Monamie Bhadra Haines (Assistant Professor in Sociology at NTU) and Hallam Stevens (Associate Professor of History at NTU and Associate Director (Academic) of the NTU Institute of Science and Technology for Humanity) argue against using mandatory contact tracing apps in the effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Many governments around the world are now […]
Philip Holden, formerly Professor at the National University of Singapore, interviewed Debbie Fordyce—President of NGO Transient Workers Count Too (TWC2)—to discuss the work of TWC2 and structural issues facing migrant workers. Philip: It’s a pleasure to interview Debbie Fordyce, president of TWC2. Some academics work directly on issues of migrant labour; many do not, and […]
Kamalini Ramdas and David Taylor of the Department of Geography at the National University of Singapore argue that pandemic response should include haptic as well as optic approaches to space—paying attention to how humans experience space, rather than taking only a ‘bird’s-eye’ view. Geographers have long been interested in how viruses and diseases travel, and […]
Andy Hau Yan Ho, Associate Professor of Psychology at Nanyang Technological University and Joint Honorary Associate Professor at the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, considers the impact of social distancing on the psychological well-being and development of youths in Singapore. One of the strongest measures put in place throughout the world to protect people […]
Shona Loong, DPhil candidate at the University of Oxford, describes how the state has made employers responsible for migrant workers, to dire effect, and examines the implications for state-society relations and the role of NGOs. The COVID-19 cases among Singapore’s migrant worker population skyrocketed in mere weeks. On 1 April, they accounted for just ten […]
Donald Low, Professor of Practice in Public Policy at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, argues that Singapore must look beyond a narrow focus on efficiency, and give greater weight to considerations of resilience and justice. Over the last 30-40 years, most economies have prioritised efficiency or economic growth over considerations of resilience […]
Economists Yeoh Lam Keong, Manu Bhaskaran, Donald Low and Tan Kim Song set out key principles that should guide the state’s support for the private sector, the poor and the unemployed in what is turning out to be a cataclysmic disaster. An economic crisis looms, with medium-term impacts on our well-being which could well rival […]
Jung Jong Hyun, assistant professor at NTU, has been researching social determinants of mental health, using the stress process model as a guiding framework. Here he examines how COVID-19 can undermine mental health and how we can cope with it. (Banner photo: Amanda Ho) Another month! After hearing about the Circuit Breaker extension, I wondered […]
Chong Ja Ian, Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, argues that the pandemic reveals the need for Singapore to reconsider how it makes decisions about national directions and policy trade-offs. (Banner photo credit: Sumita Thiagarajan) Singapore’s state-affiliated mainstream media has lately been publishing pieces relating to inequality. Undoubtedly, this has to do with the disproportionate economic […]
Chong Ja Ian, Harvard-Yenching Institute Visiting Scholar 2019-2020, considers the external political environment that Singapore will face in light of the pandemic. As Singapore grapples with increasing COVID-19 infections and their consequences, a post-pandemic world awaits. This environment will differ from the one we all left behind in 2019 and the shifts will not only be economic. […]