprisingly, previous research on the impact of training on entrepreneurs and their ventures had provided mixed results – a few studies did find a positive impact of training whilst many others failed to do so. The authors of this study suggested that the prior mixed findings are a reflection of at least two factors: (i) many prior studies were conducted in emerging economies where entrepreneurship is often necessity-based; (ii) entrepreneurs with diverse growth ambitions may have been lumped into the same training intervention with narrower content.

Prof Vissa comments, “our research suggests that perhaps training interventions for entrepreneurship in mature market economies need to be tailored differently for entrepreneurs who value growth versus those who value autonomy or control”.

The authors of the study argue that their findings can support policymakers when designing initiatives to support entrepreneurs. “Fast-growing new ventures founded by opportunity-seeking entrepreneurs benefit society because they are key sources of jobs and innovation that boost economic prosperity,” says Prof. Corboz, citing business and management experts.

“We hope our work encourages new research on entrepreneur training and inform policymakers to draw new plans to help entrepreneurs, as they are key drivers of economic growth,” adds Prof Kotha.